I'm Depending On You - Tim Timberlake

Hey, I'm Tim Timmerlake, and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Celebration Church podcast.

I hope this message encouraged you, strengthened your faith, and gave you something you can carry into your week.

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Thanks again for being with us.

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And see you next time.

Acts chapter 9, verse 17.

Acts 9:17

Acts chapter 9, verse 17.

Acts 9:17

You're reading from the ESV translation.

The word of God says, So Ananias departed and entered the house.

Laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes.

And he regained his sight.

Then he rose and was baptized.

And taking food, he was strengthened.

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

Then he rose and was baptized and taking food.

He was strengthened.

And I want to utilize these verses for our subject matter today entitled, I'm depending on you.

I'm depending on you.

I'm depending on you.

Let's pray.

Nimely Father, we thank you for your word.

We ask that you would speak to us, change us, transform us, allow this word to cut away at the things that have remained dormant in our lives.

And we ask, God, that we would become more like you because of the word of God today.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

And everyone that's glad he's still alive and well, shout amen.

You can be seated in Jesus' name.

We find ourselves in Acts chapter 9, seeing Saul on the heels of being blinded by Jesus, searching and wondering how long he will be without his sight.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

And scripture teaches us that three days he went being blinded, refusing to eat or drink, had an encounter with a man named Ananias.

It says Ananias entered into the house.

As he entered into the house, he laid his hands on Saul of Tarsus.

He prayed for him.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And something like scales fell from his eyes.

And Saul's encounter was directly connected to his encounter with Jesus.

And Jesus, he blinds him but intentionally makes his restoration dependent upon the obedience of an ordinary disciple named Ananias.

And as Saul enters Damascus blind and has been without sight, food, or drink for three days, the man who entered Damascus intending to lay hands on Christians to arrest them now needs a Christian to lay hands on him.

Isn't it crazy how you can have your mind made up that you are going to do one thing and Jesus has his mind made up that he's going to do something different in your life?

And Saul, he has every intention to go and harm Christians.

Every intention to go and arrest as many as he can, torture them, and some potentially being killed because of who they believe in.

And Jesus cuts him off.

He blinds him so that he can see.

God is going to reveal himself to you in ways you never thought were possible.

You've been blinded by life, blinded by pain, blinded by divorce, blinded by death, blinded by the lack of resources, blinded by disappointment, blinded by setbacks, blinded by broken promises, blinded by people you thought would be with you for the rest of your life, turning and stabbing you in the back.

And you sit here saying to yourself, I thought that it could never happen to me.

And because it happened to you, now you are blinded.

And sometimes God will, in fact, utilize circumstances and situations to blind you so that you can see Him.

And He will leave you blind long enough to come to the understanding that you cannot lead yourself.

He will leave you blind long enough to come to the realization that you have tried to lead yourself and you have led yourself wrong.

And the reality is that some of you actually believe in the things that you're doing.

Therefore, God had to send Jesus to blind you because what you were doing was not according to his plans and purpose for your life.

Understand something about the life of Saul.

Saul thought that what he was doing was for God.

When in fact, what he was doing was in direct conflict to what Jesus was doing in the earth.

And sometimes you can think you're right and still be wrong.

You can think you're with the right one and be with the wrong one.

See how quiet it gets when we start talking like this.

If you've been married for 15 years, it's too late now.

Don't be mumbling under your breath.

I knew I was right to the wrong one.

You can think that you're doing the right thing, but still be doing the wrong thing.

You can also think you're doing the right thing, but be in the wrong season, therefore making it wrong anyway.

And God will in fact blind you so that you could see him and see what he desires to do in and through your life.

And Anias in this passage has every human reason to hesitate in laying his hands on Saul.

He knows that Saul is there to kill people like him.

He knows that Saul is there to lay hands on people like him, not in a holy way.

He knows that Saul is there to bring conflict, to bring separation, to bring division between those who consider themselves to be believers in Jesus Christ, and he still is obedient to Jesus when Jesus asks him to go and lay his hands on Saul.

Saul's reputation has already reached Damascus before Saul has.

Yet Ananias walks into the house boldly, touches the man he once feared, and he calls him something that we will not blow past today.

He calls him brother.

Verse 17 says, So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying hands on him, he said, Brother Saul.

This is a beautiful irony in script scripture.

Because according to verse number 14 in Acts chapter 9, Saul came with authority to bind those who called on Jesus, given to him by the high priest.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He had papers, he had authority, he had dominion, he had rulership in this area to do what the high priest desired for him to do, which was arrest, torture, bring about division to those that would consider themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ.

And Saul came with authority to bind those who called on Jesus' name, yet he is now bound in Jesus' name.

Now one of those very believers places his hands on Saul.

Not to fight him, not to punish him, not to restrain him, but to heal him.

Before Saul's sight returns, before he's baptized, before his ministry begins, and Anias calls him something powerful, and Anias calls him.

Taking notes, and I encourage you to do so.

Point number one is this.

Grace gave Saul belonging before his behavior had the evidence to prove he had changed.

Let me say it again.

Grace gave Saul belonging before his behavior had the evidence to prove he had changed.

And Enias didn't tell Saul, prove that you've changed.

Prove that you won't hurt me, prove that you won't kill me, prove that you won't have me arrested.

No, he operated in complete and total obedience, being complete and totally dependent upon Jesus to be his safety net, his shield, his protection.

And when he operated in obedience and laid hands on Saul, Scripture says he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and something like scales fell from his eyes.

Grace gave Saul belonging before his behavior had the evidence to prove he had changed.

This is powerful to me because Ananias doesn't say persecutor Saul.

He doesn't say murderer Saul.

He doesn't say my enemy Saul.

He says brother Saul.

Sometimes the first evidence that God has changed you isn't that everybody forgets your past.

Is that somebody has enough faith to address you according to what grace is making you into being.

And I just wonder, is there anybody listening to me right now that has an understanding that you are becoming?

You have not arrived at.

You don't talk how you used to talk.

You don't walk how you used to walk.

You don't do the same thing you used to do.

Wow.

Because you are becoming.

You judge me however you want to judge me, but greater is he that's on the inside of me than he that's in the world, and as long as he's at work in me, I am becoming.

Becoming.

Becoming.

Brother.

Brother Saul is what Ananias called him.

He identified him as a brother.

Identified him by who he was becoming.

He didn't label him by his past.

He labeled him by who he was becoming.

And this is what I've learned about grace.

Grace will label what you have not yet seen.

To take your eyes off who you used to be.

And if you stayed distracted by your past too long, you're missing an opportunity to see Jesus at work on the inside of you.

And something that was meant to hold you hostage for a day can hold you hostage for many years as long as you continue to identify with who you used to be.

And here's my question for you this morning: Can you bury the old version of you long enough for the new version of you to be resurrected with Christ?

You are becoming.

Grace will call you family while your reputation is still calling you an enemy.

And God will sometimes send someone who remembers your worst chapter to announce that he has started writing your next one.

He'll send somebody from your past to remind you, you're not the same anymore.

He'll send somebody that used to know you way back when and tell you, hey, you're different.

And I see the difference on the inside of you.

I understand it can only have been Jesus that changed you.

You used to be a dog back in the day, brother, but you ain't the same dude.

You used to be, girl.

You used to be outside, outside.

You no longer outside no more.

You used to be crazy, but now it seems like you got your right mind.

Clothed in righteousness.

I know who you used to be.

And I see who you are today, but more importantly, I see who God is making you into.

And I can only attribute what I see to the grace of Jesus Christ.

And oftentimes, God will send somebody that used to know your crazy self to remind you, you're no longer the person they knew you as.

You're now a son and a daughter of the most high God.

Oh hot five your neighbor, tell your neighbor, you don't look the same.

You don't sound the same.

You are becoming, you becoming.

You becoming.

You becoming, yeah, you got a past, but you're becoming.

Yeah, you used to be a trumpet, but you becoming.

You used to throw it around in a sucker, but you becoming.

Yeah, you used to steal, but you becoming.

Yeah, you used to used to laugh, but you becoming.

You um becoming.

How many of you are glad that it's the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ?

That lifted you out of the buck in the mud, that doesn't call you by your sin.

That calls you by your name.

And he said that the hand is on you, leading and guiding you.

It's all perfect truth.

And I've taken you off the path of destruction and place you on the path of righteousness for my name's sake.

Sit down.

I'm just talking, I'm just talking.

And this is what makes the gospel of Jesus so powerful.

Because the gospel is powerful enough to make the wounded call the wounder family.

Only the gospel of Jesus Christ could do that.

Only the gospel of Jesus Christ could create a room where black people and white people and Asian people and Hispanic people.

And everything in between sit beside each other, shoulder to shoulder.

Different backgrounds, different walks, different upbringings, different ethnicities, different languages, different colors, different flavors.

Sit you shoulder to shoulder with somebody and remind you that we are all a part of the body of Jesus Christ.

The gospel can remind you that you are no longer who you used to be.

Because you are becoming.

And when I depend on him, he gives my life meaning and he gives my life purpose and he gives my life understanding.

And no longer do I identify with who I used to be, I identify with who I am now and who I am becoming.

Why?

Because I am dependent on him.

And as long as I am dependent on him, even when I can't see my way out, he sees me out.

Even when I can't see myself through, he sees me through.

Even when I can't see myself over, he sees me over.

Why?

Because I'm dependent on him.

And when I can't depend on no one else, I can always depend on Jesus.

And when I can't depend on any resource, I can always depend on Jesus.

And when I can't depend on my people, I can depend on Jesus.

And when I can't depend on my job, I can depend on him.

And then when I depend on him, he allows me to know I am walking through this valley of the shadow of death, but I'm walking it out with him.

And I wanted to see anybody glad.

That step by step, day by day, hand in his hand, you walk in it out with him, baby.

I wish I had somebody that could say, I'm dependent on him.

Dependent on him, I'm dependent, I'm dependent.

I'm dependent.

Let them call you what they want to.

You're dependent on him.

Dependent on him.

And Anias.

He has a revelation of Jesus.

And because of that revelation, he has an understanding that who Jesus defines as redeemed is now a brother and a sister in the kingdom of God.

Real grace doesn't deny what people did.

It refuses to believe what they did to you, gets the final word on who you are becoming.

I just refuse to allow what someone else did to me to dictate and determine who I become.

That's too much power to give somebody.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's too much power to give somebody.

Yeah, they hurt me, but I'm not gonna live my life in that hurt.

And live my life bitter and angry and resentful because of what someone else did to me.

No, no, no.

I got the greater one on the inside of me, and he's at work.

And as long as I'm becoming, I'm becoming more like him.

And as long as I'm becoming, I see what he sees, and I feel what he feels, and I'm becoming what he desires for me to become.

I'm not giving no one else that power to tell me who I'm becoming.

No, no.

Jesus tells me who I'm becoming.

Anger won't dictate it, frustration won't dictate it, bitterness won't dictate it, pain won't dictate it, the lack of resources won't dictate it.

No, no.

The only one that will dictate who I become is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Don't you dare give no one else authority over you to determine how you feel when you feel it, when you go, when you go, then no, no, that's too much power to give somebody.

When you are dependent upon Jesus, you understand it is for him I live and it is for him I die, and everyone else that they following him at the same speed that I'm following him, they may follow by the wayside, but as long as I got King Jesus, everything is going to be alright.

Is there anybody listening to me that has their mind made up?

Every single thing is gonna be alright, every day is gonna work out the way he desires for it to work out because I'm dependent upon him.

And so verse number 18 says, and immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

And this is usually where pastors begin to preach about him regaining his sight, and Saul having the ability to see again, and the scales falling, and him having his eyes open, and he has the ability to see again.

I don't want to focus on that today.

I want to focus on something different today.

I want you to turn your attention to Ananias.

I want you to consider Ananias understood that as the scale spell from Saul's eyes, the first person Saul would see was the Person that he hated.

And I is a Christian, a member of the very community that Saul came to destroy.

And the first faith scripture places before Saul after his blindness is removed is the face of someone Saul previously considered his enemy.

That's one of the greatest revelations of true conversion.

Because Jesus doesn't merely change what Saul believes, Jesus changes how Saul sees people.

And if you speak in tongues and you treat people wrong.

And if you say you love Jesus, but you don't like certain skin tones and textures.

You say you got a relationship with Jesus, but you hate people because of how they vote.

And you don't know the Jesus I know.

Because when you have a true revelation of who Jesus is, and the scales are removed from your eyes, who you once defined as an enemy becomes your brother and your sister.

As we move to the text, I want you to write this down, point number two.

The scales fell from Saul's eyes.

But the deeper miracles of what fell from his perspective.

The person he wants hated.

This gives us a powerful revelation of Jesus.

It helps us to understand, according to the text, the proof that the scales have fallen isn't just that you can see Jesus differently.

It is that you can no longer see people the same way that you used to.

It is that you can no longer treat people the same way that you used to.

You can no longer count down to people the way that you used to.

You are a so-called follower of Jesus Christ, which means you should be the kindest, the most joyful, the most generous, the most loving.

You're quiet.

The most faithful, the most diligent, the most excellent, the most loyal.

You are a follower of Jesus Christ, which means that you do things the way Jesus does.

Then the scripture says He rose and whispered.

I want you to underline this word rose in your Bible on your phone.

This is a very powerful word that we will not blow past.

This word rose is significant.

It is the Greek word anastasis, which means to rise, to stand up, to get up.

It is also from the word family, frequently used in the New Testament for resurrection or rising from the dead.

This gives this passage more powerful layers and meanings because it allows us to see Saul doesn't merely see differently, he gets up differently.

You cannot say that Jesus has changed what you see until your life is laid on the altar.

When Jesus changes what you see, you can't stay where you are sitting.

Did you hear what I said?

When Jesus changes what you see, you can't stay where you are sitting.

It pushes you to stand for something.

It pushes you to stand for righteousness, to stand for holiness, to stand for intimacy with him.

It pushes you to stand for the things that he stands for.

He came toward Damascus carrying letters, identifying him with authority from the high priest.

Now he receives the power of the Holy Spirit.

He receives baptism publicly, identifying himself with the very Jesus whose followers he came to persecute.

Whenever Jesus opened your eyes, it allowed you to see him differently.

And when you see him differently, you see life differently.

And when you see life differently, you see his creation differently.

And when you see his creation differently, how can you see people the same way as you used to?

Point number three is this if your encounter was real, eventually your life will tell on you.

My life tells on me all the time.

My life bears fruit.

There's evidence of who I believe that follows me.

Miracles, signs, and wonders follow me all the days of my life.

Grace and mercy follow me.

My life tells on me because of who I believe in.

Not only is there private intimacy with the Holy Spirit and with the Father and with Jesus, but there is public evidence of that private intimacy.

There should be evidence of your life, of who you serve and you worship both privately and publicly.

There should be signs and wonders and fruit that follows you because of the relationship you have with Jesus.

Your life should tell on you.

Whenever you do something, whenever you say something, whenever you are in a room, your life should tell on you.

Your life should be a tattletale, declaring the goodness of the Lord.

Your life should gossip about the goodness of Jesus.

Your life should leave evidence behind you in every room and every environment and every region you step into.

When you enter into a room, things should change because your life bears fruit with what Jesus has done, what Jesus is doing, and what people will see that Jesus has completed on the inside of you.

Is there anyone listening to me whose life tattle-tales on you about the goodness of God?

An encounter becomes transformation when you're willing to publicly identify with what you privately have encountered.

Private revelation eventually demands public identification.

Let me repeat.

Private revelation eventually demands public identification.

How do you identify yourself?

How do you identify yourself?

Your bio on your social media may have she.

How do you identify yourself?

As a son of the Most High God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because there's been private intimacy, there must be public identification.

I cannot keep private what has happened to me in the intimacy of the Holy Spirit.

I have to declare it publicly.

And because of my private relationship, there is public fruit that follows.

How do you identify yourself?

Does anyone know who you believe?

Does anyone know who you serve?

Does anyone know who you follow?

Does anyone know who you submitted and surrendered to?

Does anyone know who you belong to?

When you remind yourself I belong to Jesus, someone else should know who you belong to.

And I wonder, is there anybody listening to me right now that knows who you belong to, that knows who your father is, that knows who your brother is, that knows the Holy Spirit that's at work on the inside of you because you talk to him every single day.

You read his word every single day.

You spend time with them.

You spend time in his presence.

You know who you belong to.

And when you know who you belong to, you know what you won't tolerate anymore.

You know that you won't tolerate sickness in your body.

You know you won't tolerate pain in your mind.

You know you won't tolerate conflict in your relationship because you know who you belong to.

You know who you depended on.

You know who has powered you, resourced you, gave you authority and dominion.

And when you know those things, you won't tolerate this anything from anyone because you know who you belong to.

I know who I belong to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You may you may identify yourself as transgender, identify myself as transformed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I know who I belong to.

You, you, you may, you may identify yourself as a sinner.

I identify myself as a saint.

You may identify yourself by your sin, but I identify myself as a son of the most high God.

Oh, holy, equipped, anointed, righteous, set apart, a royal priesthood.

I wish I had every fucking knew who you belong to.

Hold up.

Hold up.

Hold up.

Because I want to hear them.

I want to hear the folk that know who you belong to.

I want to hear the folk that know that you've been redeemed by the present blood of Jesus Christ.

I want to hear the folk that know you've been coming.

That know you're an overcomer.

That know you're more than a conqueror.

That know you are not who you used to be.

You are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

If you know who you are, and if you know who you belong to, yeah.

Oh, I know you're a half up your neighbor.

Tell your neighbor, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, thank God, thank God you don't belong to the things you commit.

Thank God you don't belong to the things you done.

You belong to him, you belong to him, you belong to him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

When you wake up in the morning and you don't feel like being here no more, you remind us of, no, no, I belong to him.

I belong to him.

When you wake up in the morning and your body starts to remind you of pain, you remind us of no no, I belong to him.

When you go to the mailbox and you got more bills and you got money, you belong, you belind yourself, I belong to him.

When your spouse acting funny, you belong to him, when your kids acting funny, you belong to him when your job acting funny, you belong to him when your mind is wandering in church, and you remind yourself, I belong to him.

Belong.

I belong.

There's something powerful about belonging.

I belong.

It's the beauty of celebration church.

You can belong before you believe.

You ain't got to believe what I believe to belong.

But if you belong long enough, you're gonna believe what I believe.

That's just how the Holy Spirit works.

He doesn't let you stay stuck in sin.

He he touches you, he rearranges, he transforms, he changes, he saves, he delivers, he heals, he sets free, he restores, he redeems, he revives, he resurrects.

That's how he works.

You may be thinking to yourself, does it take all that?

Does it does it really take all of that?

I know what he delivered me from.

I know what he changed me from.

I know how he transformed me, how he set me free, how he healed my mind, how he broke chains, how he destroyed yolks, how he removed burdens.

I know, I know.

And I never shall forget what he's done for me.

If you can remember one thing he saved you from right now, I want you to go crazy.

Go crazy.

Go crazy.

This one, just one, just one.

Just one.

This one.

This one.

Go crazy.

Let the enemy know you didn't win.

Let the enemy know he lost the let the enemy know, I let the people let the enemy know I'm still here.

I'm still standing, I'm still fighting, I'm still getting like that.

I'm still alive when I'm gonna be a good one.

Yeah, yeah, sometimes you gotta remind the enemy, you lost another one.

You lost another one.

I woke up today, you lost another one.

I'm still here today, you lost another one.

I still got the right mind, you lost another one.

I'm still cold and righteous as you lost.

I ain't come to play around with you today.

That is in me than he that is in the world.

I am completely and totally dependent upon him.

In him I move, I live, and I have my being.

Sit down, sit down, sit down.

Sit down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Your worst days are behind you.

Your best days are in front of you.

I said, your worst days are behind you.

Your best days are in front of you.

So, what must you do to experience God's best?

Just keep on putting one foot in front of the other, keep on walking towards him, keep on trusting his plan and his purpose for your life.

Keep on putting your hand in his hand and allowing him to lead you and guide you and direct your path, allowing him to be the lamp unto your feet and the light unto your path.

Keep believing, keep being dependent on him.

I am dependent on Jesus.

Let me rephrase it.

If your encounter was real, eventually your praise will tell on you.

Don't let that slip through your grasp.

I said, if your encounter was real, eventually your praise will be the evidence of the legitimacy of your encounter.

If he ain't been good to you, stay sealed.

If he ain't redeemed you from nothing, stay silent.

If he ain't healed your body, if he ain't taken your mouth, if he ain't saved yourself, sit down, keep your mouth shut, don't lift up your hands, don't open up your mouth, don't give him all the glory.

But if you have to open up your mouth, yeah, sometimes we gotta remind the anime.

I was crazy enough to talk in a talk, baby.

Crazy enough to talk like that! Crazy enough to walk like that! Crazy enough to believe like that! Crazy enough to allow fruit to follow you! All the days of your life as a living, moving, breathing testimony of the faithfulness of God.

Come on, we got one more verse.

Got one more verse, got one more verse, one more verse.

One more verse.

One more verse.

And I expect you to stay all the way through it.

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine Jesus hanging on the cross?

And right before he gave his life for you, got up and left.

Because of a football game coming on at one.

Can you imagine right before he gave his life for you?

He got up and left to avoid traffic leaving church.

When you have had a true encounter with Jesus Christ, nothing else matters.

Nothing else compares to his presence, and here you are in the presence of the most high God, and you're thinking about traffic.

Thinking about your fantasy football.

Who your parlay is on?

I wish he would I wish she'd hurry up.

One o'clock the game start coming on.

I want to grab my wings.

I want to beat the rush.

And you'll leave the exact way you came.

Bound, tormented, knee deep in sin, mind twisted and confused, all because you don't know the difference between standing in the midst of a holy savior as you do standing in the midst of your sneaky link.

You think you're here for you.

You think you're here because you want to feel good.

I know you're here for him.

Here for his presence.

Here to lift up his name.

And here's the reality: you will remain blind until you come to the realization that you cannot make it without total and complete dependency on him.

Grace, it doesn't give you something new to believe, it gives you someone new to belong to.

Verse number 19, maybe one of the most profound verses in this entire chapter says, and taking food, he was strengthened.

Luke could have ended this conversion story with, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and left.

He regained his sight and left.

He was baptized and left.

Instead, Luke tells us something very powerful.

Saul 8.

Think about the sequence in this passage.

He encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Jesus blinds him.

He prays for three days.

He receives healing in his eyes.

He receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

He's baptized, and then he ate.

Which gives us a very powerful truth.

The supernatural and the ordinary are sitting right beside each other.

And some of you are so spiritually crazy that you can't hold a decent conversation with someone because you don't know how to relate to people.

So you cloak it with false spirituality.

Somebody asks you what your name is, and you respond in tongues.

And you respond with a spiritual veneer because you don't want people to see who you actually are.

So the Bible puts this in here to allow us to know that you are still human.

Point number four is this.

Not every next step requires another miracle.

Sometimes it requires stewardship.

That's a cursed word for some people.

Stewardship of what?

Stewardship of the strength the miracle gave you.

Sometimes, not every next step requires another miracle.

It requires stewardship of the strength the miracle gave you.

Sometimes the next thing you need after a supernatural encounter is not another supernatural encounter.

It's something ordinary enough to strengthen you for what the encounter requires.

That is what I call the theology of sustainability.

Some of you are so spiritually minded you're no earthly good.

You blame everything on God and you don't take care of your flesh.

And you meet Jesus premature because you didn't do what he told you to do.

Steward your body well.

Some of you you think I'm fasting for Jesus.

He didn't ask you to fast.

There are certain seasons he asked you to fast.

And then there's certain seasons he tells you eat and pray.

There have been many seasons in my life where I said, okay, I'm gonna fast.

The Holy Spirit said, No.

I didn't ask you to do that.

You need to eat and pray.

And then you need to rest.

Every January we fast.

Every single January.

And then you try to carry it over through March.

And I'm not telling you not to do that if the Holy Spirit tells you to.

I'm telling you, don't wear a spiritual banner around your chest because you think to yourself, I am spiritually stronger than everybody else because I can fast until March.

What you're actually doing is rebelling against what Jesus asked you to do.

Therefore, making you spiritually prideful and arrogant and disobedient.

Be completely yielded and dependent upon Jesus for everything he desires for you to do.

And don't do it because it sounds spiritual.

Do it because it's obedient to what he's asked you to do.

It says, and after that, he ate.

The Holy Spirit filled him, but it was food that strengthened him, both matter.

Being spiritual doesn't make you less human.

And sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is receive what your humanity needs.

And God can fill your spirit without ignoring the exhaustion in your body.

I'm just tired for Jesus.

Absolutely exhausted.

Scripture says in his presence there is fullness of joy.

And pleasure is at his right hand forevermore.

If you lack joy and you're spending time with him, you're not spending time with him.

You're spending time with who you think he is.

If you're lacking peace and you're exhausted and you're tired, maybe you're not praying to the same God of the Bible.

Because the word of God says he'll give you perfect peace when your mind is stayed on him.

He says he'll give you peace that surpasses all of your understanding.

Not everything that strengthens you has to look supernatural to have been provided to you by God.

This encounter gave Saul a calling, but the meal gave him strength to carry it.

His encounter gave him the calling, but it was food that gave him the strength to carry it.

Never become so addicted to spectacular moments that you overlook the ordinary provisions keeping you alive for your assignment.

Completely dependent on him.

Completely reliant on him.

I want you to see the transition in Scripture.

Before Acts chapter 9, Saul was a man of control.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He had papers given to him by the high priest.

He had authority.

He had a destination.

He had dominion.

He has a plan.

He knows exactly what he's going to do when he arrives to the place he is going to torment Christians.

Then he meets Jesus.

And now, suddenly, Saul has to receive everything.

Someone has to lead him by the hands because he's blind.

Someone has to come and lay hands on him to remove the scales from his eyes.

Someone has to introduce him to what it is that he now knows is intimacy with Jesus.

That infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Someone has to introduce him to a life that he could live after baptism.

The Spirit fills him, someone baptizes him, and then someone gives him food.

Every single step of this journey he is on after being blinded is completely and totally dependent upon someone else.

And all he can do is receive help when he's been so used to being in control all of his life.

All he can do is look to the sky in complete blackness.

And say, Jesus, I'm depending on you.

As we look at this, it should bring us to the understanding.

Before God makes Saul one of the most influential apostles in history, God teaches Saul total and complete dependence.

Before God could trust Saul with apostolic authority, he had to teach him what it felt like to need somebody else.

Because Saul would eventually write about the body of Christ, about how it's interconnected, about spiritual gifts, about bearing one another's burdens, about the strong caring for the weak, every member needing each other.

And perhaps Acts chapter 9 helps us appreciate why those truths weren't merely academic knowledge to him, but became revelation to him because for three days he was completely and totally dependent upon someone else to lead him, to feed him, to guide him, to show him where to sit down, to show him where to stand and walk, to show him everything that he needed to do to lead him to greater intimacy with Jesus Christ.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

And if you're not careful, you'll think that Jesus saved you for yourself, when in fact Jesus saved you for you to tell other people about his goodness and his mercy and his grace.

And Paul knew what it was like to need the body, because when he couldn't see, the body came looking for him.

God blinded Saul long enough to teach him that nobody who carries his name walks alone.

Nobody who carries his name walks alone.

We need one another.

I said we need one another.

And you know my prayers for you, my prayer is that you would grab a hold of all of him.

Not just what he has in his hand, but you would grab a hold of all of him.

Not just the blessings, but you would grab a hold of all of him.

Not just the benefits, but you would grab a hold of all of I'm grabbing hold to all of him.

Every ounce, every morsel, every thread, every strand, I'm grabbing a hold to all of him.

I'm holding on to his grace, I'm grabbing a hold of his mercy, I'm grabbing a hold of the love and the kindness and the tenderness.

I'm grabbing a hold of all of him.

I'm grabbing a hold of his voice, I'm grabbing a hold of his word, I'm grabbing a hold of his presence, I'm grabbing a hold to all of him, I'm grabbing a hold of his blessings, I'm grabbing a hold of his blistering, I'm grabbing a hold of his benefits, I'm grabbing a hold of his convictions, I'm grabbing hold to all of him, I'm grabbing hold to all of him.

Why?

Because I am dependent on him.

I can't make it a day without him.

I know who I will become.

I know who I would become.

I know who I was.

I can't make it a day without him.

I don't spend the time with Jesus so that I could be more spiritual in the eyes of men and women.

I spend the time I do with Jesus because I don't want to go back to who I used to be.

I know, I know, I know, I know who I was.

And I am still becoming.

I remind myself every single day that had not been for the grace and mercy and love from the Lord that was on my side.

Thank God.

Thank Jesus that you were not left the same.

He found you on the road to destruction, and he blinded you long enough for you to see him.

Because you were full of yourself, you you're full of your own ambition, full of your own pride, full of your own ego, but he he blinded you long enough to see him, and because you see him, you now know he saw you.

I'm so glad when I couldn't see him, he saw me.

When I was fighting him, he was fighting for me.

When I was running in the wrong direction, he met me on the road.

And so now I live my whole life holding on to all of him.

All of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, I'm holding on to every part of him, every part of his being, every part of his presence, every part of his grace, every part of his mercy, every part of his love, every part of his kindness.

I'm holding on to every part of him.

If all I can grab a hole of is all I can grab a hole of, I'm grabbing hold to that part of him, but my mind is made up.

I am going to hold on to every part of him.

Why?

Because I am totally and completely dependent on him.

By your head, close your eyes.

You've been trying to make it happen.

You've been trying to hustle, you've been trying to grind, you've trying to work it out in your own power and your own ability, and you understand that you cannot and you need him.

You desire to be dependent on him and him alone today.

I want you to lift both hands right now.

Lift them high.

Hold those hands high for a moment.

I want everybody to repeat this prayer after me, Lord Jesus.

Come into my heart.

Forgive me from my sins.

Redeem me from my unrighteousness.

Right now, I ask that you would save me, that you would heal me, that you would resurrect me, wash me white as snow, make me new again.

In Jesus' name.

I confess with my mouth that you are my Lord, you are my master, and I believe within my heart that you are my Savior.

Amen.