Become Rooted - Part 4

Everybody at Acts 3?

Alright, amen and amen.

Before we read Acts 3, I want to read one verse out of Acts 2.

For the last month, we've been in this series called Rooted.

Somebody say rooted.

We've been in the series called Rooted, and we've been talking about what it looks like to be rooted in the things of God.

Like the Acts 2 church.

And Acts 2, verse 42 says this all the believers, somebody say all.

Acts 2:42

All the believers, not some of the believers, not there were no backbenchers.

There's no how do I want y'all to know real fast, there's no bench warmers in the kingdom of God.

Everybody is a player, everybody has a role in the field.

You may think your role is small, that you don't have anything to offer.

Can I tell you God is calling you into the game of miracles?

God is calling you into the game of making a difference.

God is calling you into the game of making a difference in this community.

There are no benchwarmers in the kingdom of God.

I'm gonna preach even if y'all don't listen.

Amen.

And all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, and to sharing in meals.

That's what we're doing next week.

We are sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper into prayer.

And Acts chapter 3 is where we're gonna be at today.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

We're gonna read a story about my friend Peter.

Acts chapter 3 says this.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Now Peter and John were going up of the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth being carried, was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.

Here's what's happening.

Peter and John are leaders in the church.

Peter just preached a message a little while ago.

The church got 3,000 people added to it.

So Peter is essentially the leader of the church.

They're about to go into the temple, which is one of the places that they meet.

And so Peter is going along with John, who is another disciple of Jesus.

And as they're going up, they see this guy who is uh who has a disability.

He's unable to walk.

And so what had been happening to this guy, because he did not have the means to work, this wasn't the days where you could do remote work and be on a computer or any of that.

It was hard labor or no labor.

Uh and so they laid him out in front of a church, essentially, and his job was just to beg for money, to ask for people, hey, do you got something to help me out today?

And so John and Peter are walking up, see if see this guy.

Uh seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John.

And they said, Look at us.

Somebody say, Look at us.

Man, I pray that we would be the kind of Christians, the kind of believers, the kind of people that have such a walk with God that when people are struggling, when people are looking for their way, when people are down for their luck, we would be able to look at them and say, Hey, look at us.

And not look at us like we got it all together, but look at us and see what God has done.

Look at us and see how God has been faithful.

Look at us and see how God has provided.

Look at us and see how God has restored.

Look at us.

And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold.

Can I tell y'all for a homeless person that's a bad day?

You're like, well, great.

Uh you're about to give me a church tract, aren't you?

Like you're about to tell me.

Um, but what I have I give.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Can I tell you there is no other name?

There is no greater name.

We can't get used to it.

We have to remember that he is King of kings and Lord of Lords.

Peter and John say this: Rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

Somebody say strong.

And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

This is an amazing story for me for a lot of reasons, but one of the things I love is that moment.

And I pray you and I would have those kinds of moments because what happened is people had been walking past this guy for days, if not even for years.

They'd been used to this is the guy that's begging, this is the guy that's broken, this is the guy that's busted up, this is the one that doesn't have it all together, this is the one that's in need.

And then they see this guy running and dancing and jumping, and the only thing that they can know is that there is a name that is above every name that has allowed this man to be lifted up from his old situation.

Can I encourage you before I even get into my actual message?

May this be the testimony of you and I that you and I would run into places and they would look at us and say, He used to be broken, he used to be messed up, he used to be depressed, he used to be down and on his luck, but now he's dancing, he's leaping, he's shouting, he's praising.

Look what the Lord has done.

That people would look at you and I's lives and say, Man, they used to be down on their luck, but now they are, and this is the title of my message, they are a miracle in the making.

A miracle in the making.

Let's pray.

Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us, Jesus, not into temptation, but would you deliver us from the evil one?

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

And God's people said, Amen.

Uh, for those of you that I have not met before, my name is John.

My wife and I get the great honor of leading and serving this church as its pastors.

And uh for those of you that don't know this about me, I'm actually not from the United States.

I'm originally from a place called Haiti.

Uh, it's an island in the Caribbean.

It's actually only half of the island, shares the island with the Dominican Republic.

It's one of the poorest places in the world.

Uh, and when I move to the United States, one of the things that I think people sometimes take for granted that I love is 24-7 electricity, y'all.

Uh see, in Haiti, we don't have that.

There's rolling blackouts to save power.

Uh, and if you go to Haiti, one of the things that you'll notice is that uh there's some places that are lush and beautiful and look like the Caribbean, but there's some places where if you go up in the mountains, you'll see that it's like, it's like y'all ever drive past the place and they took down all the trees and you're like, what happened?

Uh that's a lot of what Haiti.

And the reason why Haiti is that way uh is because they cut down the trees to use them to make charcoal, because that's the only way you can heat your home and cook your food and do all those things.

And so there's places I I remember growing up in the place I lived in, you could look up into the hills and it looked like a desert place, which was weird because it was the Caribbean.

One of the issues with that, beyond a lot of different stuff, is uh in the Caribbean, we have these things called um, oh yeah, hurricanes, y'all.

Uh and when hurricanes come uh in Haiti, there's a couple of problems.

One, we don't have the weather channel in Haiti, so sometimes the only way you find out that there's a hurricane coming is when you open up your front door and you look up and you go, huh, I think that's a hurricane.

Uh and so we one time my family and I, you can uh one time my family and I um there was a couple of days where it had just rained extra heavy and had been very, very harsh and difficult.

Uh and so we come out of the rain and uh we go and check on some relatives because that's what you're supposed to do after a crazy bad storm.

We go check on some relatives, uh, and we went up to this old family creek.

There was this creek that was by the, and it's just a small little creek, and when my mom and I walked up to it, the creek had turned into a canyon, y'all.

Like, and the reason why it had turned into a canyon was because there weren't enough trees with enough roots to hold the soil together.

So when the rain came through, the can like the creek became a canyon.

Can I tell y'all that's one of the reasons why it's so important for us to be rooted in the Word of God and rooted in fellowship?

Because that same thing that happened to the creek can happen to y'all.

My life can have rain.

When rain comes, when difficult moments come, when trouble comes, if I'm not rooted in the right things, rooted with the right people, rooted in the right rhythms, then what happens to me is the thing that was supposed to blow past me comes in and destroys me.

And sometimes I see that as a pastor, and I want to tell you, God is inviting you today into a life where you are rooted in Him and rooted in His word and rooted in His people, so that when the storms of life come, not if, but when the storms of life come, what can destroy everybody else?

You go and ask yourself, why was that?

What causes them to be divorced causes you to get restored.

What causes them to give into their addiction, you decide to lean into your freedom.

Where they are looking for financial provision, you know that your God has provided for your need.

Where they are stressed and anxious and depressed, you get to walk in a spirit of hope and peace.

That's the reward of being rooted.

But we are not just rooted for our sakes, we are rooted for other people's sakes as well.

Amen.

See, that's what's happening in the scripture we just read.

The apostle Peter uh has been rooted in God's word.

He's been he's been spending a couple years with this guy.

You may have heard of him, called Jesus of Nazareth.

And Jesus has been teaching him a thing or two about a thing or two, and so he's walking in with this spirit.

Uh he's been rooted in fellowship.

That's why he brings his friend John with him.

He's been rooted in sharing in meals, he's been rooted in prayer.

And so when this man comes up, this man asking for alms, uh, Peter doesn't have to go like, he doesn't have to freak out down.

He knows that God has poured enough in him that God can pour something through him.

Amen.

We are called to be rooted in miracles.

We're called to here, here's the beautiful thing about rooted in miracles.

Uh, there are some things, I want to talk to, I'm gonna keep talking to the teachers a little bit.

There are some situations that you will face this year that you are gonna need a miracle for.

There's some situations that we're gonna face as parents, as a church, as a community, that we are gonna need a miracle for.

But the good news that you and I get to know is that we serve a miracle-working God.

We get to walk in the situation and where everybody else just goes, the best we can do.

This is this is part of the, we're gonna pull it out of the text.

Uh, one of the his he this man had some friends, and all those friends could do was bring him to the edge of the temple.

But when they encountered somebody that was rooted in the things of God, that person was able to speak a word of deliverance, speak a word of hope, and speak a word of power.

All his friends could do was bring him to the edge, but Jesus, but Peter could bring him to Jesus.

And I want to encourage you today to be somebody that brings him to Jesus.

But here, if we're gonna be the kind of people, the kind of church, the kind of community that makes a difference this year, that sees the storms of that our community faces, not break us, but we can use those storms to point to Jesus before we can do all those amazing things that I know God wants to do in and through your lives, we're gonna have to do this thing that's sometimes hard for us.

We're gonna have to slow down.

We're gonna have to slow down.

See, I uh the scripture doesn't make it clear, but I wonder what was on Peter's mind as he's walking up to this temple because uh Peter, a couple of let's say a couple of weeks before this, uh, was leading uh about 12 guys, and then there was a movement that had about 120, and then he gets up and preaches this message, and now there's a church of 3,000.

They ain't got no building, they ain't got no space, there ain't no air conditioning, there ain't no kids' ministry, there's no cafe team.

And so now Peter is in charge of all these people, and he's gotta figure out what in the world to do with all of them.

Y'all, I got two kids, and I'm barely trying to like I spent the whole summer going, I don't know, like if you're a stay-at-home parent, bless you.

Like, I just I'm like, and Peter's gotta figure out life for all these 3,000 people.

So Peter's probably got a couple of things on his mind, and he's not just any place when this is happening, Peter's on his way to church.

So he's probably got his notes.

He's thinking, okay, today I'm gonna go out of Deuteronomy.

Nobody likes preaching out of Deuteronomy, but it's good for people's words.

So I'm gonna preach out of Deuteronomy today, and this is what I'm gonna say.

And oh, okay, we had a we had somebody cancel from the nursery, so I gotta get somebody for the nursery.

Uh, and we're doing we're tear tear down setup church because we don't have our own building.

That's that's what I think Peter Peter's doing.

And and Peter gets, he's walking past the temple, and this this guy reaches out and he goes, Alms for the poor.

And y'all, Peter has a schedule, Peter has an appointment book, Peter has places he's got to go, people he needs to meet, but Peter is in tune enough with the Spirit of God to go, I need to slow down and hear this guy out.

See, in the book of Luke, there's a story that Jesus used to tell about this guy that was on the side of the road, and this guy gets beat up one day, gets knocked down, gets everything taken off of him.

He gets beaten to an inch of his life, and he's on the side of the road.

And there's two guys that walk past him.

The first one is a politician, and he looks at him and goes, Hey, I can't be associated with somebody that's going through this.

It won't look good on my Instagram, it won't look good on my profile, won't look good on my situation, so I'm gonna go to the other side.

And that's sad by itself.

But the next person that comes up is even sadder to me because the next person is a pastor, is a professional Christian, is somebody who's supposed to love on the community and serve the community.

And he goes, Well, you're ceremonially unclean, and I have places to go, and I gotta take up an offering, and I gotta go build a building, and I gotta.

Can I tell y'all, we can get so busy doing things that we think impress God that we stop doing things for God.

And Peter takes a second, I think he remembers the story of Jesus and he asks himself this question What would Jesus do in this situation?

And he knows Jesus would have stopped and taken care of the man.

Here's what I want to tell you today.

Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes the miracle is that God makes them stand up.

Sometimes the miracle is that God lifts them up out of their situation, sometimes the miracle is that you pray and they're lifted up.

But sometimes the miracle is that God makes you and I sit down.

Sometimes the miracle is that when we see the mess, when we see the dysfunction, when we see the issues, can I tell y'all, when I see somebody that's in trouble, there's nothing instinctive in me that says, run to them.

I want to get as far away as I can from them.

But there's something in the kingdom that when we see a child that is struggling, when we see a brother or sister that is moving through something, we are supposed to lean in as believers, not away from them.

One of my favorite moments today was when uh Pastor Kia was asking, hey, if there's anybody that was struggling, would you lift up a hand?

And one of the things I loved is uh y'all were praying for each other.

Y'all were interceding on the behalf of one another.

Y'all were lifting up.

You are going, I don't even know what's going on, but because they are in this house and they're calling on the name of Jesus, that is not a stranger, that is my brother, that is my sister, and I'm gonna lift them up.

Can I tell y'all the sometimes the miracle is that we sit together?

Because here's the truth you'll never meet the need if you don't see the need, you'll never change the situation if you don't know the situation.

You'll never pray and intercede if you don't take time to listen and hear.

Here's what I want to encourage us.

We can't get so busy doing church that we forget to be the church.

We can't get so busy going, well, let's get in here, let's schedule people, and let's make sure we have chairs, and that we forget to pray for one another, love one another, hug one another, encourage one another.

Can I tell you, you can't, it is not enough for you as a believer to come to the house and just sit and consume.

There has to be something in us where we walk out of here and going, God, what you have poured into me on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, would you pour it through me?

But here's here's what I want to encourage you with today, too.

This is the truth.

There will always be a reason not to be a blessing.

In this situation, Peter could have been like, Well, God, I'm already doing your work.

I'm already on my way to church.

And this is like, like, I ain't got no money, I ain't got no, like, there's no, he's doing the key pad down.

You anybody do this before you leave your house?

You're like, you're checking, and then you double check and then you triple check.

Like he's he's doing the key pad down, and he's like, and he's like, Well, this guy, you you know one of the biggest reasons I think that Peter could have given himself, because this was at the gate of beautiful.

I'm gonna give you a bit of biblical history real fast.

A couple of things to know about this situation.

This man was would have most likely been ceremonially unclean, which means he would not have been allowed into church.

Secondly, he would have been at the gate beautiful, which is a gate that Jesus sometimes went in through, which means that Peter could have said, Jesus used to walk back as God and Jesus didn't heal him.

Who am I to heal him?

Because sometimes we think the reason we put spiritual reasons on why we don't participate in the miracle, but can I tell you there is an invitation from Jesus and an invitation from the Holy Spirit for you to do things that you didn't think anybody could do?

Can I tell you, God wants to do some things and He has reserved them and set them apart for you to participate in a miracle that you thought, man, I'm waiting for somebody else to come and pray, and God wants you to come and pray.

I'm waiting for somebody else to come and intercede.

God has called you to intercede.

I'm calling for waiting for somebody else to do this, but God is putting his spirit on you that you might be able to do this.

There's always gonna be a reason not to be a blessing, there's always gonna be a reason not to serve, there's always a reason not to give, there's always gonna be a reason not to pray, there's always gonna be a reason.

Can I tell y'all all of our schedule?

We serve a God who put us on the top of his priorities.

I'm so grateful that Jesus made a way for me.

And because Jesus had reasons to not be a blessing to me, Jesus had reasons to leave and forsake me, Jesus had reasons to forget all about me, Jesus had reasons to reject me, but Jesus looked away from the reasons he had to be a curse to me, and Jesus found a way to be a blessing to me.

If Jesus was a blessing to me, how can I say no to being a blessing to somebody else?

So if you're gonna be a blessing, if God is gonna use the rootedness of your life to make a difference in your life, your church, your family, your community, here's a couple things that you need to do first.

One, you need to look at what you have.

I do believe that Peter did the holy pat down.

I don't think he walked up, I don't think that was a line.

I don't think he was like, Well, you know, I don't wanna, I don't wanna give him money.

So I think Peter looked and said, Man, if I had a little bit, I would.

The reason why Peter doesn't have any money is because of what we've been reading in Acts chapter 2, verse 42 through 47.

Acts 2:42–47

Uh see, Peter is now the leader of 3,000 people.

Some of them are really, really struggling.

And it says in those scriptures that uh they gave everything that they have.

And so the reason why Peter is broke is not because he doesn't believe in generosity, it's not because he's a bad steward, it's because Peter's already given everything he has away to other people.

And so Peter shows up at the end of the road.

Can I tell y'all, some of us are are we don't get to the amazing miracles because we fail to walk in the ordinary miracles?

And I think God is inviting you and I to have this lens that says, hey, there's some things that I can do that might be ordinary to me, but they'll be a miracle to somebody else.

See, some of you are students and you're about to walk into high school and you're walking through these halls and you're trying to figure out, hey, how can I make a difference uh in people's lives?

And I don't know if I can help them out.

Can I tell you your encouragement can be a lifeline to somebody else?

There's people that are walking in with depression, with anxiety, not knowing that they're loved and cared for, that there's a God in heaven and a church on earth that cares about them.

Can I tell you your encouragement and your love can do that for them?

Yesterday, uh a group of us got to go to a local um mobile home community, uh, and we had a lot of people.

So many people come through.

Um and we're giving out, here's the ordinary miracle.

We're giving out pencils, erasers, backpacks.

Can I tell you, there's nothing miraculous about pencils, erasers, and backpacks.

There's nothing like supernatural about that.

You know what's supernatural about that?

There's hope.

We were doing something that was ordinary, and God used it to do something that was extraordinary.

You gotta be willing to give your ordinary miracles.

And one of the ordinary miracles that I think most believers miss out on is the is the ordinary miracle of your story.

Revelations 12 and 11 says this, and they have defeated, somebody say defeated.

They have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

See, one of the best things that you can do is uh share your story with somebody.

You don't need a Bible degree, although I'm for Bible degrees, you don't need to know every verse, although I'm for knowing every verse.

Some of you just need to walk in and go, Let me do for you what Jesus did for me.

I wonder when Peter is walking in and he's seeing this guy and he's thinking back about.

His life.

Peter is overwhelmed with the pressure of taking care of the church that God is birthing.

And he shows up and he sees this guy on the side of the road.

I wonder if there's a part of Peter that sees himself on that guy's story.

And Peter remembers what it was like the first time he saw Jesus preach, where he was on the side of a boat and he he was watching Jesus and he was thinking to himself, I just need somebody to invite me in.

I just need somebody to tell me I can belong.

I just need somebody to make me be a part of their story.

And Jesus did that for him.

And because of that, can I tell you your story might be your testimony, but your story is a prophecy over somebody else?

See, you might think, man, I'm I'm so thankful that I'm addicted.

I'm no longer addicted.

And you don't tell anybody that you're that you've been addicted because you're like, well, I'm supposed to be a good church person now, and I'm supposed to, you know, like stand up, sit down, praise the Lord, hallelujah.

Can I tell y'all there is somebody next to you that may be in the middle of their addiction and they need the testimony of what God has done in your life to be able to know that there's a shift possible, that there's a shift coming, that there's a miracle in the making.

There's some people that are next to you and they just got a diagnosis and they need to know that God healed you.

There's some people that uh they're they're they're they're they've been looking up divorced lawyers all week long that need to know that God restored you.

There's some people that have been checking it up on their kids, and uh they have to put passwords everywhere and they need to know that your child turned out alright.

There's some people that are saying, Man, I've never shared my faith with anyone.

They need to hear how scary that was for you and how you did it yesterday.

There's some of you that have never prayed for somebody else, and you need the courage that somebody else has to pray for one another.

Can I tell you, you need to, you need to not take your story for granted.

The thing that God has done for you, I believe He also wants to do through you.

So here's where the miracle begins.

Here's here's the hard part.

What happens when I look at what I have?

What happens, John, when I've served?

What happens, John, when I've given?

What happens, and what happens when the situation, can we be honest?

Sometimes the situation, can we be honest?

Sometimes people, situations be messy, y'all.

Sometimes you're like, I don't even know if I'm going to Thanksgiving this year because of how crazy Thanksgiving was last year.

Sometimes we go, I don't even know how we, like, I don't even know how I'm gonna the diagnosis I just got, how am I gonna walk in healing?

Sometimes, teachers, you'll see a child come in and you'll go, I need the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be my substitutive teachers.

Sometimes, students, you'll walk in and you'll go, I feel so confused by the class and the teachers.

Sometimes I'll I'll say this even as one of my first things I ever did in ministry was I was 15 years old and I got to be part of a ministry that connected to um to kids to Jesus on our campus.

And sometimes, students, you might you might look at your campus and go, everybody's mad, everybody's depressed, everybody's anxious.

Can I tell you, you need to be sharing the story of what God is doing in you and be a source of hope and love and encouragement to other people.

But here's what I know once you've run out of what you can do, then we can start talking about what God can do.

Because here's the truth, here's the truth, here's the truth.

God isn't intimidated by what you can't do.

God isn't looking down from heaven and going, man, I really hope Peter can figure this one out.

Peter, I was I just told you to go preach a sermon, but you stopped for this healing.

We didn't have that on the schedule.

Like, what is happening?

What are you doing?

God isn't intimidated by there's no situation that you could pray about, think about, receive prayer for, and God's in heaven going, yo, hey, Gabriel, Michael, y'all come over.

I don't know how I'm gonna handle this one.

There's no situation that God's gonna go, I don't have the resources, I don't have the power, I don't have the ability, I don't have the desire.

There's nothing that you can bring to God that is bigger than God.

And there's gotta be this willingness for us to bring our situations to God.

See, I love what Peter says.

Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you.

Here's my question for you today Do you have enough Jesus in you to make a miracle happen in your life?

You may be asking yourself this question how is it gonna work out?

Because sometimes we step into places and spaces and we're going, I don't wanna, I don't wanna get in the midst of this because I don't know how it's gonna work out.

And we we do this thing with the biblical context where we read stories like this and we're like, that's great for Peter, but if I go up to somebody in a wheelchair and I reach out my hand and I pull them out and they fall down, I'm getting sued.

Can I tell y'all first things first?

Pray and ask the Lord what he wants you to do.

Just as a sign.

Uh pray and ask the Lord.

But but but here's here's here's here's what I love about biblical context.

Here's the mistake we make when we're reading the Bible.

We read the Bible and we think to ourselves, that was a beautiful story.

First of all, this is a historical account of something that happened.

This is not a fairy tale.

That's part one.

Part two, we also have to remember Peter did not walk in with God telling him, This is gonna happen.

Peter had to walk in this thing that we like to call faith.

Somebody said faith.

See, you gotta read the story and you gotta recognize Peter is now the leader of a 3,000-person church.

He's walking into the temple.

People know who he is.

He's not even really supposed to be hanging out and talking to this guy because he's ceremonially unclean.

And so Peter walks in and Peter has not read this chapter.

He's living this chapter, and so Peter doesn't know that he's about to get this guy healed.

But Peter walks in because he says, I do not know that you have a healing, but I do know the healer.

I don't know if God's gonna bring a breakthrough, but I know a God who brings breakthrough.

I love what Peter says because he doesn't he says, silver and gold, I don't have.

I don't have the resources, I don't have the capacity, I don't have the ability, I don't have the network, but I know a God that will walk in faith with you and that will provide all of your needs, and that will bring breakthrough in your situation.

Some of us are trying to walk in this situation, and I want to encourage you.

Here's what I love about a miracle in the making.

A miracle in the making does not require your power, it requires God's power.

Some of us are walking into a situation, we're going, This is hopeless.

Can I tell you it's always hopeless until the King of Kings, the Lord of Lord, steps into the place.

See, Peter does this and I love it.

Peter doesn't talk about how big he is.

Peter doesn't walk in and go, Well, don't, haven't you heard?

I'm I'm the Apostle Peter.

I just preached a message and uh 3,000 people got saved.

And, you know, we got a building fund going and we'll be in our new facility in three months, and it'll be praise God.

Yeah, like that's not what Peter does.

Peter walks in and he goes, I don't have anything to give you.

I don't have anything to provide.

Can I tell you, if you are walking into impossible situations and you feel like you have nothing to give, you have everything in common with the apostle Peter who led the church.

Because all you need is not more of you, all you need is more of him.

All you need is more of his presence, his power, his grace.

Here's what I want to tell you today.

Faith is my job.

Miracles are God's job.

My job is to walk in and go, God, would you give me your wisdom?

God, would you give me your grace?

God, I can't I can't make a change in them.

Can I tell you?

The only person you can change is you.

You can't change anything about them.

But when you pray, you pray to a God who can.

Healing is not your job, healing is God's job.

Restoration is not your job, restoration is God's job.

That prodigal you're wanting to come home, that's not your job, that's their job.

That provision financially that you're praying to God for, man, you you need to get a job, but you also need to count on God to give you that job.

Here's what I know God will provide for you today.

Here's a couple of questions I want to ask.

Because out of your rootedness in God's word, God will use you to be a blessing.

Somebody say blessing.

So here's my question for you.

Who are you called to bless?

See, Peter had every excuse.

Peter could have walked in and gone, bro, I got places to go, I got people to see, I got things, I got a staff meeting before the church, and then after the church, we have a church pot luck.

And uh, I hear like I hear we're doing a cookout next Sunday at Vision.

Like, that's uh can I tell y'all?

Peter had a schedule, he had things to do, and Peter looked and he went, Maybe my assignment isn't in front of me, maybe my assignment is right next to me.

See, some of us are thinking about ourselves, man, someday I'll get a calling.

Can I tell you your calling is not next, your calling is now.

Your calling is not on the other side.

Your calling is not when you get spiritual enough, your calling is not when you get smart enough, your calling is now.

There are people that God is putting in your life.

And if you get anything out of today's message, I want you to get this that God is already empowering you with his presence, with his spirit, with his power.

All you have to do is ask yourself, God, who do you want me to pour this out on?

See, my calling is to my family.

I have two kids who I need to love the Lord with all their heart.

I have a wife whom I love and care about, and I'm grateful for my calling to you.

I want to tell y'all, I'm not thinking about the church that I was at for 10 years before this.

I'm not thinking about man, maybe like some of you, I pray the Lord gives me like 15 years in this church, and I pastor y'all a long time.

I'm not thinking about what's next.

I'm asking God, God, who are you putting around me right now?

God, who are you asking me to bless right now?

God, who are you asking me to serve right now?

God, who are you asking me to love right now?

Here, here, here's the here's the crazy part about the situation is some of us don't recognize it, but you are not just there on accident.

I want you to hear me, hear me, hear me.

You are not in the places that you live on accident, you are in the places you live on assignment.

Peter is walking through and he's got a job, an important job.

He's got a and God knows that he needs to bring this guy because here's here's what it's about to happen.

See, Peter could have walked in with a message, but God thought it would be better to bring Peter in with a testimony.

So Peter's walking in with this guy, and uh, this is what it says in the scripture.

Everybody's everybody's looking around, they're looking at this guy and they're going, we'll make up a name.

Go, isn't isn't that homeless Joe?

Yeah, it it can't be him.

Like, oh my dude, like you homeless Joe can't walk.

Like, that's kind of insensitive.

Like you like, no, no, no, I'm I feel like that's him.

That's no, dude, like stop it.

He's he's the guy's running, he's dancing.

We walk past homeless Joe all the time.

It's like, no, no, no, no, like look, look at it.

Question number two is look at this.

What do they need?

See, this man for years had been asking about silver and gold, but what he needed was hope.

What he needed was belonging, what he needed was community, what he needed was family, what he needed was a new relationship with God.

I want to even say this for some of us.

Some of us are asking for the wrong thing from God.

Some of us are coming in and we're saying, God, I need you to fix my wife.

Well, God is like, I need to fix you first, buddy.

Some of us are saying, God, I need you to fix them, change that, move this, and God is wanting to do something different.

Here's here's what's crazy about the story: this man would have been ceremonially unclean, which means he wouldn't have been allowed into the temple of God.

Dan, you can correct me about that if I'm wrong and throw something at me later.

Um, but I want you to imagine what it's like for every single day people bring you to church and you hear them worship and you hear them sing and you hear them talk about breakthrough and you hear them talk about miracles, but you can't come in because of an infirmity you have.

You are stuck at the door.

So you're watching people come in and they're walking out praising God.

You're watching people come in and they're walking out with their breakthrough, you're watching people come in and they're walking out with their burden lifted, you're watching people come in and you go, if only I could come in for myself and encounter the God that they are talking about.

See, that's the kind of pain that this guy was in.

See, he didn't need silver and gold, he needed the presence of God.

Here's the third question.

Here's the third question.

First question was, Who am I called to bless?

Second is what do they need?

The third is this how can I bless them?

Ephesians 2 and 10 says this for we are God's masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God is asking you to be rooted in him for a couple of reasons.

One, it'll make you resilient to things that things that would knock other people down, you will just brush off as a believer.

But another part of it is God is asking you to be rooted so that when other people are experiencing their issues, their troubles, they'll be able to literally rest under the trees of your life.

See, that's what's happening to this guy right here.

He's able to rest and under the trees of Peter's life.

We are not waiting on a move of goodness with what God wants to do in you, through you, for you.

I believe that there are things that you're experiencing in your life that you think are hopeless, and it's not just that God wants to make a difference in them, God wants to use you to be a difference maker in them.

But for you to do that first, you gotta be willing to slow down.

Can we take a second and just in your spirit right now, would you slow down?

Some of us have lunch plans and you're thinking about it.

You already got your El Caparal order like on standby.

Can we take a second right here, right now, to just say, Lord, who are you asking me to bless this year?

I know as you're doing that, there's reasons that are coming to mind of well, that's why I can't, and that's why I won't, and that's why I won't matter.

And can I tell you, your job is faith, God's job is the miracle.

As the band comes up and we're gonna sing one more song, would you stand to your feet, Vision Church?

It says in verse 8, and leaping up, he stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people, somebody say, All the people, all the people saw him and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate.

There are two kinds of people that I'd love to speak to as our prayer team comes up.

Some of you are coming in today, and if you are honest for a variety of reasons, you say, John, I'm grateful for the message, I'm grateful for the encouragement, but if I'm gonna be honest, I'm not the one that wants needs to pray for a miracle in somebody else.

In my spirit, I'm by the gate, and I don't feel like I can come in.

I don't have any hope about my future.

I don't have, I'm struggling in my body and in my faith.

Um can I tell you, however you came in to church today does not have to be the way that you walk out.

I want to encourage you, this is not a place where we're we're we're not giving, we're not here think looking down on anybody.

Can I tell y'all, all of us, some of us this week, we're on the side of the road.

And the same Jesus that saved us, redeemed us, rescued us, can do the same thing for you.

So if that's you today, we're gonna have some great people up here.

They love the opportunity to just pray and believe God's best for you.

And I want to pray for a second thing.

Some of us, God is calling you into a season of being a miracle in the making for somebody else.

And you need to let go of all the reasons why you can't or you shouldn't or it won't happen because God is not just calling you, God is equipping you, and God is pouring out his spirit on you.

See, that's what Peter does.

Peter says, Silver and gold I don't have, but what I have, which is the name of Jesus, I give to you.

God is gonna call you into a season of pouring out his presence into this community.

Lord God, we love you.

And Father, I thank you for the opportunity to be a blessing to your church.

Father, I thank you for your faithfulness.

I thank you for your strength.

I thank you for your power.

I thank you, God, that we are not where we used to be.

God, we used to be in the ditch, but now you have us in the palace.

We used to be in need, but now you have us be a blessing.

We used to be addicted, but now you have called us into freedom.

God, we used to be broken, but you have made us whole.

So, God, I pray today that we would remain rooted in your presence, rooted in your spirit, rooted in your power.

Father, I pray there's anybody under the sound of my voice that has not said yes to Jesus, would today be the day of salvation.

There's nothing that they need to do other than turn their ways to you, God.

May repentance be the song of the house today.

And Father, for those of us that are walking into work, walking into family, walking into community, and we feel powerless, may we know that Jesus Christ, that rose from the death, his spirit lives on the inside of us, and that's why we get to trust God in every situation and in every circumstance.

And we get to lean on him.

The one who never fails.

That you're true, that you're able.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.