February 16, 2025 • 66 mins
Don’t be so confused about the noise around you that you can’t hear the God who made you. When you’re faced with a struggle you didn’t see coming, remember that Jesus is already praying for you, and His prayer is stronger than any attack.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Luke 22, verses 31-34
Luke 6, verses 12-16
Hebrews 7, verse 25
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you Lord for breath and my lungs today.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you Lord for waking me up this morning. Thank
you Lord for feeding me. Thank you Lord for keeping me.
Thank you Lord for loving me. God is so good.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I want to call your attention to a few things
remain standing. For one moment, we'll be beginning our.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Elevation Night's tour very very shortly. Let's clap our hands
and thank God for that. I want to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
If you're near Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, It'sburgh, Pennsylvania, Toronto, Canada, Detroit, Michigan, Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Newark, New Jersey, or Washington, DC.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Go to Elevation Nights dot com.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Limited tickets are available.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
That'll be Tuesday, February twenty fifth through Thursday, March sixth
I can't wait to see you. We will be singing
all kinds of songs and we'll be preaching and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Be sharing in God's presence together, and I'm grateful.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I also want to let you know that that song
we were just singing, I know A name is available
anywhere you stream.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Music, so you can get it and sing it and
just walk around the.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
House singing the name of Jesus. Sing it off key,
on key, sing it loud song, whatever you got, just
call on his name. I was reading in the Psalms
this week where David said when I kept silent, the
attack continued, And I think that's what the devil wants
to do sometimes, that's shut us up inside of our
own heads, in our own minds.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So even just all of y'all that sit there in.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Church and don't sing anything you're missing out, open your
mouth wide and I will fill it.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Say it the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm gonna give you one more chance to praise them
before I move into this world.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is today.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wordy to God? Now?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Today might just be the most important day that we've
ever been here, because this is our first sermon of
our official twentieth year.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Of ministry as a church.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I want to share with you something from Luke chapter
twenty two, And as you find that in your Bible,
or just fasten your eyes on the screen for a moment,
and I call your attention to it.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I want you to just get in your posture like
you would get in if something important was about to
happen in your life. Just your physical.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Posture, your emotional posture, if something important was about to
happen in your life. Even if you're watching this at home,
or even if you're watching this in a I don't know.
You might not even made it out the bed today.
And yet I want you to just get in the
posture that you would get in if something important was
about to happen in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And listen to this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
In Luke chapter twenty two, verses thirty one through thirty four,
this is Jesus speaking Simon. Simon, Satan has asked to
sift you as we. In fact, he's asked to sift.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
All of you as we.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith
may not fail, and when you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But he replied, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death.
Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Today you will deny three times that you know me.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Very heavy text, but let's focus on verse thirty two
for a moment. One more time. I have prayed for
you simon, that your faith may not fail, and when
you have turned back.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Strengthen your brothers.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I want to talk to you about prayer for a
few moments today. I want to speak to you about
prayer for a few moments today, but not just generic prayer.
I want to speak to you about a specific prayer
for your life. And the title of my message today
is the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
The prayer that repairs, And as.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
We talk about it today, I believe the Lord will
do a deep work in your soul.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Will you pray with me one more time? Father?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Fix it in Jesus's name, Amen, and you may be
seated him.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Y'all like that, Father, fix it? Somebody shout, Lord, fix it? Yeah,
put it in his hands now.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I don't always share with you why I picked certain
scriptures that I want to preach, but if it's helpful,
I do, And today, I think is one of those
occasions where letting you know why I selected this text
may help you receive it a little bit better. I
want to help you hear the voice of God more
in your daily life. I want to help you tune
(05:36):
in to.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
God's voice when he talks.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't want you to be confused by all the
noise that's surrounding you and never really get to know
the God who made you. I said a whole lot
in that one sentence. I don't want you to be
so confused by the noise that's surrounding you that you
never know the God who made you, and never know
(06:02):
his voice. Jesus said one time, my sheep know my
voice and they hear me, but it's hard to hear
from God with so much noise all around. So I
was going through my Bible just thinking about how great
it would be to begin this twentieth year of ministry
in our church to show you about different people who
heard from God, different people that God spoke to, and
(06:25):
it happens all through the Bible, so it's kind of
hard to narrow down. I thought it would take me
twenty more years to preach every time God spoke to somebody,
And then I came across an interesting selection of scriptures
of seven times that God spoke to people in a
special way. Seven times were either in the Old Testament
(06:47):
or the New Testament, God, the Holy Spirit or Jesus
spoke to somebody and said their name, not once, but twice.
I thought it was interesting. It reminded me of how
sometimes you have to do that to get your kids attention.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
You know, if I.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Say Abby, Abby, the second one is because your gracy
Abrams is way too loud upstairs and you can't hear
me talking over it. If I say Graham, Graham, it
means I don't care that you can't pause your video
game get down here right now. Especially if I say
(07:31):
your middle name. Your middle name is like a cussword.
If I have to call your middle name, that means
you have slipped to the point that we have resorted
to having to say the second part of your name
to make sure that you understand.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What's your middle name? Dave Dave Rick.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So if they said Dave Rick, oh Rick is trouble
in the same way, I wondered, are there are times
where God has to get his children's attention, and so
he has to speak in such a personal way because
something so pivotal is happening that he doesn't want them
to miss it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
There are a few thousand under the sound of my
voice today who need to hear the voice of the
Lord in this season of your life, because this is
a pivotal.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Moment for you.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I'd like to remind you something about pivotal moments in each.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Of our lives. They're not big, but they make all
the difference.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
To illustrate, I want you all to zoom out with
the camera and just show how quickly I can pivot
almost where you didn't notice. And I've used this to
illustrate before, both in leadership and in life, how sometimes
you can make a small adjustment. But if I were
to make this small adjustment in my stance through pivoting
(08:44):
on my back foot and to walk that way, the
number of steps that I took would multiply the importance
of the decision that I made to pivot. What I
mean is it doesn't make much difference as long as
I'm up here, But the longer I walked in that direct,
I would end up in such a different destination, all
(09:04):
because of a pivot. My oldest son, Elijah, my middle
son Graham, my youngest.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Abby are all here today with us.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
We're all happy, We're all happy because Elijah is home
from college for a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're happy because Abby stays happy.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
We're happy because Graham is on the second row with
his buddies who are back to back state champions in
the sport of wrestling.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I was of yesterday. He asked for that shout out
and I did it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And my oldest son, Elijah, was asking me recently about
someone that he follows on social media. It's not a
very big personality, so don't try to guess who I'm
talking about. But the person is minor league famous, and
they made a big statement or commitment to Jesus Christ, and.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Then they went back on it.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And they went back on it after about two years
of being very extreme, and the person was a very
worldly personality, and then they became a very godly personality.
And when I say godly, I don't mean like you're
supposed to be where you're receiving the grace of God
and growing in the grace of God. They were telling
everybody why they were better than everybody else for those
(10:22):
two years, and the moment I saw them begin to
boisterously declare and boldly infer and proclaim that they would
never sin in these.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Ways like other people do. Ever again, and they would
never struggle with what other people struggle with. Again. I've
told my son Elijah, watch out for the big.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Swings, because anytime you see something swing that far this way,
guess what Newton doesn't have to be here to tell
us is got to come back.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Be careful for the big swing.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And I begin to tell them that even though it's
sad that this person was in the faith and now
publicly says I reject the faith, even though they said that,
that doesn't mean that the faith that you have is invalid.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It just means that you need to think steps not swings.
Think steps not swings.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And sometimes when it comes to hearing God's voice and
knowing God's voice, you'll see people who they swing really
hard and really far. God spoke to me, and I'm
never gonna wear pink again. Why I never gonna wear
pink again? Because the Lord told me that purple is
the color of royalty. It's like, this is a little
extreme for you to be eliminating colors from your wardrobes.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
God spoke to me, and I'm never again. I'm not
gonna drink out of any plastic bottles.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I'm gonna take communion every morning at four, but I'm
gonna do at four am. I'm gonna work out at
three am, and I'm I'm gonna get up and I'm
a pray.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I'm gonna pray at two am.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Then I'm gonna read my Bible at three and then
I'm gonna take communion at four. But I'm not gonna
take it out of plastic cup because that's bad.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
For the environment. And we're pink. I'm wear purple because
it's the color of royalty.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
And when I see somebody swinging that hard in anything,
a diet or discipleship, it scares me a little bit.
Sometimes I think that a step is better than a swing.
Don't get me wrong. Dramatic decisions happen in the presence
of God. These moments where we say I'm leaving Egypt,
(12:23):
these moments where we say I'm no longer going to
live in this compromise, those moments where we say I'm
stepping into this with my whole heart, those moments where
we say I'm burning the bridges behind me because I
can't keep playing with this. Those moments are important. Ah,
But think steps, not swings. I think pivots those little moves.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
In your life that can lead to great purpose.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I try to build my ten minutes of my sermon
that I start with well enough that if you had
to leave, you would have already gotten something worth coming
out in the rain for.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And I think you just got it. And yet we
haven't even touched this text.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The tension in this text is difficult for me to
communicate to you through just reading the four verses that
I selected. This moment in Jesus's life is pivotal. He's
going to the cross. It's the Thursday before the Friday
where he will die, and as such, he's preparing hold
that word.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He's preparing his disciples for what they will face.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And yet there's really no way to prepare them for
the loss of his physical presence. There's really no way
for him to prepare them for the pressure of watching
him die like a criminal. There's really no way to
prepare them for the soul searching that will happen when
they watch him laid in Joseph of Arimathea's grave. There's
(13:48):
really no preparing them for this, and so he has
a meal with them, the Passover meal. It was a
Jewish tradition but Jesus was using it for a purpose.
And as he gets ready to serve the bread, he
breaks it at the table, And as he gets ready
to serve the wine, he pours it, and he says,
(14:08):
this is symbolic of.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What you're about to watch happen. He's preparing them.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
As he pours the wine, he says, this is my
blood poured out for you, the blood of my covenant.
As he breaks the bread, he says, this is my
body broken for you, and he feeds them and for
a moment. If you were just to look in on
this scene without any knowledge of the background, or without
any knowledge of what's coming next, you would think this
(14:34):
is a very happy moment, because the Bible says that
Jesus looked at his disciplesdaring this and said, I've been
looking forward to sharing this meal with you. In fact,
he says, I've eagerly anticipated sharing this meal with you.
I have eagerly longed for this moment with you. And
(14:55):
they're at the table. The Bible says that Jesus and
his disciples reclined. So if we were to just walk
in and watch the scene, cut out a sequence on mute,
we would think this was a family meal, but it's
now commonly known as the Last Supper because it's the
last time that they'll eat with him like this, and
think about everything that's happening at the table, Jesus is
(15:18):
sharing with them that he's about to suffer. So now
put the two together, supper and suffering all at the
same table. Jesus and Judas all at the same table,
the bread and the breaking all at the same table,
(15:41):
the wine and the pouring all at the same table.
And on one hand, this is a happy moment for Jesus.
I've looked forward to sharing this with you. I've looked
forward to this moment. I came for this moment. This
is the moment I was sent because as they're preparing
to eat the past over lamb. He is what they're
(16:02):
about to eat. He is the Lamb of God, slain
from the foundations of the world. He was prepared for this.
They weren't. He was looking forward to this, but they
could not know to anticipate it. Even if mentally they
understood it, emotionally they couldn't comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So it's a happy moment, but it's a heavy moment.
And isn't it crazy?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
How a lot of times the heaviest moments and the
happiest moments are happening all at the same table. If
there's one thing I could get across to you about
life as a follower of Christ is that you would
not be surprised to find that sometimes the happiest times
(16:49):
and the heaviest times happen at the same time. See,
it's not like we just have happy seasons and heavy seasons.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
It might be a.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Season for you where you're sitting at a table surrounded
by all of the things that you love, carrying all
of the things that you must endure. There are times
in all of our lives, especially as grown ups, where
we have to learn to take the happiness and the
heaviness in the same hour. The happiness and the heaviness
(17:24):
in the same seat. Everybody in this room, everybody watching
me online, has something to be happy about and something
to be heavy about.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And the thing about prayer I told you I'm going
to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
About prayer today is that it helps me not to
let the happiness hide itself behind the heaviness. So it
means that I can carry heavy situations in my heart
and still find happiness in Jesus.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Because I prayed my way through.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
The heaviness to the point that I realized He's in
the heaviness and he's in the happiness. In fact, if
I could take it one step further, let me tell
you why I love Jesus. He is my happiness in
my heaviness. He is the one that is seated at
the table, and even while the bread is breaking, I
(18:17):
know it's in his hands. So that's why I lift
my hands, because I know my life is in his hands.
Happiness and heaviness all at the same table.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Don't you see it in your life? Aren't you a
witness of it? Today?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
You got that one thing in your life that you're
happy about and proud of, and that one thing in
your life that you don't really want to talk about,
that one thing in your life that you're right now hoping.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I don't mention it that right now.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
If I started listing stuff, you would hope that I
would skip the.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Thing on the list.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I mean, I just got done with Valentine's Day. So
there's a lot of people who come to church on
the Sunday after Valentine's Day just kind of bracing for
a fight, thinking about all God, if he talks about
one more time that God is preparing somebody for you,
and God is preparing you for somebody, and God's going
to send the right person when you're.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Ready and touch three people and say get ready.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And if you make me touch anybody today, they better
be my husband in about six months, because I can't
take one more sermon while you talk about that thing
in my life.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But yet there's a married person going.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I hope he doesn't talk about how to get along
in the house because watch this, and now I'm a
shift on you.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
She's not even here with me today. We're not even
speaking right now.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And that doesn't mean that you're not happy anywhere in
your life. Just because you're heavy somewhere doesn't mean you're
not happy anywhere. And just because you're happy somewhere doesn't.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Mean you're not heavy anywhere. I wonder if he gives
me that for a balance.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I wonder if the happy things are to lift me
up so I don't quit, and the heavy things are
to keep me grounded so I don't get prideful. And
I just wish for you today, knowing that happiness and
heaviness always come in pairs. Walk in Nordstrom and ask
(20:15):
them to sell you one shoe for the price of half.
See if they'll do it. See if they'll sell you
one shoe. Now, I don't really want the left one.
I just want the right one. They're gonna say, sir,
they come in a pair. You got to buy them both.
And when it comes to your calling and your relationship
(20:38):
with God, you don't get to pick the right one
and leave the left one and pay half price. The
happiness and the heaviness go hand in hand, and this
will help you to understand why sometimes you're having a
great moment, somewhere in that moment you still feel kind
of down, and then you think, well, I'm not rightful. No,
(21:00):
it's not that you're not grateful. You're just grown up.
And to be grown up is to take responsibility. And
to take responsibility is to be like Jesus, and to
sit at a table knowing that John, who loves you
and Judas who will betray you, are both close enough
to touch at the same table. To sit at the table
(21:25):
and to know that my desire for freedom and my
struggle with the addiction are at the same table. To
sit at the table and to feast on Jesus, knowing
that my hope for my future and my regret about
the past are sitting at the same table. To know
that my excitement about what God is calling me to
do and my fear about whether I'm going to be
(21:47):
able to do it are sitting at the same table.
Who am I talking to? Come, well, let's have a
little table talk today, because into this context, Jesus speaks Simon, Simon,
and he says his name twice. Now we'll do a
little quiz, okay, and I'll let all of those online
(22:08):
play along. There are seven times in the Bible that
God or Jesus and Jesus is God, but I'm saying
Old Testament where God speaks in different ways, or in
the New Testament where Jesus would just lean over and tell.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You because he's physically present.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There are seven times, and this is one of them
where someone is called by their name, but they're called twice. Now,
first of all, put your name in the comments real quick,
and put it twice, all right, And say your name
out loud in the room.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And say it twice. Chris, Chris, say your name out
loud and say it twice.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Brad, Brad, say your first name and middle name, like
you're in trouble, Like your mom has got a switch.
Your mama didn't break off a switch. If your mom
didn't break off a switch.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
That was child abuse.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You need a switch sometimes we need to get back
to these switch.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I ain't gonna say nothing else about it. Touch your
neighbors say get back to the switches. That meant nothing.
I'm gonna see on the comments, can you guess? Can
you guess one of the others?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I'm on YouTube right now, live and if you're watching later,
don't google it, do not chat GPT it. If you
chat GPT my sermon question you goes to H E
L L. This is not an open book test.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Just guess. I won't make fun of you if you
get it wrong. That's right. Saul Saul, not just Saul Saul, Saul?
What does? What does sal? What is Saul doing? This
so important that he has to get named named twice?
Called called by Saul Saul, not just saw saw saw.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
He's riding on his horse going to persecute Christians, and
Jesus is about to turn him into Paul. You ever
heard of Paul? You ever heard of Philippians? Four thirteen. Paul,
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Well before he was.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Paul, y'all, he was saw Saul, Saul, Saul.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
He called his name to get his attention. He knocked
him off his horse to get his attention. He blinded
him with a light to get his attention. He restored
his sight and gave him a vision. And the gospel
came to the Gentiles because it was a pivotal moment.
Saw Saul put it in the chat, Saw Saul, what
else y'all got? Why y'all are guests and touch your neighbors?
Say better, call Saul? What else you got?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Guns n' roses?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Oh Moses, Moses, I worldly pray for me, Moses, Moses.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Take off your shoes, Moses, because you're about to pivot.
Take off your shoes, Moses, because the place you stand
is holy. This is a pivotal moment. This is a
personal moment, Moses. When God calls your name once, that's personal.
When he calls your name twice, that's pivotal. When he
(25:10):
calls your name once is powerful. When he calls your
name twice, it's a pattern. There are some of you
under the sound of my voice, and God is trying.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
To get your attention. He is repeating patterns in your life.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And it's not just that you keep seeing range rovers
on the road so you think you need to buy one.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
It's deeper than that. God keeps sending you the same
message different ways. Saul, Saul, Moses, Moses. Have you got
another one? Samuel? Samuel.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
That's my favorite of them, because this is when he
was learning to hear God's voice, and he was a
little boy.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
And some of you, since you've been a child, God
has been calling you, and he keeps calling you, and some.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Of you you even spent half of your adult life
running from the God that was calling.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
You when you were a little kid.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
And he kept calling, and he kept calling, and he
kept calling.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Samuel, Samuel.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
He had to come back to him and say it
again because the first time he thought it was the
voice of his mentor Eli, So he said it again, Samuel, Samuel,
you got another one? Martha Martha, Martha, Martha. I didn't
think anybody would get that, did you get that?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Nicole?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Nicole Nicole Martha Martha Luke Chapter ten.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Talking about Martha Martha, You're worried and distracted.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You keep trying to do dishes while your sister Mary
is having a devotion.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Martha Martha.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I know why he said her name twice because she
wasn't listening the first time.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
She was too busy running the vacuum cleaner.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Martha Martha, Martha middle name.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I don't want to spend time with you. I want
to be with you.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I don't want you to just run around so consumed
by what you can do for me. So I'm gonna
say your name twice because I'm more concerned about your
person than your plans.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
What's another one? Well, that one doesn't count. I guess
that makes eight. My God, my God.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
But it's technically true because when Jesus was on the cross,
he was God. So God said to God, my God,
my God, by and prepare that one.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Is that Orangeburg? In the house is Orangeburg? In the house, Ormsburg, Orangeburn.
I got so much family in Orangeburg. I do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
The one I really struggle with this Abraham, Abraham, because
that's where God called Abraham and said, go to the
place I will show you. And then when Abraham set out,
he didn't give him.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
The exact GPS pen.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You know how sometimes you just feel like you're taking
a step, not a swing, just a step. And when
he called him, he called him Abraham. But then he
called him to do something very difficult. Now sometimes and
you're like, God will call you to give up something
you love. God will call you to give up something
that you love. Usually when we come to God in prayer,
(28:22):
we ask him to take away the things that we
don't like.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
See, prayer is two ways. It's not just me talking
to God, it's me listening.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
When I was.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Taught to pray, I was mostly taught to pray a
prayer list.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So I start naming all the things that I want
God to do, like I'm giving him his checklist for the.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Day and the date I need him to do it by.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
But prayer is not just listing, it's listening. It's listening, and.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Sometimes what God says is hard to hear. When he
said Abraham, Abraham, now in this specific case, God had
called Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, that he
waited twenty five years for. He tied him down and
he was going to plunge the knife in obedience to God.
And just as the knife was raised, there was a
pause that led to provision, and God said, don't lay
(29:21):
a hand on the boy. There's a ram in the bush.
You passed the test. I didn't want you to kill
your son. I wanted you to trust me. And he
sacrificed the ram instead. And at that pivotal moment, just
before Abraham was about to do it, God said, Abraham, Abraham,
(29:42):
and he called it twice.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I think we ought to go through all of these
over the next few weeks in church. Each of these times, Abraham, Abraham, Moses, Moses.
I didn't even tell you about Jacob, Jacob, but I
will how he was going to Egypt to see his
son Joseph, that he thought was dead, and he had
so given up on Joseph being alive that he had
resigned himself to the despair. And God had to call
(30:07):
his name twice, Jacob Jacob, to tell him that Joseph's
own hands would close his eyes. That the thing that
you thought was dead is very much alive. I said,
The thing that you thought was dead was very much alive.
I said that the thing that you thought was dead
is very much alive.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Jacob, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And today we find ourselves in a pivotal moment for
Jesus in a pivotal moment for an apostle named Simon Peter,
and don't you wonder why in Luke chapter twenty two,
verse thirty one, and I'm almost there, Holly, Holly, Holly,
I'm almost to the part that inspired me to get
up and preach this text.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Because as Jesus is.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Speaking to all of the disciples, telling them, I must suffer,
while he is.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Telling them you are going to rule one.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Day, while he is preparing them for what the cross
and the kingdom will be, he pivots his attention from
the entire table the twelve to one man, and when
he calls his name, he says, verse thirty one, Luke,
chapter twenty two, right back where we started, Simon Simon. Question,
(31:23):
does Simon have another name? What's Simon's other name? Talk
to me out loud, shout it like you're mad at him?
Why Simon, Simon?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Why not Peter Peter. In this moment.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Of pivotal and necessary instruction for the disciples, and specifically Peter,
Jesus does something very interesting and to really tease out
of the text the truth that is lying just under
the surface. Go back to Luke chapter six In Luke
Chapter six, verses twelve through sixteen, the author Luke, with
(32:04):
meticulous detail, tells us that one of those days Jesus
went out to a mountainside to pray. What did he
go to do to pray? This is at the very
beginning of his public ministry. And he goes to pray,
and he spent the night praying to God. When morning came,
he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them,
(32:27):
who he also designated apostles, Simon whom he named Peter,
and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew Thomas,
James son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the zealot,
Judas son of James, and Judas Ascaria, who became a trader.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
But there's a sandwich here.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Because if you go back to verse fourteen, the first
one that it names is Simon, who he named Peter.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
And this is a very curious conflict as we study
the text, because if.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Jesus named him Peter, and it's recorded in Luke Chapter six,
and if he's referred to as Peter all throughout Luke's gospel,
then why at the most pivotal moment in his life.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
When Jesus turns his attention from.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
All the twelve at the table to focus on the
one and to give a personal word, does he not
address him as Peter Peter. That would be the way
to build confidence in the one that you called Peter.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Peter.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Don't remember, don't forget to remember when we get to
the cross, You're the rock. Don't forget to remember when
we get to the cross, You're the one. Don't forget
to remember when we get to the cross, how I
helped you walk on water. Don't forget to remember when
we get to the cross, how I called you by name.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Don't forget to remember how we fed five thousand Peter,
Peter Peter.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
But he doesn't say Peter twice. He doesn't even say
Simon middle named Peter. He says Simon, Simon.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So let's look at the cast of characters for.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
A moment, shall we? Simon, you got Satan and you've
got the Savior, And I believe Verse thirty one really
describes where a lot of our church is at today
all over the world. I don't mean our church just
in this one room. I mean our church all over
this world. Verse thirty one says Simon. Satan has asked
(34:20):
to sift you, and so what's about to happen? Let
me set it up for you. Over the next night,
over the next few days, is going to be Simon
versus Satan, Simon versus Satan, and spoiler alert, Simon doesn't win.
As a matter of fact, when it comes to the
(34:41):
most crucial moment of Simon's life, when he will deny
Jesus Christ, he does not only deny his power, he
denies the relationship altogether. He says, I don't even know him,
and Jesus looks him in his eyes and says Simon, Simon,
Satan asked to sift you. The answer that we would
expect from Jesus if Satan asked to sift, and let
(35:02):
me just slip in here.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
He doesn't get to do it without permission. Whatever the
devil does to you, he had to go through Jesus
to do it. So even if Jesus.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Didn't do that thing for you, it had to go
through Jesus before it got to you, which means that
sifting is a process of separation. We don't sift that
much in our daily lives, so maybe we can't really
imagine this, but this word used for sift when he
said Satan desires to sift you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
This is the only time that word is used.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
In the whole Bible, because it is a shaking so violent,
it's only used one time. It's shaking out the stuff
that shouldn't be there to leave the stuff that will
produce the bread that can feed. And I was interested
in the fact that Simon Peter was a fisherman and
Jesus is sifting a fisherman. I thought it was a
(35:57):
mixed metaphor until I remember that Jesus told Peter feed
my sheep in John twenty one. So that makes me
think that he's trying to turn a fisherman into a shepherd.
And before a fisherman can become a shepherd, before somebody
who catches fish can become somebody who feeds sheep, there
must be a sifting.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Sometimes the sifting in your life is a sign.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
It is a signal that this is a pivotal moment
that God is changing the season and the stage of
your life. And before the season shifts, there is a sifting.
The interesting thing about the sifting, and y'all, I'm so
full of this word to preach for somebody.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Is because it doesn't say that Jesus sifted Simon. It
says that Satan sifted Simon.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
But no matter who sifted him, the one who sifted
had to get permission to do it. So it means
that even if I'm being attacked by the enemy, even
if I'm being attacked by anxiety, even if my body
is under attack right now, the attack didn't have to
come from God for the grace to be received by faith.
(37:10):
It means, simply put, that this sifting season in your.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Life is only that a season. News flash.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
The more gifted you are, the more sifted you must be.
Because why Simon Simon? Why not Bartholomew Bartholomew? Why not Judas? Judas?
Why not Philip? Philip?
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Why not Nathaniel Nathaniel? Why Simon Simon? And this is
the critical thing for you to understand. Oh, if you
could understand this, you wouldn't be like, why am I
getting picked on? Why is my life so hard? Why
is this happening to me? It would still be heavy,
it would still be hard, but you would understand this
simple principle of the kingdom. And it's this the reason
(38:10):
that he pivoted to Peter in this moment and called
him Simon. Is because Simon was the most significant one
sitting at the table. The reason he was singled out
to be sifted is because he was singled out to
be significant. This sifting in my life?
Speaker 1 (38:36):
What is it about? What is a sifting about? In
a sifting season, you will notice your motives are exposed.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
In a sifting season. You will notice that fake friends
are exposed in a sifting season of your life. You
will notice that dependencies are exposed. In a sifting season
of your life. You will notice that things that used.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
To work don't work anymore, and you will wonder is
this the end? And yet, to think that this is
the end.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
When you're still sitting at the table and Jesus knows
you're going to be preaching on the day of Pentecost
is to miss the message of the gospel. I don't
think the disciples knew the pressure that Jesus was under.
While he's busy breaking bread and pouring wine, He's preparing
(39:25):
his heart, and they really didn't see it until he
knelt in the garden of Gutsemone. Now I gotta tell
you about guestsemony because Guesthsemone was the place of the
olive press, but it was also the place where the
Savior prayed. And in Guessemone he prayed something very powerful
to prayers. He prayed, Father, if it's possible, take this
cup from me, write this down in your notes. That's
(39:46):
called the prayer that prevents. Sometimes prayer prevents. Sometimes in
the Bible, will see somebody pray and what was going
to happen didn't happen because they prayed. It's important that
we pray and plead the blood of Jesus over our lives,
because there are some things that your prayers can stop.
(40:06):
There are when Moses prayed to God, God said, i
am not going to wipe out the Israelites even though
they sinned, because you prayed and it prevented it. Moses said, God,
if you wipe them out, it will defame your glory.
God said, I'm going to do what you asked, and
I'm not going to kill them because you asked. You
can pray things for your children, you can pray things
(40:27):
for your friends, you can pray things for those you love.
You can pray things for your own life. But Jesus
came to drink the cup, and so the father didn't
take the cup away.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
So after he moves past the prayer that prevents.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
He moved into the prayer that prepares. There is a
prayer that you can pray that will prepare you. There
is a prayer that you can pray that God would
enlighten you. There is a prayer that you could pray
that God would show you the doors to go through.
There is a prayer that you can pray before you
leave your house in the morning. There is a prayer
you can pray in the bathroom at the office before
(41:03):
you have to come back out for the next meeting.
Sometimes you better dead bolt the bathroom door and tell
the Lord, please clean out my mouth, please cleanse my thoughts,
Please help me go back in here.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
God give me a.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Supernatural smile, because I hate every single one of these people.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
There is a prayer that you can pray that will
prepare you, And sometimes we miss it because I'm gonna
just be honest, We don't really give the day to God.
We just get caught off guard by the day.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Just get caught off guard by the fact that your
back hurts when you get out of bed.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Your back hurts every day. Just pray about it.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
And get up and do a stretch and pray and
pray and prepare. There is a prayer that prepares, and
so Jesus moves into that prayer. Next he prays, God,
if it's possible, take this cup from me.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
But God does not remove the cup.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
So then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours
be done.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
What's that. That's the prayer of preparation. It's the prayer
that gets him ready. It's the prayer that some of
you have to pray right now. God, this is gonna
be hard.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
What's coming up next is gonna be heavy, What's coming
up next?
Speaker 1 (42:03):
This is not going to be easy. What I'm walking into.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
I'm gonna have to walk into this knowing that it's
going to be painful and it's going to be costly,
and there is no easy way around this.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I'm just gonna have to go through it.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
So God, prepare me, like Paul prayed for the church
at Ephesus, Strengthen me in my inner man, that the
eyes of my understanding may be open, so I can
understand the inheritance that I have in Him, so that
when I'm up against the impossible demands of this situation.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
I have a.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Supply to draw from and a resource to reach for.
So I'm prepared for this. So when Goliath gets up
in my face tomorrow, even though I don't even know
his name yet, I know a name that is greater
than a giant, and that can bring him down with
a single stone. Because I've been killing bears and i've
been killing sheep. I've been keeping sheep, and I've been
(42:57):
killing lions, and I'm prepared for this. And as a
matter of fact, that's why I had to come in
church today even though the rain was pouring sideways.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I don't even know what was happening, but.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
The Lord dump dumped a bucket of rain sideways out
of heaven. That's the meteorological explanation for today.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
But some of y'all had to come anyway.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Because I came to prepare for the fight that I'm in,
for the season that I'm stepping into, because I'm being
shaken right now.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
But upon this rock I will build my church.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Somebody shall God get me ready.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
God get me ready. I don't know what's coming next,
but God get me ready. It's the prayer that prepares.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
But then sit down, my sermon is about the prayer,
not that prevents, not that prepairs, but the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
And this is for all of you who weren't ready
for it. This is for all of you who didn't
see it come in. This is for all of you,
Simon Simon, who hit a point in your life and
you didn't pray about it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
See the thing about Jesus's words in this situation, when
he says, Simon Simon, that is so meaningful to me
is that when Satan asked to sift him as we,
Jesus didn't tell him no. And even standing on the
eve of Peter's disappointment, Jesus prophesies his destiny.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Look at verse thirty two.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Please, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
When not if, when not if you turn back.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Jesus knew in that moment that there would come a
point in your life, a pivotal point, when the pressure
would be too great, when the future would be too uncertain,
when you would not be able to do it like
you used to do it. And he said, in that moment,
when you turn back, not if you turn back. When
you turn back, he knew that there would be a
(45:33):
moment where you would pray and say, God, fix it.
I made a mess of this. I have made a
complete mess of this.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Fix it.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
And that's the moment he's been waiting for. When my
kids were very small, I made up a little lie,
and you could judge me for it. But anytime they
would get hurt and they would come to me about it,
I would tell them, Oh, if it was a minor injury.
If it was a major injury, see your mom. If
it's a I'll say, don't worry about it. I can
fix it. And whatever was hurt on their body, I
(46:05):
would pretend like I knew how to fix it. I'm
talking when they were very small. So my elbow hurts, Oh,
come here, I'll fix it. I went to elbow school.
Oh your big toe hurts. I went to big toe school.
I went to pinky toe school also, but big toe
school is the one you need right now.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Big toe school is what you get.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Oh your ear hurts, I went to ear school. Oh,
and if it was a minor injury, I'm telling you.
Every time it would work. Every time they'd stop crying.
One time, Graham looked at me and said, you went
to a lot of schools.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
I went to ear school, I school hand school, every school.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
I went to every school, And even though I didn't
really have the competency to fix it, their faith made
them feel better. I didn't even really have the ability
to fix it. Just their faith that I could was
enough to make the pain go away.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
If I, as a father.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
With no ability to fix it, can make my kid
better just by telling them I went to school, how
much more can your mother, who didn't just go to school,
he started the university.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
How much more can your father, who.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Knows how he puts you together, who knows how he
made you, who knows your temperament, knows your personality, knows
your background, knows your insecurity, knows your resume, knows your hope,
nobody find out abouts knows everything that you carry on
the inside of you. Call your name and say, Simon, Simon.
(47:57):
I see who you were, I see who you're gonna be.
And I stand in the middle to let you know
that Peter is how I see you, and Simon is
how I found you. And for the next night you
are gonna be in a Simon state of mind, and
you're gonna deny me Simon Simon, and you're gonna betray me, Simon, Simon,
(48:21):
and you're gonna let me down, Simon Simon. But when
I look at you, I still see Peter, because that's
the name I gave you, because that's the name I
called you, because that's the name I chose for you. Now,
help me preach. Tell your neighbor. He knows your name.
(48:41):
He knows your name and your other name. He knows
your name you bring to church and your other name
you're taking home.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
He knows your name, Simon, Simon.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Just to remind you that he will speak to your
Simon until you see your Peter again.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Praise Ray. So give me a little more vogues.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Yea, what I'm trying to say, Okay, what I'm trying
to say, watch this, Simon.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Is what you're acting like. Peter is what God called you.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
The two are a pair, a pair, everybody say pair
like boots. They are a pair, like earrings, they are
a pair, like gloves.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
They are a pair.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
And so when Peter doesn't prevent it, when Peter doesn't
persevere through it, when Peter isn't prepared for it, and
Simon sings slow, watch what happens.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Next, Jesus said I prayed for you, Simon.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
So if this is Simon's faith versus Satan's attack, Satan wins.
But apparently this is not a fight between Simon's faith
and Satan's attack. This is a fight between Satan's attack
and a savior's prayer. And this is not just any prayer.
(50:37):
This is the prayer that read pairs. This is the
prayer not that you pray, because sometimes you can't pray,
and sometimes you don't pray, and sometimes you didn't pray.
This is not the prayer that prevents, because Peter went
on to deny Jesus. But when it doesn't prevent, and
(51:00):
when it doesn't prepare, Jesus says, I got a prayer
for you, not the one that you pray, the one
that I prayed. When you are acting like Simon, but
I know you to be Peter.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
It is the.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Prayer that Rea pears, the prayer that reminds you who
you really are, the prayer that reminds you what he
really spoke.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
The prayer that calls you back to.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
The essence of His spirit and his presence, away from
the dictates of your flesh. The prayer that brings you
back to your right mind, the prayer that, like the
prodigal son, says, how am I starving to death when
my father has enough food to feed an entire household
and every employee. I will arise and go back to
my father. I will repair you. I will bring you
(51:49):
back into alignment. I am praying for you. I am
pairing you, because as long as Jesus is your prayer partner,
your prayers are gonna get in third.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
It is the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
So Chris, come here, Come here, So Chris, Chris, come
up on the stage.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
Chris, Chris. How many of y'all think that Chris lifts?
How many y'all think Chris lifts? Chris? Chris lists lists,
and as.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
He is lifting, the Lord gave me a very specific
picture of this to make it make sense. When he
is lifting weights, he is hopefully lifting more weight than
he can successfully complete repetitions for which is called lifting
to the point of failure for hypertrophy, so that he
can have muscle gain. When he is lifting weights, to
(52:53):
the average eye, it appears that he is building muscle,
but that is not technically true. He does not build
muscle when he lifts weights. He builds muscles after he
has lifted weights to the point of failure and goes home.
While he is lifting weights, not only is he not
(53:14):
building muscles, he is actually doing the opposite in that
the muscle fibers are tearing, little micro tears that are
tearing the muscle fibers.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
So now he's got a tear in there.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
And so when he goes home, his body starts talking
to itself, saying, we got to do something about this.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Did you see what he just put us through?
Speaker 2 (53:33):
He made us curl sixty pound dumbbells today, he made
us do six, seven, eight reps.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
Last time we only did nine. Today he made us
do ten.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
And he barely got there and he struggled and he
couldn't get the last one. So since he got to
that point and started shaking and started shaking, three of
y'all are listening to my sermons, so I'll preach it
for three. Since he got to that point, because this
is the that repairs. Since he got to that point
(54:03):
and started shaking and couldn't do another one and drop
the weight, then the body sends a signal to itself
and it starts sending out satellite cells to the torn
fibers with the little microtel cells and all the stuff
that I went to school learned about.
Speaker 1 (54:19):
I went to muscle school too, and I was about
said the Bible said.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
But the body says, we gotta send more cells to
build that back.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
Now, I know what Jesus meant in verse thirty two.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Put it on the screen, please, he said, I prayed
for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.
Speaker 1 (54:38):
But it did.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
No, it didn't. It didn't fail. It was broken down
to be built back up.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
Because after you've finished that lift, why y'all take my
verse down, give me my verse back. I prayed that
your faith would not fail.
Speaker 2 (55:02):
And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. This
is the prayer that repairs. Is that after you have
been broken down, after you were surprised what came out of.
Speaker 5 (55:21):
Yourself, after you made the mistake, you say, God, strengthen
me for this, And Jesus says, all right, I'm already
praying for you, and I'm already sending satellite cells all.
Speaker 2 (55:40):
To your torn muscles, all to your broken heart. I'm
already sending new cells.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
But I'm not just gonna build it back. I'm gonna
build it back better. On the other side of this night,
Peter will go on to preach the first sermon that
was called a sermon in the New Testament Church.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
And I got to think that while he was shaken,
he didn't feel very strong. I gotta think that while
he was shaken, while he was sifted, he felt like,
this is it.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
But Jesus said, Peter, this is.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Not about your prayer, Simon, It's about my prayer. As
long as you keep thinking it's about your faith versus
Satan's attack, you will always feel weak.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Chris, Chris, I'm done with you coming back down. But
the moment you realize that this is not.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Simon's faith versus Satan's attack, this is Satan's attack versus
the Savior's prayer, the.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
Prayer of repair is his prayer. He's saying, I see you, Simon,
I see you, Peter. I am repairing you. I'm reminding
I'm going to use you.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
And don't you think for one moment that when you
get to this point, you're going to always.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Be Peter Peter.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
At best, you're going to be Simon Peter, and sometimes
you're Simon Simon. But don't you love to know that
the Savior prayed for simonyes That just hit me, man.
Speaker 6 (57:31):
That the Savior prayed Simon. Simon, stand to your feet
so I can pray for you, the prayer.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
That repairs. See how me and Holly are standing together
like this.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
We're a pair, We're a couple. That's a visual illustration
for you and Jesus. If any of you would want
to come after her, you would.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Have to go through me, and you might be able
to do it.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
But I promise you I'll pick up a chair, and
if the chair didn't do it, I got three state
champions on the second row and a full security team,
and I want you to know I would do everything
in my power to keep you from getting to who
I'm paired with. You keep thinking that you are paired
(58:28):
with people, and so when people leave, you think it's over.
You are a joint heir with Jesus. And in the
Book of Hebrews, I got to give them Hebrews seven
day because they'll think that Jesus just prayed for Simon,
but they won't believe that he's praying for them. In
(58:49):
the Book of Hebrews, Chapter seven, verse fifteen or verse
twenty five, the author says Therefore he is able to
save completely those who come to God through him because
He always lives.
Speaker 1 (59:06):
To intercede for them. What does it mean that he's interceding.
Speaker 2 (59:12):
He is standing in your shaking place saying, if you
want to get to them, you've got to go through me.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
That's Jesus speaking.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Now. There is the prayer Graham helped me down from
this chair. There is the prayer that prevents. There is
the prayer that prepares. But I have a feeling I'm
speaking to a few people online today and even if
you in the room who prayer didn't prevent it, prayer
(59:50):
didn't prepare. And like Simon, Simon, you are going through
something right now, or you've been through something where you
need the prayer that.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
And the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Is this, Lord, if everything else goes away, if everything
else is sifted, don't let this trial take my faith.
Because if my faith doesn't fail, I can make it.
If my faith doesn't fail, I can come back from this.
(01:00:24):
If my faith doesn't fail, I can get resourceful. If
my faith doesn't fail, I can reach out. If my
faith doesn't fail, I can pivot. And so, just like
the Savior, pray for Peter, we want to write now
pray for you, those of you who are Simon.
Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Simon.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Oh I followed him at a distance. Oh I let
the pressure get the best of me. But this is
the prayer that repairs. This is the prayer that brings
you back to God right now. I believe there are
many today who have never made the decision to make
Jesus the.
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Lord of your life.
Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I want to lead you in a prayer right now,
and this is the prayer not only that repairs, but
this is the prayer that saves.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
The Bible says that if you will.
Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved.
He knows your name, and now it's time for you
to call his name, the name of Jesus. There is
no other name in heaven, or on earth or under
the earth by which man must be saved.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
It is in this name.
Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
So right now, if God is speaking to you, and
you realize in your heart, this is my day to
come to God. This is my day to give him
my life. I want you to pray this prayer with
me out loud, and repeat after me. And if you
mean this with your heart. The Bible says that if
you confess your sins. He will forgive you of all unrighteousness.
(01:01:57):
So right now, if you're ready for a new beginning,
I'm by you to pray this prayer with me.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
and the savior of the world. And today I make
Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
that I would be forgiven and rose again to give
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
(01:02:31):
new beginning. Throw your hand up on the count of three.
If you prayed that one, two, three, we celebrate too.
Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
That's amazing. Let's clap a little louder.
Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Please, let's welcome leave into the family of God.
Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Can you give the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
A praise if he let vote something to you today?
Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Take Lord, Amen.
Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
I think we're gonna do another one next week. Another one.
I don't know. It'd be Abraham, Abraham, Moses, Moses, Jacob Jacob.
Let's take a church vote right now in the comments,
which one do you want next?
Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Make some noise if you want Abraham.
Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Abraham, Moses, Moses, Jacob Jacob, Martha, Martha.
Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Saul Saul, Samuel Samuel. It's a close call. We'll have
to come back and see. All over the room.
Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
People are receiving orange Bibles at each of our campuses.
Less thank God for every new beginning.
Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Raise the Lord. That's so good man.
Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
One more thing I want to tell you before our
campus pastors take it. I got such a good illustration
today of this message that I thought I would give
you as a take home. It was raining really hard
today in Charlotte. The rain, as I mentioned earlier, was
coming so hard and coming from such a strange direction
that even in my back room there was water that
(01:04:24):
came under the doors.
Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Now these are good doors, these aren't cheap doors.
Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
It's not like we have a budget crisis at the
church and we have to put some weak doors. They
just weren't prepared for what came in in that direction,
and so they didn't prevent it. So they weren't prepared,
they didn't prevent There's water on the floor, and I
hope they cleaned it up while I was preaching, But
(01:04:51):
I didn't slip the thing about it is as silly
as it would be for me to never come back
to church again.
Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Didn't stop the water from coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
That would be how ridiculous it would be for you
to let some stupid storm keep you from fulfilling what
God has for your life and for your family. So
what am I gonna do? Close down the church? Never
(01:05:23):
come again. No, we're gonna fix the doors this week,
because if they didn't prevent and they didn't prepare, we're
gonna repair them.
Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
So I call you back to your right self. I
call you back to your right mind. I call you
back to your childlike faith. I call you back to
your sincere spirit. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
You can share it with your friends. You can click
the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
(01:06:09):
your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you Lord for breath and my lungs today.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you Lord for waking me up this morning. Thank
you Lord for feeding me. Thank you Lord for keeping me.
Thank you Lord for loving me. God is so good.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I want to call your attention to a few things
remain standing. For one moment, we'll be beginning our.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Elevation Night's tour very very shortly. Let's clap our hands
and thank God for that. I want to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
If you're near Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, It'sburgh, Pennsylvania, Toronto, Canada, Detroit, Michigan, Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Newark, New Jersey, or Washington, DC.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Go to Elevation Nights dot com.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Limited tickets are available.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
That'll be Tuesday, February twenty fifth through Thursday, March sixth
I can't wait to see you. We will be singing
all kinds of songs and we'll be preaching and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Be sharing in God's presence together, and I'm grateful.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I also want to let you know that that song
we were just singing, I know A name is available
anywhere you stream.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Music, so you can get it and sing it and
just walk around the.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
House singing the name of Jesus. Sing it off key,
on key, sing it loud song, whatever you got, just
call on his name. I was reading in the Psalms
this week where David said when I kept silent, the
attack continued, And I think that's what the devil wants
to do sometimes, that's shut us up inside of our
own heads, in our own minds.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So even just all of y'all that sit there in.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Church and don't sing anything you're missing out, open your
mouth wide and I will fill it.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Say it the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm gonna give you one more chance to praise them
before I move into this world.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is today.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wordy to God? Now?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Today might just be the most important day that we've
ever been here, because this is our first sermon of
our official twentieth year.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Of ministry as a church.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I want to share with you something from Luke chapter
twenty two, And as you find that in your Bible,
or just fasten your eyes on the screen for a moment,
and I call your attention to it.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I want you to just get in your posture like
you would get in if something important was about to
happen in your life. Just your physical.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Posture, your emotional posture, if something important was about to
happen in your life. Even if you're watching this at home,
or even if you're watching this in a I don't know.
You might not even made it out the bed today.
And yet I want you to just get in the
posture that you would get in if something important was
about to happen in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And listen to this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
In Luke chapter twenty two, verses thirty one through thirty four,
this is Jesus speaking Simon. Simon, Satan has asked to
sift you as we. In fact, he's asked to sift.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
All of you as we.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith
may not fail, and when you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But he replied, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death.
Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Today you will deny three times that you know me.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Very heavy text, but let's focus on verse thirty two
for a moment. One more time. I have prayed for
you simon, that your faith may not fail, and when
you have turned back.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Strengthen your brothers.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I want to talk to you about prayer for a
few moments today. I want to speak to you about
prayer for a few moments today, but not just generic prayer.
I want to speak to you about a specific prayer
for your life. And the title of my message today
is the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
The prayer that repairs, And as.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
We talk about it today, I believe the Lord will
do a deep work in your soul.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Will you pray with me one more time? Father?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Fix it in Jesus's name, Amen, and you may be
seated him.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Y'all like that, Father, fix it? Somebody shout, Lord, fix it? Yeah,
put it in his hands now.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I don't always share with you why I picked certain
scriptures that I want to preach, but if it's helpful,
I do, And today, I think is one of those
occasions where letting you know why I selected this text
may help you receive it a little bit better. I
want to help you hear the voice of God more
in your daily life. I want to help you tune
(05:36):
in to.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
God's voice when he talks.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't want you to be confused by all the
noise that's surrounding you and never really get to know
the God who made you. I said a whole lot
in that one sentence. I don't want you to be
so confused by the noise that's surrounding you that you
never know the God who made you, and never know
(06:02):
his voice. Jesus said one time, my sheep know my
voice and they hear me, but it's hard to hear
from God with so much noise all around. So I
was going through my Bible just thinking about how great
it would be to begin this twentieth year of ministry
in our church to show you about different people who
heard from God, different people that God spoke to, and
(06:25):
it happens all through the Bible, so it's kind of
hard to narrow down. I thought it would take me
twenty more years to preach every time God spoke to somebody,
And then I came across an interesting selection of scriptures
of seven times that God spoke to people in a
special way. Seven times were either in the Old Testament
(06:47):
or the New Testament, God, the Holy Spirit or Jesus
spoke to somebody and said their name, not once, but twice.
I thought it was interesting. It reminded me of how
sometimes you have to do that to get your kids attention.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
You know, if I.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Say Abby, Abby, the second one is because your gracy
Abrams is way too loud upstairs and you can't hear
me talking over it. If I say Graham, Graham, it
means I don't care that you can't pause your video
game get down here right now. Especially if I say
(07:31):
your middle name. Your middle name is like a cussword.
If I have to call your middle name, that means
you have slipped to the point that we have resorted
to having to say the second part of your name
to make sure that you understand.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What's your middle name? Dave Dave Rick.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So if they said Dave Rick, oh Rick is trouble
in the same way, I wondered, are there are times
where God has to get his children's attention, and so
he has to speak in such a personal way because
something so pivotal is happening that he doesn't want them
to miss it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
There are a few thousand under the sound of my
voice today who need to hear the voice of the
Lord in this season of your life, because this is
a pivotal.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Moment for you.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I'd like to remind you something about pivotal moments in each.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Of our lives. They're not big, but they make all
the difference.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
To illustrate, I want you all to zoom out with
the camera and just show how quickly I can pivot
almost where you didn't notice. And I've used this to
illustrate before, both in leadership and in life, how sometimes
you can make a small adjustment. But if I were
to make this small adjustment in my stance through pivoting
(08:44):
on my back foot and to walk that way, the
number of steps that I took would multiply the importance
of the decision that I made to pivot. What I
mean is it doesn't make much difference as long as
I'm up here, But the longer I walked in that direct,
I would end up in such a different destination, all
(09:04):
because of a pivot. My oldest son, Elijah, my middle
son Graham, my youngest.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Abby are all here today with us.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
We're all happy, We're all happy because Elijah is home
from college for a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're happy because Abby stays happy.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
We're happy because Graham is on the second row with
his buddies who are back to back state champions in
the sport of wrestling.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I was of yesterday. He asked for that shout out
and I did it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And my oldest son, Elijah, was asking me recently about
someone that he follows on social media. It's not a
very big personality, so don't try to guess who I'm
talking about. But the person is minor league famous, and
they made a big statement or commitment to Jesus Christ, and.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Then they went back on it.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And they went back on it after about two years
of being very extreme, and the person was a very
worldly personality, and then they became a very godly personality.
And when I say godly, I don't mean like you're
supposed to be where you're receiving the grace of God
and growing in the grace of God. They were telling
everybody why they were better than everybody else for those
(10:22):
two years, and the moment I saw them begin to
boisterously declare and boldly infer and proclaim that they would
never sin in these.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Ways like other people do. Ever again, and they would
never struggle with what other people struggle with. Again. I've
told my son Elijah, watch out for the big.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Swings, because anytime you see something swing that far this way,
guess what Newton doesn't have to be here to tell
us is got to come back.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Be careful for the big swing.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And I begin to tell them that even though it's
sad that this person was in the faith and now
publicly says I reject the faith, even though they said that,
that doesn't mean that the faith that you have is invalid.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It just means that you need to think steps not swings.
Think steps not swings.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And sometimes when it comes to hearing God's voice and
knowing God's voice, you'll see people who they swing really
hard and really far. God spoke to me, and I'm
never gonna wear pink again. Why I never gonna wear
pink again? Because the Lord told me that purple is
the color of royalty. It's like, this is a little
extreme for you to be eliminating colors from your wardrobes.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
God spoke to me, and I'm never again. I'm not
gonna drink out of any plastic bottles.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I'm gonna take communion every morning at four, but I'm
gonna do at four am. I'm gonna work out at
three am, and I'm I'm gonna get up and I'm
a pray.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I'm gonna pray at two am.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Then I'm gonna read my Bible at three and then
I'm gonna take communion at four. But I'm not gonna
take it out of plastic cup because that's bad.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
For the environment. And we're pink. I'm wear purple because
it's the color of royalty.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
And when I see somebody swinging that hard in anything,
a diet or discipleship, it scares me a little bit.
Sometimes I think that a step is better than a swing.
Don't get me wrong. Dramatic decisions happen in the presence
of God. These moments where we say I'm leaving Egypt,
(12:23):
these moments where we say I'm no longer going to
live in this compromise, those moments where we say I'm
stepping into this with my whole heart, those moments where
we say I'm burning the bridges behind me because I
can't keep playing with this. Those moments are important. Ah,
But think steps, not swings. I think pivots those little moves.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
In your life that can lead to great purpose.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I try to build my ten minutes of my sermon
that I start with well enough that if you had
to leave, you would have already gotten something worth coming
out in the rain for.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And I think you just got it. And yet we
haven't even touched this text.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The tension in this text is difficult for me to
communicate to you through just reading the four verses that
I selected. This moment in Jesus's life is pivotal. He's
going to the cross. It's the Thursday before the Friday
where he will die, and as such, he's preparing hold
that word.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He's preparing his disciples for what they will face.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And yet there's really no way to prepare them for
the loss of his physical presence. There's really no way
for him to prepare them for the pressure of watching
him die like a criminal. There's really no way to
prepare them for the soul searching that will happen when
they watch him laid in Joseph of Arimathea's grave. There's
(13:48):
really no preparing them for this, and so he has
a meal with them, the Passover meal. It was a
Jewish tradition but Jesus was using it for a purpose.
And as he gets ready to serve the bread, he
breaks it at the table, And as he gets ready
to serve the wine, he pours it, and he says,
(14:08):
this is symbolic of.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What you're about to watch happen. He's preparing them.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
As he pours the wine, he says, this is my
blood poured out for you, the blood of my covenant.
As he breaks the bread, he says, this is my
body broken for you, and he feeds them and for
a moment. If you were just to look in on
this scene without any knowledge of the background, or without
any knowledge of what's coming next, you would think this
(14:34):
is a very happy moment, because the Bible says that
Jesus looked at his disciplesdaring this and said, I've been
looking forward to sharing this meal with you. In fact,
he says, I've eagerly anticipated sharing this meal with you.
I have eagerly longed for this moment with you. And
(14:55):
they're at the table. The Bible says that Jesus and
his disciples reclined. So if we were to just walk
in and watch the scene, cut out a sequence on mute,
we would think this was a family meal, but it's
now commonly known as the Last Supper because it's the
last time that they'll eat with him like this, and
think about everything that's happening at the table, Jesus is
(15:18):
sharing with them that he's about to suffer. So now
put the two together, supper and suffering all at the
same table. Jesus and Judas all at the same table,
the bread and the breaking all at the same table,
(15:41):
the wine and the pouring all at the same table.
And on one hand, this is a happy moment for Jesus.
I've looked forward to sharing this with you. I've looked
forward to this moment. I came for this moment. This
is the moment I was sent because as they're preparing
to eat the past over lamb. He is what they're
(16:02):
about to eat. He is the Lamb of God, slain
from the foundations of the world. He was prepared for this.
They weren't. He was looking forward to this, but they
could not know to anticipate it. Even if mentally they
understood it, emotionally they couldn't comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So it's a happy moment, but it's a heavy moment.
And isn't it crazy?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
How a lot of times the heaviest moments and the
happiest moments are happening all at the same table. If
there's one thing I could get across to you about
life as a follower of Christ is that you would
not be surprised to find that sometimes the happiest times
(16:49):
and the heaviest times happen at the same time. See,
it's not like we just have happy seasons and heavy seasons.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
It might be a.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Season for you where you're sitting at a table surrounded
by all of the things that you love, carrying all
of the things that you must endure. There are times
in all of our lives, especially as grown ups, where
we have to learn to take the happiness and the
heaviness in the same hour. The happiness and the heaviness
(17:24):
in the same seat. Everybody in this room, everybody watching
me online, has something to be happy about and something
to be heavy about.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And the thing about prayer I told you I'm going
to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
About prayer today is that it helps me not to
let the happiness hide itself behind the heaviness. So it
means that I can carry heavy situations in my heart
and still find happiness in Jesus.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Because I prayed my way through.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
The heaviness to the point that I realized He's in
the heaviness and he's in the happiness. In fact, if
I could take it one step further, let me tell
you why I love Jesus. He is my happiness in
my heaviness. He is the one that is seated at
the table, and even while the bread is breaking, I
(18:17):
know it's in his hands. So that's why I lift
my hands, because I know my life is in his hands.
Happiness and heaviness all at the same table.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Don't you see it in your life? Aren't you a
witness of it? Today?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
You got that one thing in your life that you're
happy about and proud of, and that one thing in
your life that you don't really want to talk about,
that one thing in your life that you're right now hoping.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I don't mention it that right now.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
If I started listing stuff, you would hope that I
would skip the.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Thing on the list.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I mean, I just got done with Valentine's Day. So
there's a lot of people who come to church on
the Sunday after Valentine's Day just kind of bracing for
a fight, thinking about all God, if he talks about
one more time that God is preparing somebody for you,
and God is preparing you for somebody, and God's going
to send the right person when you're.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Ready and touch three people and say get ready.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And if you make me touch anybody today, they better
be my husband in about six months, because I can't
take one more sermon while you talk about that thing
in my life.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But yet there's a married person going.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I hope he doesn't talk about how to get along
in the house because watch this, and now I'm a
shift on you.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
She's not even here with me today. We're not even
speaking right now.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And that doesn't mean that you're not happy anywhere in
your life. Just because you're heavy somewhere doesn't mean you're
not happy anywhere. And just because you're happy somewhere doesn't.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Mean you're not heavy anywhere. I wonder if he gives
me that for a balance.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I wonder if the happy things are to lift me
up so I don't quit, and the heavy things are
to keep me grounded so I don't get prideful. And
I just wish for you today, knowing that happiness and
heaviness always come in pairs. Walk in Nordstrom and ask
(20:15):
them to sell you one shoe for the price of half.
See if they'll do it. See if they'll sell you
one shoe. Now, I don't really want the left one.
I just want the right one. They're gonna say, sir,
they come in a pair. You got to buy them both.
And when it comes to your calling and your relationship
(20:38):
with God, you don't get to pick the right one
and leave the left one and pay half price. The
happiness and the heaviness go hand in hand, and this
will help you to understand why sometimes you're having a
great moment, somewhere in that moment you still feel kind
of down, and then you think, well, I'm not rightful. No,
(21:00):
it's not that you're not grateful. You're just grown up.
And to be grown up is to take responsibility. And
to take responsibility is to be like Jesus, and to
sit at a table knowing that John, who loves you
and Judas who will betray you, are both close enough
to touch at the same table. To sit at the table
(21:25):
and to know that my desire for freedom and my
struggle with the addiction are at the same table. To
sit at the table and to feast on Jesus, knowing
that my hope for my future and my regret about
the past are sitting at the same table. To know
that my excitement about what God is calling me to
do and my fear about whether I'm going to be
(21:47):
able to do it are sitting at the same table.
Who am I talking to? Come, well, let's have a
little table talk today, because into this context, Jesus speaks Simon, Simon,
and he says his name twice. Now we'll do a
little quiz, okay, and I'll let all of those online
(22:08):
play along. There are seven times in the Bible that
God or Jesus and Jesus is God, but I'm saying
Old Testament where God speaks in different ways, or in
the New Testament where Jesus would just lean over and tell.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You because he's physically present.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There are seven times, and this is one of them
where someone is called by their name, but they're called twice. Now,
first of all, put your name in the comments real quick,
and put it twice, all right, And say your name
out loud in the room.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And say it twice. Chris, Chris, say your name out
loud and say it twice.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Brad, Brad, say your first name and middle name, like
you're in trouble, Like your mom has got a switch.
Your mama didn't break off a switch. If your mom
didn't break off a switch.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
That was child abuse.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You need a switch sometimes we need to get back
to these switch.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I ain't gonna say nothing else about it. Touch your
neighbors say get back to the switches. That meant nothing.
I'm gonna see on the comments, can you guess? Can
you guess one of the others?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I'm on YouTube right now, live and if you're watching later,
don't google it, do not chat GPT it. If you
chat GPT my sermon question you goes to H E
L L. This is not an open book test.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Just guess. I won't make fun of you if you
get it wrong. That's right. Saul Saul, not just Saul Saul, Saul?
What does? What does sal? What is Saul doing? This
so important that he has to get named named twice?
Called called by Saul Saul, not just saw saw saw.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
He's riding on his horse going to persecute Christians, and
Jesus is about to turn him into Paul. You ever
heard of Paul? You ever heard of Philippians? Four thirteen. Paul,
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Well before he was.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Paul, y'all, he was saw Saul, Saul, Saul.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
He called his name to get his attention. He knocked
him off his horse to get his attention. He blinded
him with a light to get his attention. He restored
his sight and gave him a vision. And the gospel
came to the Gentiles because it was a pivotal moment.
Saw Saul put it in the chat, Saw Saul, what
else y'all got? Why y'all are guests and touch your neighbors?
Say better, call Saul? What else you got?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Guns n' roses?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Oh Moses, Moses, I worldly pray for me, Moses, Moses.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Take off your shoes, Moses, because you're about to pivot.
Take off your shoes, Moses, because the place you stand
is holy. This is a pivotal moment. This is a
personal moment, Moses. When God calls your name once, that's personal.
When he calls your name twice, that's pivotal. When he
(25:10):
calls your name once is powerful. When he calls your
name twice, it's a pattern. There are some of you
under the sound of my voice, and God is trying.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
To get your attention. He is repeating patterns in your life.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And it's not just that you keep seeing range rovers
on the road so you think you need to buy one.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
It's deeper than that. God keeps sending you the same
message different ways. Saul, Saul, Moses, Moses. Have you got
another one? Samuel? Samuel.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
That's my favorite of them, because this is when he
was learning to hear God's voice, and he was a
little boy.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
And some of you, since you've been a child, God
has been calling you, and he keeps calling you, and some.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Of you you even spent half of your adult life
running from the God that was calling.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
You when you were a little kid.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
And he kept calling, and he kept calling, and he
kept calling.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Samuel, Samuel.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
He had to come back to him and say it
again because the first time he thought it was the
voice of his mentor Eli, So he said it again, Samuel, Samuel,
you got another one? Martha Martha, Martha, Martha. I didn't
think anybody would get that, did you get that?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Nicole?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Nicole Nicole Martha Martha Luke Chapter ten.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Talking about Martha Martha, You're worried and distracted.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You keep trying to do dishes while your sister Mary
is having a devotion.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Martha Martha.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I know why he said her name twice because she
wasn't listening the first time.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
She was too busy running the vacuum cleaner.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Martha Martha, Martha middle name.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I don't want to spend time with you. I want
to be with you.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I don't want you to just run around so consumed
by what you can do for me. So I'm gonna
say your name twice because I'm more concerned about your
person than your plans.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
What's another one? Well, that one doesn't count. I guess
that makes eight. My God, my God.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
But it's technically true because when Jesus was on the cross,
he was God. So God said to God, my God,
my God, by and prepare that one.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Is that Orangeburg? In the house is Orangeburg? In the house, Ormsburg, Orangeburn.
I got so much family in Orangeburg. I do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
The one I really struggle with this Abraham, Abraham, because
that's where God called Abraham and said, go to the
place I will show you. And then when Abraham set out,
he didn't give him.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
The exact GPS pen.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You know how sometimes you just feel like you're taking
a step, not a swing, just a step. And when
he called him, he called him Abraham. But then he
called him to do something very difficult. Now sometimes and
you're like, God will call you to give up something
you love. God will call you to give up something
that you love. Usually when we come to God in prayer,
(28:22):
we ask him to take away the things that we
don't like.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
See, prayer is two ways. It's not just me talking
to God, it's me listening.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
When I was.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Taught to pray, I was mostly taught to pray a
prayer list.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So I start naming all the things that I want
God to do, like I'm giving him his checklist for the.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Day and the date I need him to do it by.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
But prayer is not just listing, it's listening. It's listening, and.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Sometimes what God says is hard to hear. When he
said Abraham, Abraham, now in this specific case, God had
called Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, that he
waited twenty five years for. He tied him down and
he was going to plunge the knife in obedience to God.
And just as the knife was raised, there was a
pause that led to provision, and God said, don't lay
(29:21):
a hand on the boy. There's a ram in the bush.
You passed the test. I didn't want you to kill
your son. I wanted you to trust me. And he
sacrificed the ram instead. And at that pivotal moment, just
before Abraham was about to do it, God said, Abraham, Abraham,
(29:42):
and he called it twice.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I think we ought to go through all of these
over the next few weeks in church. Each of these times, Abraham, Abraham, Moses, Moses.
I didn't even tell you about Jacob, Jacob, but I
will how he was going to Egypt to see his
son Joseph, that he thought was dead, and he had
so given up on Joseph being alive that he had
resigned himself to the despair. And God had to call
(30:07):
his name twice, Jacob Jacob, to tell him that Joseph's
own hands would close his eyes. That the thing that
you thought was dead is very much alive. I said,
The thing that you thought was dead was very much alive.
I said that the thing that you thought was dead
is very much alive.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Jacob, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And today we find ourselves in a pivotal moment for
Jesus in a pivotal moment for an apostle named Simon Peter,
and don't you wonder why in Luke chapter twenty two,
verse thirty one, and I'm almost there, Holly, Holly, Holly,
I'm almost to the part that inspired me to get
up and preach this text.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Because as Jesus is.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Speaking to all of the disciples, telling them, I must suffer,
while he is.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Telling them you are going to rule one.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Day, while he is preparing them for what the cross
and the kingdom will be, he pivots his attention from
the entire table the twelve to one man, and when
he calls his name, he says, verse thirty one, Luke,
chapter twenty two, right back where we started, Simon Simon. Question,
(31:23):
does Simon have another name? What's Simon's other name? Talk
to me out loud, shout it like you're mad at him?
Why Simon, Simon?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Why not Peter Peter. In this moment.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Of pivotal and necessary instruction for the disciples, and specifically Peter,
Jesus does something very interesting and to really tease out
of the text the truth that is lying just under
the surface. Go back to Luke chapter six In Luke
Chapter six, verses twelve through sixteen, the author Luke, with
(32:04):
meticulous detail, tells us that one of those days Jesus
went out to a mountainside to pray. What did he
go to do to pray? This is at the very
beginning of his public ministry. And he goes to pray,
and he spent the night praying to God. When morning came,
he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them,
(32:27):
who he also designated apostles, Simon whom he named Peter,
and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew Thomas,
James son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the zealot,
Judas son of James, and Judas Ascaria, who became a trader.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
But there's a sandwich here.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Because if you go back to verse fourteen, the first
one that it names is Simon, who he named Peter.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
And this is a very curious conflict as we study
the text, because if.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Jesus named him Peter, and it's recorded in Luke Chapter six,
and if he's referred to as Peter all throughout Luke's gospel,
then why at the most pivotal moment in his life.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
When Jesus turns his attention from.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
All the twelve at the table to focus on the
one and to give a personal word, does he not
address him as Peter Peter. That would be the way
to build confidence in the one that you called Peter.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Peter.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Don't remember, don't forget to remember when we get to
the cross, You're the rock. Don't forget to remember when
we get to the cross, You're the one. Don't forget
to remember when we get to the cross, how I
helped you walk on water. Don't forget to remember when
we get to the cross, how I called you by name.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Don't forget to remember how we fed five thousand Peter,
Peter Peter.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
But he doesn't say Peter twice. He doesn't even say
Simon middle named Peter. He says Simon, Simon.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So let's look at the cast of characters for.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
A moment, shall we? Simon, you got Satan and you've
got the Savior, And I believe Verse thirty one really
describes where a lot of our church is at today
all over the world. I don't mean our church just
in this one room. I mean our church all over
this world. Verse thirty one says Simon. Satan has asked
(34:20):
to sift you, and so what's about to happen? Let
me set it up for you. Over the next night,
over the next few days, is going to be Simon
versus Satan, Simon versus Satan, and spoiler alert, Simon doesn't win.
As a matter of fact, when it comes to the
(34:41):
most crucial moment of Simon's life, when he will deny
Jesus Christ, he does not only deny his power, he
denies the relationship altogether. He says, I don't even know him,
and Jesus looks him in his eyes and says Simon, Simon,
Satan asked to sift you. The answer that we would
expect from Jesus if Satan asked to sift, and let
(35:02):
me just slip in here.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
He doesn't get to do it without permission. Whatever the
devil does to you, he had to go through Jesus
to do it. So even if Jesus.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Didn't do that thing for you, it had to go
through Jesus before it got to you, which means that
sifting is a process of separation. We don't sift that
much in our daily lives, so maybe we can't really
imagine this, but this word used for sift when he
said Satan desires to sift you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
This is the only time that word is used.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
In the whole Bible, because it is a shaking so violent,
it's only used one time. It's shaking out the stuff
that shouldn't be there to leave the stuff that will
produce the bread that can feed. And I was interested
in the fact that Simon Peter was a fisherman and
Jesus is sifting a fisherman. I thought it was a
(35:57):
mixed metaphor until I remember that Jesus told Peter feed
my sheep in John twenty one. So that makes me
think that he's trying to turn a fisherman into a shepherd.
And before a fisherman can become a shepherd, before somebody
who catches fish can become somebody who feeds sheep, there
must be a sifting.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Sometimes the sifting in your life is a sign.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
It is a signal that this is a pivotal moment
that God is changing the season and the stage of
your life. And before the season shifts, there is a sifting.
The interesting thing about the sifting, and y'all, I'm so
full of this word to preach for somebody.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Is because it doesn't say that Jesus sifted Simon. It
says that Satan sifted Simon.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
But no matter who sifted him, the one who sifted
had to get permission to do it. So it means
that even if I'm being attacked by the enemy, even
if I'm being attacked by anxiety, even if my body
is under attack right now, the attack didn't have to
come from God for the grace to be received by faith.
(37:10):
It means, simply put, that this sifting season in your.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Life is only that a season. News flash.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
The more gifted you are, the more sifted you must be.
Because why Simon Simon? Why not Bartholomew Bartholomew? Why not Judas? Judas?
Why not Philip? Philip?
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Why not Nathaniel Nathaniel? Why Simon Simon? And this is
the critical thing for you to understand. Oh, if you
could understand this, you wouldn't be like, why am I
getting picked on? Why is my life so hard? Why
is this happening to me? It would still be heavy,
it would still be hard, but you would understand this
simple principle of the kingdom. And it's this the reason
(38:10):
that he pivoted to Peter in this moment and called
him Simon. Is because Simon was the most significant one
sitting at the table. The reason he was singled out
to be sifted is because he was singled out to
be significant. This sifting in my life?
Speaker 1 (38:36):
What is it about? What is a sifting about? In
a sifting season, you will notice your motives are exposed.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
In a sifting season. You will notice that fake friends
are exposed in a sifting season of your life. You
will notice that dependencies are exposed. In a sifting season
of your life. You will notice that things that used.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
To work don't work anymore, and you will wonder is
this the end? And yet, to think that this is
the end.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
When you're still sitting at the table and Jesus knows
you're going to be preaching on the day of Pentecost
is to miss the message of the gospel. I don't
think the disciples knew the pressure that Jesus was under.
While he's busy breaking bread and pouring wine, He's preparing
(39:25):
his heart, and they really didn't see it until he
knelt in the garden of Gutsemone. Now I gotta tell
you about guestsemony because Guesthsemone was the place of the
olive press, but it was also the place where the
Savior prayed. And in Guessemone he prayed something very powerful
to prayers. He prayed, Father, if it's possible, take this
cup from me, write this down in your notes. That's
(39:46):
called the prayer that prevents. Sometimes prayer prevents. Sometimes in
the Bible, will see somebody pray and what was going
to happen didn't happen because they prayed. It's important that
we pray and plead the blood of Jesus over our lives,
because there are some things that your prayers can stop.
(40:06):
There are when Moses prayed to God, God said, i
am not going to wipe out the Israelites even though
they sinned, because you prayed and it prevented it. Moses said, God,
if you wipe them out, it will defame your glory.
God said, I'm going to do what you asked, and
I'm not going to kill them because you asked. You
can pray things for your children, you can pray things
(40:27):
for your friends, you can pray things for those you love.
You can pray things for your own life. But Jesus
came to drink the cup, and so the father didn't
take the cup away.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
So after he moves past the prayer that prevents.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
He moved into the prayer that prepares. There is a
prayer that you can pray that will prepare you. There
is a prayer that you can pray that God would
enlighten you. There is a prayer that you could pray
that God would show you the doors to go through.
There is a prayer that you can pray before you
leave your house in the morning. There is a prayer
you can pray in the bathroom at the office before
(41:03):
you have to come back out for the next meeting.
Sometimes you better dead bolt the bathroom door and tell
the Lord, please clean out my mouth, please cleanse my thoughts,
Please help me go back in here.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
God give me a.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Supernatural smile, because I hate every single one of these people.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
There is a prayer that you can pray that will
prepare you, And sometimes we miss it because I'm gonna
just be honest, We don't really give the day to God.
We just get caught off guard by the day.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Just get caught off guard by the fact that your
back hurts when you get out of bed.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Your back hurts every day. Just pray about it.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
And get up and do a stretch and pray and
pray and prepare. There is a prayer that prepares, and
so Jesus moves into that prayer. Next he prays, God,
if it's possible, take this cup from me.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
But God does not remove the cup.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
So then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours
be done.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
What's that. That's the prayer of preparation. It's the prayer
that gets him ready. It's the prayer that some of
you have to pray right now. God, this is gonna
be hard.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
What's coming up next is gonna be heavy, What's coming
up next?
Speaker 1 (42:03):
This is not going to be easy. What I'm walking into.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
I'm gonna have to walk into this knowing that it's
going to be painful and it's going to be costly,
and there is no easy way around this.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I'm just gonna have to go through it.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
So God, prepare me, like Paul prayed for the church
at Ephesus, Strengthen me in my inner man, that the
eyes of my understanding may be open, so I can
understand the inheritance that I have in Him, so that
when I'm up against the impossible demands of this situation.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
I have a.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Supply to draw from and a resource to reach for.
So I'm prepared for this. So when Goliath gets up
in my face tomorrow, even though I don't even know
his name yet, I know a name that is greater
than a giant, and that can bring him down with
a single stone. Because I've been killing bears and i've
been killing sheep. I've been keeping sheep, and I've been
(42:57):
killing lions, and I'm prepared for this. And as a
matter of fact, that's why I had to come in
church today even though the rain was pouring sideways.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I don't even know what was happening, but.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
The Lord dump dumped a bucket of rain sideways out
of heaven. That's the meteorological explanation for today.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
But some of y'all had to come anyway.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Because I came to prepare for the fight that I'm in,
for the season that I'm stepping into, because I'm being
shaken right now.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
But upon this rock I will build my church.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Somebody shall God get me ready.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
God get me ready. I don't know what's coming next,
but God get me ready. It's the prayer that prepares.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
But then sit down, my sermon is about the prayer,
not that prevents, not that prepairs, but the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
And this is for all of you who weren't ready
for it. This is for all of you who didn't
see it come in. This is for all of you,
Simon Simon, who hit a point in your life and
you didn't pray about it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
See the thing about Jesus's words in this situation, when
he says, Simon Simon, that is so meaningful to me
is that when Satan asked to sift him as we,
Jesus didn't tell him no. And even standing on the
eve of Peter's disappointment, Jesus prophesies his destiny.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Look at verse thirty two.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Please, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
When not if, when not if you turn back.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Jesus knew in that moment that there would come a
point in your life, a pivotal point, when the pressure
would be too great, when the future would be too uncertain,
when you would not be able to do it like
you used to do it. And he said, in that moment,
when you turn back, not if you turn back. When
you turn back, he knew that there would be a
(45:33):
moment where you would pray and say, God, fix it.
I made a mess of this. I have made a
complete mess of this.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Fix it.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
And that's the moment he's been waiting for. When my
kids were very small, I made up a little lie,
and you could judge me for it. But anytime they
would get hurt and they would come to me about it,
I would tell them, Oh, if it was a minor injury.
If it was a major injury, see your mom. If
it's a I'll say, don't worry about it. I can
fix it. And whatever was hurt on their body, I
(46:05):
would pretend like I knew how to fix it. I'm
talking when they were very small. So my elbow hurts, Oh,
come here, I'll fix it. I went to elbow school.
Oh your big toe hurts. I went to big toe school.
I went to pinky toe school also, but big toe
school is the one you need right now.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Big toe school is what you get.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Oh your ear hurts, I went to ear school. Oh,
and if it was a minor injury, I'm telling you.
Every time it would work. Every time they'd stop crying.
One time, Graham looked at me and said, you went
to a lot of schools.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
I went to ear school, I school hand school, every school.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
I went to every school, And even though I didn't
really have the competency to fix it, their faith made
them feel better. I didn't even really have the ability
to fix it. Just their faith that I could was
enough to make the pain go away.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
If I, as a father.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
With no ability to fix it, can make my kid
better just by telling them I went to school, how
much more can your mother, who didn't just go to school,
he started the university.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
How much more can your father, who.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Knows how he puts you together, who knows how he
made you, who knows your temperament, knows your personality, knows
your background, knows your insecurity, knows your resume, knows your hope,
nobody find out abouts knows everything that you carry on
the inside of you. Call your name and say, Simon, Simon.
(47:57):
I see who you were, I see who you're gonna be.
And I stand in the middle to let you know
that Peter is how I see you, and Simon is
how I found you. And for the next night you
are gonna be in a Simon state of mind, and
you're gonna deny me Simon Simon, and you're gonna betray me, Simon, Simon,
(48:21):
and you're gonna let me down, Simon Simon. But when
I look at you, I still see Peter, because that's
the name I gave you, because that's the name I
called you, because that's the name I chose for you. Now,
help me preach. Tell your neighbor. He knows your name.
(48:41):
He knows your name and your other name. He knows
your name you bring to church and your other name
you're taking home.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
He knows your name, Simon, Simon.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Just to remind you that he will speak to your
Simon until you see your Peter again.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Praise Ray. So give me a little more vogues.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Yea, what I'm trying to say, Okay, what I'm trying
to say, watch this, Simon.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Is what you're acting like. Peter is what God called you.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
The two are a pair, a pair, everybody say pair
like boots. They are a pair, like earrings, they are
a pair, like gloves.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
They are a pair.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
And so when Peter doesn't prevent it, when Peter doesn't
persevere through it, when Peter isn't prepared for it, and
Simon sings slow, watch what happens.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Next, Jesus said I prayed for you, Simon.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
So if this is Simon's faith versus Satan's attack, Satan wins.
But apparently this is not a fight between Simon's faith
and Satan's attack. This is a fight between Satan's attack
and a savior's prayer. And this is not just any prayer.
(50:37):
This is the prayer that read pairs. This is the
prayer not that you pray, because sometimes you can't pray,
and sometimes you don't pray, and sometimes you didn't pray.
This is not the prayer that prevents, because Peter went
on to deny Jesus. But when it doesn't prevent, and
(51:00):
when it doesn't prepare, Jesus says, I got a prayer
for you, not the one that you pray, the one
that I prayed. When you are acting like Simon, but
I know you to be Peter.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
It is the.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Prayer that Rea pears, the prayer that reminds you who
you really are, the prayer that reminds you what he
really spoke.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
The prayer that calls you back to.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
The essence of His spirit and his presence, away from
the dictates of your flesh. The prayer that brings you
back to your right mind, the prayer that, like the
prodigal son, says, how am I starving to death when
my father has enough food to feed an entire household
and every employee. I will arise and go back to
my father. I will repair you. I will bring you
(51:49):
back into alignment. I am praying for you. I am
pairing you, because as long as Jesus is your prayer partner,
your prayers are gonna get in third.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
It is the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
So Chris, come here, Come here, So Chris, Chris, come
up on the stage.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
Chris, Chris. How many of y'all think that Chris lifts?
How many y'all think Chris lifts? Chris? Chris lists lists,
and as.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
He is lifting, the Lord gave me a very specific
picture of this to make it make sense. When he
is lifting weights, he is hopefully lifting more weight than
he can successfully complete repetitions for which is called lifting
to the point of failure for hypertrophy, so that he
can have muscle gain. When he is lifting weights, to
(52:53):
the average eye, it appears that he is building muscle,
but that is not technically true. He does not build
muscle when he lifts weights. He builds muscles after he
has lifted weights to the point of failure and goes home.
While he is lifting weights, not only is he not
(53:14):
building muscles, he is actually doing the opposite in that
the muscle fibers are tearing, little micro tears that are
tearing the muscle fibers.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
So now he's got a tear in there.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
And so when he goes home, his body starts talking
to itself, saying, we got to do something about this.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Did you see what he just put us through?
Speaker 2 (53:33):
He made us curl sixty pound dumbbells today, he made
us do six, seven, eight reps.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
Last time we only did nine. Today he made us
do ten.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
And he barely got there and he struggled and he
couldn't get the last one. So since he got to
that point and started shaking and started shaking, three of
y'all are listening to my sermons, so I'll preach it
for three. Since he got to that point, because this
is the that repairs. Since he got to that point
(54:03):
and started shaking and couldn't do another one and drop
the weight, then the body sends a signal to itself
and it starts sending out satellite cells to the torn
fibers with the little microtel cells and all the stuff
that I went to school learned about.
Speaker 1 (54:19):
I went to muscle school too, and I was about
said the Bible said.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
But the body says, we gotta send more cells to
build that back.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
Now, I know what Jesus meant in verse thirty two.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Put it on the screen, please, he said, I prayed
for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.
Speaker 1 (54:38):
But it did.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
No, it didn't. It didn't fail. It was broken down
to be built back up.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
Because after you've finished that lift, why y'all take my
verse down, give me my verse back. I prayed that
your faith would not fail.
Speaker 2 (55:02):
And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. This
is the prayer that repairs. Is that after you have
been broken down, after you were surprised what came out of.
Speaker 5 (55:21):
Yourself, after you made the mistake, you say, God, strengthen
me for this, And Jesus says, all right, I'm already
praying for you, and I'm already sending satellite cells all.
Speaker 2 (55:40):
To your torn muscles, all to your broken heart. I'm
already sending new cells.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
But I'm not just gonna build it back. I'm gonna
build it back better. On the other side of this night,
Peter will go on to preach the first sermon that
was called a sermon in the New Testament Church.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
And I got to think that while he was shaken,
he didn't feel very strong. I gotta think that while
he was shaken, while he was sifted, he felt like,
this is it.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
But Jesus said, Peter, this is.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Not about your prayer, Simon, It's about my prayer. As
long as you keep thinking it's about your faith versus
Satan's attack, you will always feel weak.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Chris, Chris, I'm done with you coming back down. But
the moment you realize that this is not.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Simon's faith versus Satan's attack, this is Satan's attack versus
the Savior's prayer, the.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
Prayer of repair is his prayer. He's saying, I see you, Simon,
I see you, Peter. I am repairing you. I'm reminding
I'm going to use you.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
And don't you think for one moment that when you
get to this point, you're going to always.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Be Peter Peter.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
At best, you're going to be Simon Peter, and sometimes
you're Simon Simon. But don't you love to know that
the Savior prayed for simonyes That just hit me, man.
Speaker 6 (57:31):
That the Savior prayed Simon. Simon, stand to your feet
so I can pray for you, the prayer.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
That repairs. See how me and Holly are standing together
like this.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
We're a pair, We're a couple. That's a visual illustration
for you and Jesus. If any of you would want
to come after her, you would.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Have to go through me, and you might be able
to do it.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
But I promise you I'll pick up a chair, and
if the chair didn't do it, I got three state
champions on the second row and a full security team,
and I want you to know I would do everything
in my power to keep you from getting to who
I'm paired with. You keep thinking that you are paired
(58:28):
with people, and so when people leave, you think it's over.
You are a joint heir with Jesus. And in the
Book of Hebrews, I got to give them Hebrews seven
day because they'll think that Jesus just prayed for Simon,
but they won't believe that he's praying for them. In
(58:49):
the Book of Hebrews, Chapter seven, verse fifteen or verse
twenty five, the author says Therefore he is able to
save completely those who come to God through him because
He always lives.
Speaker 1 (59:06):
To intercede for them. What does it mean that he's interceding.
Speaker 2 (59:12):
He is standing in your shaking place saying, if you
want to get to them, you've got to go through me.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
That's Jesus speaking.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Now. There is the prayer Graham helped me down from
this chair. There is the prayer that prevents. There is
the prayer that prepares. But I have a feeling I'm
speaking to a few people online today and even if
you in the room who prayer didn't prevent it, prayer
(59:50):
didn't prepare. And like Simon, Simon, you are going through
something right now, or you've been through something where you
need the prayer that.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
And the prayer that repairs.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Is this, Lord, if everything else goes away, if everything
else is sifted, don't let this trial take my faith.
Because if my faith doesn't fail, I can make it.
If my faith doesn't fail, I can come back from this.
(01:00:24):
If my faith doesn't fail, I can get resourceful. If
my faith doesn't fail, I can reach out. If my
faith doesn't fail, I can pivot. And so, just like
the Savior, pray for Peter, we want to write now
pray for you, those of you who are Simon.
Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Simon.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Oh I followed him at a distance. Oh I let
the pressure get the best of me. But this is
the prayer that repairs. This is the prayer that brings
you back to God right now. I believe there are
many today who have never made the decision to make
Jesus the.
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Lord of your life.
Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I want to lead you in a prayer right now,
and this is the prayer not only that repairs, but
this is the prayer that saves.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
The Bible says that if you will.
Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved.
He knows your name, and now it's time for you
to call his name, the name of Jesus. There is
no other name in heaven, or on earth or under
the earth by which man must be saved.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
It is in this name.
Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
So right now, if God is speaking to you, and
you realize in your heart, this is my day to
come to God. This is my day to give him
my life. I want you to pray this prayer with
me out loud, and repeat after me. And if you
mean this with your heart. The Bible says that if
you confess your sins. He will forgive you of all unrighteousness.
(01:01:57):
So right now, if you're ready for a new beginning,
I'm by you to pray this prayer with me.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
and the savior of the world. And today I make
Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
that I would be forgiven and rose again to give
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
(01:02:31):
new beginning. Throw your hand up on the count of three.
If you prayed that one, two, three, we celebrate too.
Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
That's amazing. Let's clap a little louder.
Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Please, let's welcome leave into the family of God.
Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Can you give the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
A praise if he let vote something to you today?
Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Take Lord, Amen.
Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
I think we're gonna do another one next week. Another one.
I don't know. It'd be Abraham, Abraham, Moses, Moses, Jacob Jacob.
Let's take a church vote right now in the comments,
which one do you want next?
Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Make some noise if you want Abraham.
Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Abraham, Moses, Moses, Jacob Jacob, Martha, Martha.
Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Saul Saul, Samuel Samuel. It's a close call. We'll have
to come back and see. All over the room.
Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
People are receiving orange Bibles at each of our campuses.
Less thank God for every new beginning.
Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Raise the Lord. That's so good man.
Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
One more thing I want to tell you before our
campus pastors take it. I got such a good illustration
today of this message that I thought I would give
you as a take home. It was raining really hard
today in Charlotte. The rain, as I mentioned earlier, was
coming so hard and coming from such a strange direction
that even in my back room there was water that
(01:04:24):
came under the doors.
Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Now these are good doors, these aren't cheap doors.
Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
It's not like we have a budget crisis at the
church and we have to put some weak doors. They
just weren't prepared for what came in in that direction,
and so they didn't prevent it. So they weren't prepared,
they didn't prevent There's water on the floor, and I
hope they cleaned it up while I was preaching, But
(01:04:51):
I didn't slip the thing about it is as silly
as it would be for me to never come back
to church again.
Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Didn't stop the water from coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
That would be how ridiculous it would be for you
to let some stupid storm keep you from fulfilling what
God has for your life and for your family. So
what am I gonna do? Close down the church? Never
(01:05:23):
come again. No, we're gonna fix the doors this week,
because if they didn't prevent and they didn't prepare, we're
gonna repair them.
Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
So I call you back to your right self. I
call you back to your right mind. I call you
back to your childlike faith. I call you back to
your sincere spirit. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
You can share it with your friends. You can click
the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
(01:06:09):
your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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