When God Gets Ready

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.959 Enjoy the message you know. God amazes me. 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.279 God has so many ways to confirm what He wants 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:27.000 us to know. I'm thankful that God is consistent and 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.360 patient in my life and in your life. And the 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.040 truth of the matter is that God wants to speak 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.480 to us more than we want to hear him. God 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.080 wants us to know His will more than we want 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.680 to know it. And so you haven't come here today 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.559 by accident. You didn't come here today because you heard 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:46.760 their recute girls at Elevation. Even if you came here 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.159 today because you heard their recute girls at Elevation, you 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:54.000 came here today because God has something to say to you. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.560 And in fact, as. 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.040 I was writing in my journal on Sadday, I realized 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.560 that today would be a defining moment that we'll see 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.440 a testimony on a screen maybe a year from now, 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.440 maybe five years from now, of somebody saying It was 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.840 that day for me when the Lord fed me, when 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.080 the Lord led me, when the Lord lifted me, when 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:16.360 the Lord gave me a new life. 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:17.920 So I'm just excited. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.520 Don't you feel good to be here for somebody's big day. 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:28.000 Tell your neighbor it could be yours. Tell them this 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.880 could be your big day. Now, ask your neighbor. Can 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:32.720 I get your autograph? 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:33.440 Just in case? 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.399 Come on, ask your neighbor. Can we take a selfie together? 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:39.240 Just in case? 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:42.840 I want to get a selfie with you? Just in 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.479 case I need to prove a year from now that 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.120 you're not the person you used to be. You're not 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:49.360 leaving like you came. 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:57.840 God can change anybody. God can change anybody. God can 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:58.440 do anything. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.200 Speak today for the fifth installment of my series called called. 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:06.360 You heard me right? 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.720 You're like pastor you glitched a little bit, you said, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.200 a series called called what's it called? It's called called 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.640 That's what it's called. We've been taking a look at 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:19.919 several people. I don't call them characters in the Bible. 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.040 I do say that accidentally sometime I don't mean to. 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.640 That makes them sound fictional. But faith is not for 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:33.200 fictional situations or hypotheticals. It's for humanity, people, flesh and 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.800 blood and bone and sweat and tears and lies. 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.080 In truth, all of that is found in the scriptures. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.880 Today we're going to look at a passage of scripture 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:47.200 from the Book of Galatians, chapter one, Galatians chapter one. 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.360 And I'm so glad that time ran out, because every 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.320 five minutes I was waiting for church to start, I 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:59.839 kept adding scriptures to this sermon, and so it's good 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.000 that the clock ran out so we can preach. I 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.600 like to preach real quick. I won't go over three hours. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.760 It doesn't take the Lord long to say what he 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.400 wants to say. But I wanted to give a proper 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.760 context for this message today. We talked last week about 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.160 a man named Jacob. Jacob, God called his name twice. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.040 That's kind of what I'm looking for in this series. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.120 There are seven seven people that God called their name 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.040 back to back two times in a row in the scripture. 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.400 So you got Moses, Moses, Martha, Martha, Jacob, Jacob, Simon 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:43.160 Simon who later became Peter, Abraham, Abraham, Samuel, Samuel. 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:45.440 Any guesses who we're going to preach about. 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:52.880 Today, Okay, Galatians, Chapter one, verse eleven. I want you 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.560 to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.160 is not of human origin. I did not receive it 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.680 from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.400 received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:10.640 heard of my previous way of life in Judaism. Any 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.800 guesses who we're talking about today, getting there? You're getting there, okay, 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.919 I'll tell you in a minute, just give some clues. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.760 For you've heard of my previous way of life in Judaism. 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.400 How intensely I persecuted the Church of God and tried 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.360 to destroy it. That word tried would preach itself whoever 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.320 this is to say. And I tried to stand against God, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:38.800 and God stood against me. I tried to persecute the 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.880 Church of God and destroy it. I was advancing in 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.200 Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.279 and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my father's. 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.400 But when God, who set me apart from my mother's. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.360 Womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.200 reveal his son in me so that I might preach 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.280 him among the gentiles. My immediate Resis response was not 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.800 to consult any human being. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.280 Wow. I did not go up. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.000 To Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.400 But I went into Arabia, that's the desert. I had 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.880 to get prepared. I had to get ready, and later 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:20.720 I returned to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.279 up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephis and stayed 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.400 with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.960 only James, the Lord's brother. I assure you before God 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.679 that what I am writing you is no lie. 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.240 Whoever he is, he's not lying. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.599 Now go over to Acts chapter nine, and I'll show 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:41.599 you who we're talking about. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:47.640 Acts chapter nine, verse three. 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.840 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly alike from 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.880 heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and 0:05:54.920 --> 0:06:00.960 heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:02.080 you persecute me? 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:04.320 Who are you? Lord? Saul? 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.120 Last I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.560 Now listen to this. Now get up and go into 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.479 the city, and you will be told what you must do. 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.120 Hit me again with verse four. He heard a voice 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:25.000 when he fell to the ground, Saul Saw. But justin, 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:30.520 if you can real quick, circle that Saw, Saul. And 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.640 today I want to tell you what my subject is. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.600 I want to talk to you about when God gets ready, 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:43.839 when God gets ready. And I also have a subtitle 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:45.960 to help it stick so you can remember it. Here's 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:54.960 the subtitle, Callings have commas. I'll explain it in fifteen minutes, 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.520 but say it by faith. Callings have commas. Put a 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:05.240 comma in chat. Tell your neighbor. Callings have commas. So 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.960 when he says Saul Saul verse four, Saul, now circle 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:14.960 what comes between comma Saul, Just circle the comma. 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.800 For me, justin, let's preach about that. Father. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:20.000 I thank you for the little things that give us revelation. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.480 Do a big work through it in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:30.560 you may be seated something as little as a comma 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:36.520 such a big calling Saul Saul. This moment is unique, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.640 as Saul is going to kill Christians, and he becomes 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.800 one coming to kill Christians, and he meets Christ called 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.360 by the one that he's trying to kill. Bless you 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.080 and you say, he wasn't trying to kill Christ. He 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.960 was trying to kill Christians. But we found out in 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.400 this text, didn't we that Jesus takes it personally? 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:00.920 How you treat as people? 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:06.200 Tell your neighbor be nice to me, Tell him you 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.920 better be real nice to me. The Lord hangs my 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.640 drawings on his refrigerator. You better be nice to me. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.400 The Lord likes me a whole lot. You better be 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.520 nice to me. He likes my chubby cheeks. You better 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.160 be nice to me. Don't call me short. The Lord 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.320 made me five foot eight and a half. You better 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:28.480 be nice to me. Be nice to me. When I 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.800 was thinking about preaching on Saul Saul, of course, the 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:33.880 comma isn't in the Hebrew or the Greek text. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:35.559 It's just they're in the English for us. 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.800 But it caused me to pause, because that's what a 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.000 comma is designed to do. In a sentence, right, a 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.840 comma says, pause, let's insert something here. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:46.760 That's one thing that ecmma does. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.920 Another thing that acamma does is it can introduce additional information. 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:58.120 That is called and a positive thank you mss Cratic 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.840 fifth grade English. It's called an a. A coma can let 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.880 you know, here's some additional information. Comma, comma and additional information. 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:11.040 And yes, I may have had some assistance from a 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.200 research tool called chat GPT to bring you this current 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.680 information today. But another thing that a comma can do 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.040 is to set into effect a different event, or to 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.920 introduce it, so to set off an element. 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:25.559 And I'll explain that in a minute. 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.000 But one of the things that a comma can do 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:32.440 that we're most familiar with is to separate items into 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:33.480 a list. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.160 So if you see a list of the Apostles. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:42.240 You'll see Simon, Peter, and Bartholomew and James and John, 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.719 and there's commas between each of them to distinguish that 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.520 although they were twelve disciples, they were twelve distinctive people 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.120 with twelve distinctive personalities, and God used each of those 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.360 personalities and a unique way that only he. 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.120 Could use them to fulfill a purpose and only he 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:56.680 could fulfill. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.959 And the thing I'm beginning to realize about my life 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.320 is that not only do I have to exist within 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.400 teams and frameworks of organizations and societies, not only do 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:08.200 I have to learn to interact and play and get 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.760 along with others, but I have to learn to get 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:11.640 along with myself. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:14.079 I have to learn to. 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.720 Get along with myself because even within this one person 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:18.000 named Stephen. 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:19.800 I have commas. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.360 Usually I don't come down to the floor until about 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.079 thirty minutes into my sermon, but I'm coming early today. 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.200 I'm heading up walking a little slow because I did 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.400 some squats yesterday, a little heavier than I intended. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.920 I'm gonna get there though. Now in this section. 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.000 I was visualizing this before I preached it, and I 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.160 thought it would really help us set up for the 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:47.760 message is that I have multiple callings represented just in 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.920 this section of the room, and I'll prove it to 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:55.520 you because I have one name, Larry Stevens Ferdick Junior. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.360 Legally I go by Stephen, but to. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:06.160 Multiple people here, they all call me something different. She 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:11.480 calls me son. That's my mom. They're not putting her 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.200 on camera. She's too pre there, she goes, she's too 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:15.520 pretty to miss her camera shot. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:21.160 Can you see her? Not at all? That's definitely not her. 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.240 Came down a little earlier than they were ready for me. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.360 Back there in the back, somebody in the back smoking 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.240 a cigarette instead of working the camera. I'm gonna check 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.559 into that because back there in the back they call 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.360 me boss. Not that I'm a dictator or anything like that, 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:45.400 but I'm the boss. She calls me boss. Mom calls 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.760 me son. She gave me a name Larry Stevens Ferdick Junior, 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.120 and she knows me in a role. She calls me pastor. 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:55.800 This is cherish. She works on our team. Give it 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:56.360 up for cherish. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.160 Everybody. 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:05.880 She calls me pastor. She calls me son. He calls 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:12.199 me dad. He used to call me daddy. The saddest 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:16.240 day of my life is when he dropped the d Y. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.360 I was like, Dad, just dad. Now He's like, yeah, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:20.920 just dad. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:21.080 Now. 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.640 I'm like, oh, this is the first step of this 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:25.600 is the next thing. You know, he's going to be 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.040 on drugs like I started spiraling out of control. This 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:37.160 whole process of adulthood. So son, pastor Dad. My best 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.760 friend from high school is over here. His name is Eric. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.760 He calls me Bo. It's a South Carolina thing. Don't 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.920 worry about it. It's kind of like in Australia, mate, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.160 or like you might say dude, or you might say bro, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.800 but in South Carolina we say bo. And its incidentally 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.760 what I call my dog, but there's no correlation. He 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:01.920 was calling me bou long before I had a Boston 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:02.959 interior named Bo. 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.560 So I'm illustrating to you. Stay with me for a moment. 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:10.240 I'm illustrating to you that I am called all that, 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:17.680 I am called son, i am called dad, Daddy, I'll 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:23.440 always be daddy. 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:27.120 I am called I am called bo. She calls me babe. 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:34.920 Yeah, yeah, Now we got a problem if he calls 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:40.320 me babe. But I am babe while I'm still boy. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:43.840 It's not like I am babe one day in bo 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:45.840 the next. I might be Bo one day and babe 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.720 the next I might. I might be dad one moment 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.680 and son the next, because i was a son before 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.160 I was a dad, and I'm still a son while 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.839 I'm a dad, and I'm still a boss while I'm 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.480 a babe. And sometimes she calls me babe, and sometimes 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.840 she calls me boss. But the message I'll get off this, 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.800 the message that I'm trying to give to you today, 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:15.840 is a simple one. Callings have commas. The process of 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.760 your development isn't that you stop being something and become 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.200 something else. If it was, it'd be easy if you 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.800 stop being son when you became dad, you would know 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.800 what to do and you'd be a good one. Wow. 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.200 But the truth is you have to learn to become 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.360 a dad while you're still a son and a little 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.880 boy in some ways yourself. I'm preaching so good you 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:39.000 can't say amen. You had to write that down. I'm 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:43.400 called all of that. Tell somebody next to you, I'm 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.760 all that. Don't be too impressed by me. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:49.280 But I'm all that. 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.720 I'm not saying I'm doing it all well, but I'm 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.600 all that. I'm boss, I'm babe, I'm bo, I'm dad, 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:58.600 I'm daddy. 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:03.800 I'm all that. I'm all that. And I'm trying to 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.800 figure out from the passage that we read. And I 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.120 may not even go out on the stage today. I 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.000 might just preach it all the way from down here. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:12.960 Because I want to look in your eyes today and 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:14.440 try to figure out, even through that. 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:22.120 Camera, what all are you? What all are you? Let's 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:23.720 take it a little deeper than we did before. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.960 I was looking at comments the other day of a 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:28.840 sermon that I preached, trying to figure out if I 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.960 did a good job. Well, that's a dangerous place to 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.000 go to get an assessment of your performances, the comments section. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:35.400 Of you two. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.240 Because I scrolled a little bit and someone said this 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.560 man is so anointed. I felt kind of good. I 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.240 know it's prideful. I know I shouldn't care, but I 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.640 felt kind of good. I thought, yeah, I am kind 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.360 of willy, I am kind of annoyed to I am 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:53.120 kind of greasy. 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:54.120 That was a good sermon. 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.280 I scrolled a little more, didn't have to scroll very far. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:04.120 Someone else said, this man is so annoying. So all 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.080 it took was a little bit of scrolling, and I 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:13.320 went from anointed to one person and annoying to another. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:21.120 Tell somebody you're all that you're anointed. You know what's 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:29.280 coming next, don't you, and you're annoying. Paul was pretty anointed, 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.400 would you agree. I know in the text we called 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.760 him Saul Saul, but of course he went on to 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.000 become the great missionary to the Gentiles named Paul. He 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.640 became Paul after Jesus got a hold of his life, 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.600 so we say, but he could be kind of anointed. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.920 I think anytime that someone falls asleep when you're preaching 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.760 out of a window and you raise them from the dead, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.360 that counts as anointed. I think anytime you turn to 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:58.360 a sorcerer and say, in the name of Jesus, shut 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:02.000 up and the demon had to leave, you're anointed. I 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.760 think anytime God can do miracles not just from your hands, 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.879 but from your handkerchiefs, you're pretty anointed. I think that 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.680 if your shadow is enough to bring healing, you're pretty anointed. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.240 At the same time that Paul is anointed, I'm sure 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.040 that if we were in his close proximity, we might 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:22.400 say that he's a little annoying. I know you don't 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.400 like to call your Bible characters annoying, but these are 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:31.680 not characters. These are conflicted human beings. These are people 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.880 with pasts. These are people with preferences. These are people 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.000 with proclivities. These are people with weaknesses. These are people 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.840 with limps like Jacob. These are people with distracted minds 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.080 like Martha. These are people with stutters and stammers and 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:46.600 excuses like Moses. 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.040 These are people with shaky faith like Abraham. 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.159 And yet what we're learning in this series is that 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.600 you are called all of that. I recently released a 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.399 song in the verses I'm a sinner, Grace is still healing, 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.960 I'm a story time is revealing. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:07.560 I'm all of. 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:14.040 These things, but mostly I'm thankful. Could that be true? 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.720 I'm a sinner, Grace is still healing. I'm a story 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.480 time is revealing, And just in case you're looking at 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.840 one chapter in my life, don't forget I'm all of 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:32.840 these things. I am all of these things. Can be kind, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:37.359 can be cruel, all of these things. And the sooner 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.840 we admit that we have the capacity to be called 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.920 all of these things accurately in any given situation, the 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.360 more we will learn to rely on the Lord who 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:48.120 never changes. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:51.720 The more we will learn to rely on the Lord. 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.680 Whose character is consistent, and the more that we will 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.679 learn that it is important that although I'm Dad and 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.440 I'm son, and I'm pastor, and I'm boss and I'm 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.280 bo and I'm babe, I'm all of these things, but 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:11.040 I cannot go to people to figure out who I 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:16.160 am too soon, because people don't see me how I am. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:24.080 They see me how they need me to be. He 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.919 doesn't need a friend, He's got friends. He needs gas money. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.960 So I'm Dad. I'm not an ATM. But he might 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.840 see me that way, and I can get frustrated seeing 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:36.240 him as what do I look like to you? 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.320 Do I just look like a cash after you? Do 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.719 I look like a living, breathing cash after you? 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.640 Is that what I look like to you, But I'm 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:45.520 all of these things. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:47.000 I'm all of these things. 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:51.360 Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.560 circumcised on the eighth Day, studied under Gamaliel, which would 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.360 be the equivalent of the highest degree of internship. 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:05.920 You could imagine all that Paul. Saul was all that. 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.640 And yet when the moment came for God to call 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.080 him as important as he was. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:14.440 God didn't set up an appointment. 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.760 Jesus did not ask Saul's administrative assistant, can I get 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.240 some time on the books with my man Saul. 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.960 It'd be nice if he could squeeze me in. You know, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:27.160 sometimes I think. 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.800 That we forget how sovereign God really is when we're 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.679 making our schedules, and then something just comes along and 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:38.240 knocks your whole plan apart, and you realize that it's 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.879 so important for all the different roles that you have 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.240 in your life, to realize that for all of the 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.480 roles that you have, there is only one resource that 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:54.040 will never run out, and his name is Jesus. So 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.479 Paul said in Galatians chapter one that when God called 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:01.399 me by his grace, I did not immediate confer with 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.919 human beings. Why is that because they are not the 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:09.159 source of what I am. I'm trying to say it 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:15.520 another way that will be better. Okay, people label, but 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:29.000 God names. People label, but God names. And people label 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.720 through their lens of what they see. But God names 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:39.400 through his lens of what He gave you. Paul said 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.640 from even before the womb. And so the moment when 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.960 we see Paul being knocked down by the glorious light 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.639 of Jesus Christ, I mean, it's a pretty dramatic moment. 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.679 In Acts chapter nine, the Bible says that as he 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.040 neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.960 flashed around him. Now this is somebody that you know, 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.920 the Christians were praying about because the faith of the 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:09.680 Christians was flourishing. But there will never be flourishing faith 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.760 without a fight. Please get that in your head. There 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.879 will never be flourishing faith will never flourish without a fight. 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:22.200 Let me say that again. Faith will never flourish without 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:22.600 a fight. 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:23.879 It can't. 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.000 The enemy will leave you alone if you are not 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:31.399 walking in faith. But the moment that you walk in faith, 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:35.240 he fights you. So that's why he's been fighting you. 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:40.360 Why God I'll tell you why God, God, God is working. 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.200 In your life. And we see. 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.440 Saul in Acts chapter nine, can I preach a little 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:49.280 bit with an outline? We see him go from fighting 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:57.879 to falling to following. From fighting, everybody say fighting to 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.560 falling to following. 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:03.800 He said, I was locking. 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:07.879 Up Christians and consenting to the stoning of Stephen. 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:09.560 And I thought I was doing good. 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.880 And it wasn't like I It wasn't like I knew 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:16.199 I was wrong. But one of the most beautiful moments 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:20.679 of your life comes when you encounter the utter relief 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:21.760 of realizing. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:28.560 You were wrong. We're doing the moment when you realize. 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:33.280 That I was say the word, well, you had a 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.840 hard time getting that out your mouth. You sound like 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:39.280 you went to the dentist and got some novacane before 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:41.520 you said that. Did you hear how hard it was 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:46.320 for you to say I was wrong. I was wrong 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:50.000 to put that pressure on you. I was wrong when 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:51.200 I got angry with you and. 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.359 I said you made me mad. You didn't make me mad. 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:55.600 You just revealed what was already in my heart as 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:58.480 anger at somebody else. I was wrong to yell at you. 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:02.440 I was wrong to believe that you knew God less 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:04.600 than I did, because you struggled with something that my 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:05.920 exposure did not enable. 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:09.320 I was wrong to judge you like that. 0:24:10.280 --> 0:24:13.439 I was wrong to think that I was right to 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.920 the exclusion of others having the right to know God 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:17.160 in their own relationship. 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:18.080 I was wrong. 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:21.399 I'm gonna do a series sometime in the twentieth year 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:24.320 of ministry called All the Things I Was Wrong About, 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:31.240 and it's gonna be a twenty year series, because that 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:34.800 should be the process of your Christian life is realizing 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:36.439 that you are wrong and repenting. And you said, well, 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:38.240 Pastor Stephen, that's not what I came to church for. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.639 I believe in the blood of Jesus, and I'm right 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:42.520 about it. I believe in the resurrection and I'm right 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:44.440 about it. I believe that He saves and he's coming 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:46.400 again on the clouds on a horse, and he's gonna 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:48.000 kick his enemies, and he's gonna have his blood dipped 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:49.520 in robe, and he's the Lion and he's the Lamb. 0:24:49.600 --> 0:24:50.919 And I believe all of that, and I know I'm 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:52.920 right about it, and they're wrong. You know, you can 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:59.679 be right in the wrong way. 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.159 To have an arrogant disposition that thinks that you know 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:06.040 everything to be the kind of parent that punishes your 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:07.880 kids for stuff that you know that you did ten 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.560 times worse and look at them like, what in the 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:13.840 world is wrong with you? You know exactly what's wrong 0:25:13.880 --> 0:25:21.160 with them. It's called your DNA. That's what's wrong with them. 0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:22.439 What's wrong with them is you. 0:25:25.520 --> 0:25:27.440 I was spanking one of the kids one time, Please 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:29.679 don't take me to court, and the Lord said, what, 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:34.240 You're going to spank the you out of them? 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:34.719 Wow? 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:40.520 That helped me because I realized that sometimes the most 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:45.760 righteous thing I can be is wrong. How open are 0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:48.119 you coming to church today hearing something that you might 0:25:48.160 --> 0:25:51.120 be wrong about? Or do you just want to say 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:53.080 amen to all the stuff that you already say you 0:25:53.080 --> 0:25:56.400 believe but don't live anyway? 0:25:56.640 --> 0:25:56.760 Now. 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:00.359 Now, Saul is an interesting character because other people in 0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:03.879 scripture we see and Jesus is rescuing them from a 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:08.359 life of sin. That was not Saul's testimony. Saul was 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:13.880 not a horrible sinner. Saul wasn't rescued from some gross sin. 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:21.080 Saul was rescued from self righteousness. He says, I was advancing, 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:24.720 I was going, I thought I was right, and I 0:26:24.800 --> 0:26:27.160 found out I was wrong, and watch this the whole 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:30.000 word that God wants to give you today. Hinges on this. 0:26:30.560 --> 0:26:37.919 Sometimes you have to be wrong before you're ready. Sometimes 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:40.840 you are not ready for what God wants to do 0:26:40.960 --> 0:26:43.560 next in your life because you are not willing to 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:47.760 be wrong. Are you willing to be wrong for a 0:26:47.840 --> 0:26:50.840 moment to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord 0:26:51.200 --> 0:26:53.800 so that He will lift you up to be able 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:56.280 to say, maybe there is another way to do that. 0:26:57.160 --> 0:27:00.399 Maybe there was a better way to approach that. Maybe 0:27:00.440 --> 0:27:03.280 I don't know every style of worship. Maybe I don't 0:27:03.320 --> 0:27:06.359 know every way that God can move into church. Maybe 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:08.800 I don't know every way that God can Maybe I 0:27:08.840 --> 0:27:18.840 shouldn't keep putting periods in places where God puts a comma. 0:27:19.480 --> 0:27:22.879 Maybe I shouldn't write people off so quick. Maybe I 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:25.760 shouldn't just throw people out so quick, like their milk 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:28.720 that went bad. Maybe I shouldn't just make up my 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:31.680 mind that they can't change, because the truth is, I'm 0:27:31.720 --> 0:27:37.320 still changing. I'm still changing, I'm still learning, I'm still growing. 0:27:37.640 --> 0:27:38.680 Tell your neighbor. 0:27:38.400 --> 0:27:42.320 Give me space to change. I need a little room 0:27:42.440 --> 0:27:45.560 to change. I got a little cocoon, and I'm changing 0:27:45.640 --> 0:27:48.080 in here, and I might break out and I might 0:27:48.119 --> 0:27:51.640 get wings. But I'm struggling against this right now. Why 0:27:51.680 --> 0:27:54.200 would you put a period in a place where God 0:27:54.240 --> 0:27:58.040 puts somebody else in a cocoon to transform them into 0:27:58.080 --> 0:28:04.359 something that you've never seen before? Or why would you 0:28:04.400 --> 0:28:09.240 do it to yourself? Why would you do it to yourself? 0:28:09.680 --> 0:28:15.120 Why would you put a period on your purpose? When 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:20.119 God put a comma, I'm trying to say He's not 0:28:20.240 --> 0:28:24.040 done with you yet. I'm trying to say nothing is 0:28:24.080 --> 0:28:28.000 over till God says this over. I'm trying to say 0:28:28.359 --> 0:28:31.840 everything that the enemy meant for evil, God has a 0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:35.760 way of turning it for good. I'm trying to say 0:28:35.920 --> 0:28:38.320 that the weapon may be formed, but it won't prosper. 0:28:39.920 --> 0:28:42.320 I'm trying to say that your latter will be greater 0:28:42.520 --> 0:28:45.760 than your past. I'm trying to say that if you're 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:49.600 still breathing, there's a reason that you're breathing. I'm trying 0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:51.760 to say that I don't care what they said about you. 0:28:51.880 --> 0:28:55.680 I care what God knows about you. Because people label, 0:28:55.960 --> 0:28:59.120 but God names. And you might be addicted, but you 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:02.160 might not say that way, and you might be bankrupt 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:04.120 and broke, but you might not stay that way. 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:06.400 And you might be mean and bitter, but you might 0:29:06.440 --> 0:29:07.240 not stay that. 0:29:07.240 --> 0:29:09.680 Way because the blood of Jesus has a way of 0:29:09.680 --> 0:29:13.400 breaking you out of the prisons of your previous life. 0:29:14.320 --> 0:29:17.240 There are some people in this room who. 0:29:17.080 --> 0:29:19.400 Have been in the prison of your past so long. 0:29:20.160 --> 0:29:23.880 But I want you to realize that callings have commas. 0:29:25.080 --> 0:29:28.240 Comma com The next time the devil starts telling you 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:31.560 is over, just do one of these and keep walking. 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:34.640 The next time people say your best is behind you, 0:29:34.760 --> 0:29:38.000 just do one of these and keep walking. The next 0:29:38.080 --> 0:29:40.480 time somebody's saying something about you and you know it's 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:43.080 not true, don't even say anything back. Just go boom 0:29:43.520 --> 0:29:48.200 and keep walking. Because God does commas. Because God looks 0:29:48.240 --> 0:29:51.680 at dry bones and seize armies, because God looks at 0:29:51.720 --> 0:29:53.520 red seas and sees highways. 0:29:54.000 --> 0:29:56.800 Because God looks at Sol and sees Paul. 0:29:57.360 --> 0:30:00.160 Because God looks as Simon sees Peter. 0:30:00.440 --> 0:30:02.360 Looks at Jacob sees Israel. 0:30:04.400 --> 0:30:09.800 I'm so glad God does commas, and it's just a 0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:12.440 quick thing he can do to get you to see 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:13.040 something in. 0:30:13.000 --> 0:30:16.000 Yourself that you never saw before. Watch this. 0:30:16.440 --> 0:30:19.760 It is so important that you realize that big doors 0:30:19.800 --> 0:30:26.280 swing on little hinges and something as small as a comma. 0:30:26.520 --> 0:30:30.920 Saul saw something as ordinary as light when binged into 0:30:30.960 --> 0:30:36.920 his eyes turned the world upside down. At this point 0:30:36.960 --> 0:30:39.920 in his life, Paul thought I've arrived. At this point 0:30:39.920 --> 0:30:42.480 in his life, Paul thought I knew at all. At 0:30:42.520 --> 0:30:45.080 this point in his life, Paul thought he was everything 0:30:45.120 --> 0:30:45.720 but wrong. 0:30:46.080 --> 0:30:48.440 At this point in his life, Paul was ranked at 0:30:48.480 --> 0:30:52.960 the top. But just when he got there, God orchestrated 0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:59.600 a falling into a new calling. 0:31:01.600 --> 0:31:02.240 Wow. 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:06.880 The Bible says in Acts chapter nine, verse four, that 0:31:06.960 --> 0:31:11.240 as Paul was riding along, he fell to the ground 0:31:11.320 --> 0:31:16.800 and heard a voice saying, Saul sauw. It's very interesting 0:31:16.840 --> 0:31:21.440 to me that he couldn't hear that voice until he 0:31:21.560 --> 0:31:28.160 was falling. Sometimes it takes a heartbreak for you to 0:31:28.160 --> 0:31:32.760 be able to hear God. Sometimes it takes an interruption 0:31:32.880 --> 0:31:38.720 to get your attention. And Saul fell off. That's what 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:43.920 the young people say, man, he fell off. Jereabay saw 0:31:44.840 --> 0:31:46.880 he was doing good man, but I heard he's around 0:31:46.920 --> 0:31:48.880 there with that cult called Christians. 0:31:49.760 --> 0:31:50.640 Saul fell off. 0:31:50.920 --> 0:31:52.520 In fact, I don't know if you noticed it when 0:31:52.560 --> 0:31:54.400 I read in Galatians chapter one, because I get this, 0:31:54.400 --> 0:31:58.200 this is very important. You have to live it now 0:31:58.240 --> 0:32:04.640 and explain it later. You have to live it now, 0:32:05.120 --> 0:32:08.720 survive it now, explain it later. When I read you 0:32:08.800 --> 0:32:12.480 Galatians Chapter one, verses eleven through twenty, I read that 0:32:12.600 --> 0:32:16.560 on purpose first. But it's not what Paul said while 0:32:16.640 --> 0:32:18.120 he was going through his conversion. 0:32:19.360 --> 0:32:24.640 It's what he said fourteen years after the fact. And Saul, 0:32:24.840 --> 0:32:25.320 excuse me. 0:32:25.360 --> 0:32:28.440 Paul the artist formerly known as Saul saw his Hebrew name. 0:32:28.640 --> 0:32:31.680 He was named after the first king of Israel. He 0:32:31.760 --> 0:32:34.800 was from the same tribe of Benjamin. The name Saul 0:32:34.880 --> 0:32:38.440 means to hear or to ask, excuse me, not to hear, 0:32:38.560 --> 0:32:42.520 to ask is Isn't that crazy that in the beginning 0:32:42.520 --> 0:32:45.160 of the passage he's asking for letters to persecute the church, 0:32:45.960 --> 0:32:47.800 and after God gets done with him, he's asking Jesus, 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:48.280 who are you? 0:32:49.240 --> 0:32:53.280 And God is changing his questions? Is that crazy? And 0:32:53.320 --> 0:32:54.320 as he's explaining to the. 0:32:54.320 --> 0:32:57.800 Church at Galatian, now, this is a group of Christians 0:32:57.800 --> 0:33:01.760 who didn't grow up Jewish. It's a group of Christians 0:33:01.800 --> 0:33:04.960 who we would call gentiles, who Paul was called to reach. 0:33:06.040 --> 0:33:10.920 And he says in verse thirteen, I know you heard 0:33:10.960 --> 0:33:15.360 of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely 0:33:16.080 --> 0:33:19.280 I persecuted the Church of God. You heard about my 0:33:19.280 --> 0:33:22.840 previous way of life. Now stop right there. Have you 0:33:22.880 --> 0:33:30.360 been imprisoned in your previous This is the scary thing 0:33:30.400 --> 0:33:34.479 about consulting with people. People will put you in the 0:33:34.480 --> 0:33:39.880 prison of your previous. In Saul's case, it wasn't a 0:33:39.920 --> 0:33:42.520 life of sin. It was a life of self righteousness. 0:33:43.480 --> 0:33:48.000 But see, to them, he was a Christian killer, and 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:51.760 so they could never forget what he represented to them, 0:33:52.000 --> 0:33:54.200 And that's why it was important that he went straight 0:33:54.320 --> 0:33:57.600 to God. I heard a story one time about three 0:33:57.600 --> 0:34:01.080 baseball umpires and they were talking about their philosophy of 0:34:01.080 --> 0:34:02.680 calling balls and strikes. 0:34:03.200 --> 0:34:03.760 Well, one of the. 0:34:03.760 --> 0:34:08.400 Baseball umpires said, I call it like it is, and 0:34:08.480 --> 0:34:11.560 the next umpire said, I call it like I see it. 0:34:12.440 --> 0:34:15.600 And the third umpire said, it ain't nothing till I 0:34:15.680 --> 0:34:16.080 call it. 0:34:18.920 --> 0:34:22.600 I believe God is saying today, it ain't nothing till 0:34:22.640 --> 0:34:28.400 I call it. You might think you're really something your resume. 0:34:29.000 --> 0:34:31.239 It ain't nothing till I call it. 0:34:32.320 --> 0:34:33.080 Paul, who was. 0:34:33.080 --> 0:34:36.200 So credentialed, Paul who was so capable, Paul who was 0:34:36.280 --> 0:34:41.080 so incredibly charismatic, said you heard about my previous way 0:34:41.120 --> 0:34:44.040 of life. Now get ready, because this is a really 0:34:44.160 --> 0:34:47.440 powerful reflection from the apostle. He said, you heard how 0:34:47.480 --> 0:34:50.080 intensely I persecuted the Church of God and tried to 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:54.480 destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of 0:34:54.520 --> 0:34:57.560 my own age, among my own people, and was extremely. 0:34:57.480 --> 0:35:00.800 Zealous for the traditions of my father's. 0:35:00.800 --> 0:35:02.520 Now I want to show you verse fifteen because it's 0:35:02.560 --> 0:35:05.200 what really lit my spirit on fire for somebody in 0:35:05.239 --> 0:35:08.040 the room today, Paul says, after all of that that 0:35:08.120 --> 0:35:11.040 you've heard about me, after all of that that I 0:35:11.040 --> 0:35:14.839 did against Jesus, I was fighting against him. Now I'm 0:35:14.920 --> 0:35:18.919 following him. I was fighting against him. Now I am 0:35:19.080 --> 0:35:22.839 filling the world with his teaching. I am filling the 0:35:22.880 --> 0:35:25.600 world with the message that I used to fight against. 0:35:26.160 --> 0:35:28.200 This is how big God can do it. This is 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:30.719 how drastic of a change God can make. It is 0:35:30.800 --> 0:35:34.600 too soon for you to give up on anybody. It 0:35:34.719 --> 0:35:36.759 is too soon for you to give up on you. 0:35:37.680 --> 0:35:40.200 It is too soon for you to give up on freedom. 0:35:40.800 --> 0:35:43.279 I was telling somebody the other day this is the 0:35:43.360 --> 0:35:46.600 way I am and it will never change, and they said, 0:35:46.880 --> 0:35:48.120 it's too soon for you. 0:35:48.200 --> 0:35:51.960 To say that you've got too many experiences. 0:35:52.360 --> 0:35:55.759 You've got too many valleys, you've got too many mountains, 0:35:55.760 --> 0:35:59.120 you've got too many tomorrows, you've got too many next months, 0:35:59.360 --> 0:36:02.320 you've got too many next years. It is too soon 0:36:02.520 --> 0:36:05.319 for you to say that. It is too soon for 0:36:05.360 --> 0:36:08.040 you to say I'll never. It is too soon for 0:36:08.080 --> 0:36:10.839 you to say I'm not. It is too soon for 0:36:10.880 --> 0:36:13.920 you to assume that what you've seen so far is 0:36:13.960 --> 0:36:19.160 all there is to you. Because Paul, who was called Saul, 0:36:19.280 --> 0:36:22.480 thought I've done it, This is it. And God laughed 0:36:23.160 --> 0:36:30.520 because where he put a period, God put a comma. 0:36:30.719 --> 0:36:34.520 He said, you heard about my previous way of life. 0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:39.360 You heard how I advanced. You heard how zealous and 0:36:39.520 --> 0:36:44.800 passionate I was. And then verse fifteen says something very powerful. 0:36:45.719 --> 0:36:55.680 But when God comma, I know. 0:36:55.680 --> 0:36:57.399 It's gonna take a minute, but you're gonna get it. 0:36:59.480 --> 0:37:06.000 But when God comma, take those three words and get 0:37:06.040 --> 0:37:09.760 them in your spirit. Now, put them in your mouth 0:37:09.880 --> 0:37:14.520 and say them. But when God, I want to see 0:37:14.560 --> 0:37:16.880 the chat light up right now with that three words. 0:37:17.200 --> 0:37:19.720 But when God. 0:37:20.120 --> 0:37:22.680 One of the favorite phrases for us to shout about 0:37:22.719 --> 0:37:27.160 in church is but God, this is a little different. 0:37:28.480 --> 0:37:31.080 But God means it seemed to be going one way, 0:37:31.600 --> 0:37:32.680 now it's going another. 0:37:33.239 --> 0:37:34.160 It looked like this. 0:37:34.719 --> 0:37:37.520 It was really that I was dead in my sins 0:37:37.560 --> 0:37:39.319 and transgressions. 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:41.239 But God made me alive. Paul wrote that, by the way, 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:42.840 Paul wrote that after. 0:37:42.640 --> 0:37:44.799 He'd spent his whole life fighting against the thing he 0:37:44.840 --> 0:37:47.600 was now following in, Paul wrote that, by the way, 0:37:47.760 --> 0:37:49.840 don't you dare tell me that you're done. Don't you 0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:51.920 dare tell me that nothing good is gonna come from you. 0:37:52.040 --> 0:37:54.600 Don't you dare tell me that it's over. Paul wrote that, 0:37:56.040 --> 0:38:01.200 but when God comma, you could see this on the screen. 0:38:01.239 --> 0:38:03.520 You're listening to this on a podcast. If you are 0:38:03.560 --> 0:38:06.080 listening to this sermon and not watching it, pull the 0:38:06.120 --> 0:38:09.200 car over and look at the screen right now, or 0:38:09.320 --> 0:38:12.520 pull up this verse in your U version app pull 0:38:12.600 --> 0:38:15.400 up Galatians one point fifteen, because I want you to see. 0:38:15.760 --> 0:38:21.400 But when God, which means what that it's on his schedule, 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:30.359 not mine. But when God, I was sinking deep in sin, 0:38:30.880 --> 0:38:35.920 far from the peaceful shore. But when God, they wrote 0:38:35.960 --> 0:38:38.040 me off, talked about me like a dog, said I 0:38:38.160 --> 0:38:42.840 was annoying. But when God, I was up to my 0:38:43.080 --> 0:38:45.440 neck in it. I didn't think I could take another 0:38:45.560 --> 0:38:49.359 phone call or a text message with bad news. But 0:38:49.400 --> 0:38:52.319 then a light shone from heaven and knock me off 0:38:52.400 --> 0:38:56.680 my horse and knock me off my rightness. But when 0:38:57.320 --> 0:39:00.920 God people said he'll never get up. People started playing 0:39:01.080 --> 0:39:04.640 my funeral, people started writing my old bits aweary, people 0:39:04.680 --> 0:39:05.719 started talking. 0:39:05.440 --> 0:39:06.799 About me behind my back. 0:39:07.280 --> 0:39:20.919 But when God comma, I'll say about this. So when 0:39:21.480 --> 0:39:26.799 did Saul's name change to Paul? I know when Abraham's 0:39:26.840 --> 0:39:30.920 name changed. I know when Abraham's name changed. Genesis chapter seventeen, 0:39:31.600 --> 0:39:35.360 checked his out. The Lord took this man named Abram, 0:39:35.560 --> 0:39:38.359 and he said, I like to buy a consonant consonant vinna. 0:39:38.960 --> 0:39:39.560 I like the car. 0:39:40.640 --> 0:39:45.040 Abraham, look at this Justice seventeen. Abraham fell face down. 0:39:45.120 --> 0:39:45.719 Abraham what. 0:39:52.040 --> 0:39:53.640 Somebody else felt that we were just talking about? 0:39:55.120 --> 0:39:59.759 Oh, so sometimes the fall signifies that there's a call coming. 0:40:00.600 --> 0:40:02.759 There's a call coming, there's a call coming. I don't 0:40:02.760 --> 0:40:04.040 know what you fell into this week. 0:40:04.280 --> 0:40:06.640 Some of you fell back into something this week that 0:40:06.719 --> 0:40:08.280 you thought you walked away from. 0:40:08.320 --> 0:40:10.160 But after the fall, there is a calling. 0:40:10.320 --> 0:40:13.759 You're gonna help somebody get set free from him. I know, 0:40:13.840 --> 0:40:16.920 y'all don't like this, but sometimes it takes wrong to 0:40:17.000 --> 0:40:24.480 get you ready. It takes wrong to get you ready. 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:27.160 Stop beating up on yourself. Paul said, by the grace 0:40:27.200 --> 0:40:29.600 of God, I was called it's time for you to 0:40:29.719 --> 0:40:33.439 fall into calling. Now Abraham fell face down. He wasn't 0:40:33.440 --> 0:40:35.959 called Abraham yet, he was called Abram. Abram means exalted Father. 0:40:36.040 --> 0:40:40.480 That's freaking name called Abram. Why do you need an upgrade? Well, 0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:41.960 when he fell face down, God said to him, that's 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:43.080 the call. After the fall asked for me, this is 0:40:43.120 --> 0:40:45.400 my coming with you. You be the father of many nations 0:40:46.080 --> 0:40:47.439 because Abram means exalted father. 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:50.240 Abraham means father of many. 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:53.120 So now we see that God is exchanging a name 0:40:53.160 --> 0:40:57.279 as a setup for expansion. I want you to just 0:40:57.280 --> 0:40:58.320 be a father. I wants to be a father of 0:40:58.360 --> 0:41:02.120 many nations. Who else you don't see? Jacob Jenu is 0:41:02.120 --> 0:41:04.279 thirty two. He's wrestling with God all night. He don't 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:08.759 know it's God. He's fighting, and then he falls and 0:41:08.800 --> 0:41:10.400 he says, I'm not letting go to your blessing. When 0:41:10.440 --> 0:41:13.160 he falls, God said, I see you struggling with God humans, 0:41:13.160 --> 0:41:15.120 and you have overcome, so you're no longer going to 0:41:15.120 --> 0:41:18.719 be called Jacob, which means heal, grabber. But now your 0:41:18.760 --> 0:41:23.120 name is Israel, which means overcomer, because you struggled with 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:26.160 God and with humans and have overcome. Wow, he got 0:41:26.160 --> 0:41:29.120 a new name because he was not just carrying himself. 0:41:29.160 --> 0:41:30.080 He was carrying a nation. 0:41:31.040 --> 0:41:33.960 He was all that, all that was coming forth out 0:41:33.960 --> 0:41:35.839 of him, All of that was meant to be from him, 0:41:35.960 --> 0:41:41.280 all of that. Abram, Abraham, Jacob, Israel. Who else? Simon 0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:45.080 Peter Well, he makes a confession. Jesus says, who do 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:47.360 you say that I am? Matthew, Chapter sixteen, verse fifteen. 0:41:47.400 --> 0:41:48.960 He said, I know who you are. You're the Christ, 0:41:49.000 --> 0:41:50.759 the son of the Living God. He said, blessed you, 0:41:50.800 --> 0:41:53.040 Simon bar son of Jonah. Because flesh and blood is 0:41:53.080 --> 0:41:55.080 not revealed this to you. You can't figure this out by 0:41:55.080 --> 0:41:57.120 thinking it. You can't figure this out by studying it. 0:41:57.160 --> 0:41:59.520 You can't figure this out by doing a DNA test. 0:41:59.520 --> 0:42:01.080 What is it called twenty three and me? You can't 0:42:01.120 --> 0:42:02.640 do twenty four to twenty five to me. The only 0:42:02.680 --> 0:42:04.239 way you can know me is the Father in Heaven reveal. 0:42:04.280 --> 0:42:05.640 And now I'm gonna reveal who you are. Now that you 0:42:05.680 --> 0:42:09.000 see clearly who I am. I say you you are 0:42:09.040 --> 0:42:12.480 Peter Petrol Cephis Rock. And upon this rock of the 0:42:12.480 --> 0:42:14.279 revelation that you have of who I am, I'm going 0:42:14.360 --> 0:42:15.239 to show you who you are. 0:42:15.360 --> 0:42:17.640 I will build my church. Wow. 0:42:18.360 --> 0:42:20.959 So every time that God gave someone a new name, 0:42:21.000 --> 0:42:25.400 he was building something. Every time that God gave them 0:42:25.400 --> 0:42:28.120 a new name, he was enlarging something. Every time that 0:42:28.200 --> 0:42:33.840 God gave their new name represented a new assignment, a 0:42:33.920 --> 0:42:39.800 new sphere, a new domain, a new level of weight. 0:42:42.040 --> 0:42:47.440 So when did Paul become Paul? Saul? Saul? Now I 0:42:47.520 --> 0:42:48.719 have to confess to you here. 0:42:49.600 --> 0:42:51.640 I would like to tell you that I learned that 0:42:52.160 --> 0:42:57.239 in Bible school, and I never forgot it. But my 0:42:57.440 --> 0:43:03.200 limited mind just all thought that when God touched him 0:43:03.200 --> 0:43:05.640 on the road to Damascus, because he went blind, and 0:43:05.640 --> 0:43:07.879 then he met him man named Annius, and he got 0:43:07.880 --> 0:43:10.600 his site back and he was able to see, and 0:43:10.600 --> 0:43:13.200 then he went into the desert to prepare for three years. 0:43:14.280 --> 0:43:17.279 I always thought that somewhere in that Acts chapter nine, 0:43:17.320 --> 0:43:22.000 somebody God or Antonius or somebody said, and verily, verily, 0:43:23.000 --> 0:43:27.719 I say, unto thee Saul, you will no longer be 0:43:27.840 --> 0:43:33.200 called Saul. You will now be called Paul so I 0:43:33.239 --> 0:43:35.759 read all through Acts chapter nine, and I was like, wait, 0:43:35.800 --> 0:43:36.279 I missed it. 0:43:36.320 --> 0:43:39.840 Where is it? Maybe maybe as I'm reading the wrong version. 0:43:41.320 --> 0:43:43.759 It took me about two hours. I just kept reading. 0:43:43.760 --> 0:43:47.239 I read Acts chapter nine, where Saul got knocked down 0:43:47.280 --> 0:43:49.480 and fell and God told him I'm going to call 0:43:49.480 --> 0:43:51.439 you to be a chosen vest. I read Acts chapter ten, 0:43:51.760 --> 0:43:55.120 Acts chapter eleven, Acts chapter twelve. I read the whole 0:43:55.120 --> 0:43:58.400 rest of the Book of Acts, and God never changed 0:43:58.400 --> 0:44:03.440 his name. And I was shocked because I thought, just surely, 0:44:03.520 --> 0:44:06.680 if he's going to be representing Jesus now as the 0:44:06.719 --> 0:44:13.040 apostle Paul, that God must have given him that new name. Well, 0:44:13.040 --> 0:44:16.880 it's not until Acts chapter thirteen, verse nine that we 0:44:17.000 --> 0:44:21.640 see when Saul became Paul. Pause real quick, kama kamakama, 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:27.480 comma paus paus Pause. I'm telling you this because sometimes 0:44:27.520 --> 0:44:35.799 we don't know when we're changing. Sometimes it's fourteen years later, 0:44:35.840 --> 0:44:39.359 when you're writing the Book of Galatians that you realize, oh, 0:44:39.440 --> 0:44:42.400 it wasn't a fall, it was a calling. 0:44:43.280 --> 0:44:46.600 What looked like falling was actually calling. 0:44:46.960 --> 0:44:51.720 What looked like a disability was actually my unique gift. 0:44:52.239 --> 0:44:55.600 What looked like a learning disorder was actually, my brilliant 0:44:55.640 --> 0:44:57.320 mind just firing a little. 0:44:57.040 --> 0:44:58.640 Different than everybody else's. 0:44:58.920 --> 0:45:02.799 What looked like a rejection from people was God's redirection 0:45:02.960 --> 0:45:05.839 for something that he called me uniquely to do. 0:45:05.960 --> 0:45:07.520 Why aren't you helping me preach? 0:45:08.320 --> 0:45:14.120 I'm trying to help you recategorize, reclassify some stuff, because 0:45:14.160 --> 0:45:17.480 it ain't nothing until God calls it. You can't call 0:45:17.560 --> 0:45:19.879 it good, you can't call it bad. You can't call 0:45:19.960 --> 0:45:21.280 it success, you can't. 0:45:21.040 --> 0:45:24.400 Call it failure. It's nothing until He calls it. 0:45:25.360 --> 0:45:28.600 And here is the mighty apostle, Paul, saying, God who 0:45:28.680 --> 0:45:31.839 called me from my mother's womb. And then I realized 0:45:32.640 --> 0:45:35.880 In Acts chapter thirteen, verse nine, Oh. 0:45:35.800 --> 0:45:38.040 This is the most annointed verse I've read all year. 0:45:38.440 --> 0:45:41.080 Ah. This will change your life. Ah, this will set 0:45:41.120 --> 0:45:44.080 you free, because everybody's waiting for this change to come. 0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:46.200 You know when I'm gonna feel better and be better 0:45:46.239 --> 0:45:48.719 and do better and get taller and get richer, and 0:45:49.040 --> 0:45:51.719 everything's gonna be going my way, and everybody's gonna be 0:45:51.840 --> 0:45:53.960 nice to me and smiling me, and I'm not gonna 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:55.160 struggle with this anymore. 0:45:55.400 --> 0:45:57.520 Acts, chapter thirteen, verse nine. 0:45:57.600 --> 0:46:03.960 Here it is Vin Saul Comma, who was also called Paul. 0:46:06.040 --> 0:46:15.040 What you mean God didn't change his name. Nope, Saul 0:46:15.360 --> 0:46:23.760 was his Hebrew name. Paul was his Roman name because 0:46:23.760 --> 0:46:27.120 he was all that. I said, he was all that. 0:46:30.760 --> 0:46:34.880 To be born in Tarsus of Sicily, where Paul was born, 0:46:35.320 --> 0:46:39.000 gave you a unique advantage that although I am Jewish 0:46:39.040 --> 0:46:44.120 by heritage, I am Roman by citizenship. So it means 0:46:44.160 --> 0:46:51.120 that I'm Saul and I'm also Paul. Saul isn't bad, 0:46:52.040 --> 0:46:53.080 Paul isn't bad. 0:46:53.680 --> 0:46:54.520 I'm just both. 0:46:56.000 --> 0:46:58.960 Saul is the life I built until I met Jesus. 0:47:00.120 --> 0:47:01.000 All is my name. 0:47:01.120 --> 0:47:04.640 I'm gonna take the Gospel to the gentile world with. 0:47:05.760 --> 0:47:07.000 So God is saying to. 0:47:07.080 --> 0:47:09.799 Somebody, I don't know your given name, I don't know 0:47:09.880 --> 0:47:10.680 your legal name. 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:11.600 I don't know what. 0:47:11.520 --> 0:47:14.239 God has you're standing on the precipice of I don't 0:47:14.239 --> 0:47:16.560 know what you're shaking about. I don't know what you're 0:47:16.600 --> 0:47:19.160 dealing with. I don't know who's talking to you about it. 0:47:19.360 --> 0:47:22.279 I don't know who's counsel you're keeping. But God has 0:47:22.360 --> 0:47:25.879 somebody here so you can hear today you already? Are 0:47:27.920 --> 0:47:34.520 you all ready? Are you all ready? Are stop trying 0:47:34.600 --> 0:47:39.440 to be that you all ready are? Stop trying to 0:47:39.480 --> 0:47:43.560 give sex to get love. You already are loved. Stop 0:47:43.600 --> 0:47:46.960 trying to give yourself away to people who do not 0:47:47.080 --> 0:47:53.160 have the capacity to receive it. Because the Bible says, 0:47:54.040 --> 0:47:59.200 when it came time for the gentiles to hear the Gospel, Saul, 0:48:00.040 --> 0:48:05.799 who was also called Paul, step forth, and the Book 0:48:05.840 --> 0:48:11.120 of Acts never calls him Saul again because listen to this, 0:48:11.160 --> 0:48:14.680 listen to this. It's time for you to use your 0:48:14.719 --> 0:48:20.680 other name. It's time for you to step into what 0:48:20.800 --> 0:48:25.399 God already called you. And didn't it just bless your 0:48:25.520 --> 0:48:28.880 socks off to realize that there was not a moment 0:48:28.920 --> 0:48:31.960 where he said you shall no longer be Saul, you 0:48:32.040 --> 0:48:32.880 shall be Paul. 0:48:34.520 --> 0:48:37.560 He said, simply, I just want you to use what 0:48:37.640 --> 0:48:38.360 I already gave you. 0:48:41.120 --> 0:48:43.200 And maybe that's the calling in this season of your 0:48:43.239 --> 0:48:48.000 life to start using what He already gave you, to 0:48:48.040 --> 0:48:53.240 start using the resources that your heavenly Father has already 0:48:54.400 --> 0:48:56.799 placed in your spirit through a deposit. Because I'll tell 0:48:56.800 --> 0:49:00.319 you one thing about it. Everything I've got that's worth having, 0:49:00.360 --> 0:49:07.480 I got it by grace, Paul said, when God was pleased, 0:49:07.520 --> 0:49:10.800 give me galicians one fifteen one more time. When God 0:49:11.520 --> 0:49:17.439 was pleased when God was pleased, and then what comes 0:49:17.480 --> 0:49:21.320 between those commas who set me apart from my mother's 0:49:21.320 --> 0:49:24.799 womb and called me by his grace. So I just 0:49:24.840 --> 0:49:27.600 want to say to you today that the grace was 0:49:27.640 --> 0:49:36.759 there before the mistake was ever made. Oh oh, I 0:49:36.760 --> 0:49:39.000 can hardly preach this to you because God is putting 0:49:39.040 --> 0:49:43.640 it inside of me. I make mistakes, but the grace 0:49:44.040 --> 0:49:52.960 outran the mistake. The grace outran the mistake. So when 0:49:53.000 --> 0:49:56.040 you get done feeling sorry for yourself and get done 0:49:56.160 --> 0:49:59.400 groveling and thinking God won't forgive you and God won't 0:49:59.480 --> 0:50:04.960 use you, you'll realize callings have commas. But when God, 0:50:06.360 --> 0:50:09.560 who set me apart from my mother's womb, my name 0:50:09.600 --> 0:50:12.600 has always been Paul. I don't know who this is for, 0:50:12.719 --> 0:50:16.120 but you've always been Paul. Some pain happened to you, 0:50:16.239 --> 0:50:19.440 but you've always been Paul. You've always had a purpose, 0:50:19.719 --> 0:50:22.520 You've always had a unique gift. You've always had that 0:50:22.640 --> 0:50:25.040 smile that can light up a room. You've always been 0:50:25.080 --> 0:50:27.360 able to listen to people. You've always been able to 0:50:27.480 --> 0:50:30.440 unlock things. It just got buried for a little while. 0:50:31.760 --> 0:50:35.719 But I'd rather be wrong for a little while. I said, 0:50:35.760 --> 0:50:39.719 I'd rather be wrong for a little while. I'd rather 0:50:39.840 --> 0:50:44.000 go blind for a little while than spend my whole 0:50:44.080 --> 0:50:46.920 life fighting when God has called me to follow. 0:50:48.640 --> 0:50:49.440 So maybe we. 0:50:49.440 --> 0:50:53.440 Didn't come today asking God to change us into something 0:50:53.440 --> 0:50:57.920 that we're not. Maybe we came to allow God to 0:50:58.080 --> 0:50:59.000 remind us. 0:51:00.000 --> 0:51:03.520 And he got it, already, got it, already, got it, 0:51:03.840 --> 0:51:04.719 already got it. 0:51:05.160 --> 0:51:10.879 The grace came before the mistake was made. High five 0:51:10.960 --> 0:51:12.080 Greek people say. 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:12.799 Already got it. 0:51:15.680 --> 0:51:19.920 Before I pray, he hears me, before I cry. 0:51:20.000 --> 0:51:27.520 He's got a kleenex. I already got it. May this 0:51:27.719 --> 0:51:30.120 be the day. May this be the. 0:51:30.120 --> 0:51:34.040 Day that you stop running to people and letting them 0:51:34.040 --> 0:51:40.160 put periods where God would call us because calleingues have commers. 0:51:41.120 --> 0:51:46.080 I'm annoying and annoyted. I'm Saul, I'm Paul. 0:51:46.680 --> 0:51:47.680 I'm messed up. 0:51:48.040 --> 0:51:50.960 Had I got up? Had I got a message for 0:51:51.080 --> 0:52:04.799 the world. You a shepherd or a singer? David, My 0:52:04.920 --> 0:52:10.000 calling has commas. You a sinner or a saint, Stephen, 0:52:10.560 --> 0:52:14.200 My calling has commas. And before I was born, Oh, 0:52:14.239 --> 0:52:18.440 I hear Jeremiah being echoed right now. He set me apart. 0:52:19.760 --> 0:52:22.759 Because another thing a comma can do. Watch this, it 0:52:22.800 --> 0:52:28.840 can set something up to set something off Acts thirteen, 0:52:29.040 --> 0:52:37.520 verse nine. Then Saul, who was also called Paul filled 0:52:37.560 --> 0:52:43.600 with the Holy Spirit. Oh he fell, Now he's filled? 0:52:43.719 --> 0:52:49.720 Why because callings have commas. God's not done with you, dude. 0:52:49.920 --> 0:52:52.839 God's not done with you, bro. God's not done with you, mate. 0:52:53.040 --> 0:52:55.440 God's not done with you, bau. God's not done with you. 0:52:55.560 --> 0:52:55.799 Mom. 0:52:56.000 --> 0:52:58.359 God's not done with your babe. God's not done with 0:52:58.400 --> 0:53:02.120 your son. God's not done with you, cherish. God wants 0:53:02.239 --> 0:53:14.240 all of you, all that. I've come a long way. 0:53:15.280 --> 0:53:22.960 I've seen how you work. There's so much goodness and grace? 0:53:23.400 --> 0:53:23.879 How much? 0:53:28.200 --> 0:53:29.000 All right, sir? 0:53:29.640 --> 0:53:32.800 Because I know who I am? Saw? 0:53:34.560 --> 0:53:39.040 But I can't stay where I'm at. Paul, Yes, a 0:53:39.080 --> 0:53:45.120 new assignment. What's the next line? Y'all got a singer. 0:53:47.680 --> 0:53:47.879 Now? 0:53:47.920 --> 0:53:50.200 You gotta declared put it in a Doll's nice. 0:53:50.280 --> 0:53:58.600 You're not tied with me. You're not chime with men. 0:53:58.840 --> 0:54:05.880 PAULA yay, so got so loyal? Got something fresh for you. 0:54:05.880 --> 0:54:13.719 You're not You're harm with oil. You're not ungrpeat, not yet, 0:54:13.880 --> 0:54:15.000 not ever, not yet. 0:54:15.239 --> 0:54:16.360 You're not tong. 0:54:16.280 --> 0:54:20.880 Repe granther that they. 0:54:20.719 --> 0:54:25.200 Are so much to this story. Just go a little 0:54:25.239 --> 0:54:29.680 deep talk with, but you left your hands. 0:54:29.480 --> 0:54:33.480 Stay at the fake time, he said, not about that. 0:54:34.760 --> 0:54:40.640 Cra worse, I said, will be to the wr. 0:54:42.320 --> 0:54:45.080 I'm a storys Highness, the dealing. 0:54:46.280 --> 0:54:50.719 Time or not with your hand on your hearts. Take 0:54:51.200 --> 0:54:51.520 you're not. 0:54:51.680 --> 0:54:59.360 Talking it that something I don't play grid will people 0:55:05.120 --> 0:55:06.600 you're not done with. 0:55:12.280 --> 0:55:21.839 When God gets ready, When God gets ready, When God 0:55:22.560 --> 0:55:23.600 gets ready. 0:55:25.000 --> 0:55:26.960 I brought you to this moment in the sermon to 0:55:27.040 --> 0:55:30.640 let you know that you might have been wrong. But 0:55:30.719 --> 0:55:35.520 while you were getting it wrong, God was getting you ready, 0:55:38.160 --> 0:55:43.040 and you're ready. Now you're ready to use the name 0:55:43.120 --> 0:55:44.840 he gave you. You're ready to use the gifts he 0:55:44.880 --> 0:55:47.239 gave you. You're ready to use the experiences he's given you, 0:55:47.320 --> 0:55:50.680 the sweet ones and the bitter ones. While you were 0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:54.480 getting it wrong. Paul says, I did all that stuff. Man, 0:55:54.520 --> 0:55:56.960 I thought I was ready, But when God got ready, 0:55:58.000 --> 0:55:59.879 I tried it in my own strength and I fell. 0:56:00.040 --> 0:56:03.800 But when God got ready, I went completely. 0:56:03.320 --> 0:56:05.400 The wrong way. I was making good time, but I 0:56:05.440 --> 0:56:08.240 was on the wrong road. But when God got ready 0:56:09.520 --> 0:56:12.080 to reveal his son, now watch this. There's one more 0:56:12.080 --> 0:56:14.520 thing I've got to give you, he says. When God 0:56:14.719 --> 0:56:17.560 was pleased to reveal his son and me. Watch this 0:56:18.040 --> 0:56:24.560 reveal doesn't mean that it started to exist. Reveal means 0:56:25.040 --> 0:56:36.480 I let you see what was already there. So, my sister, 0:56:37.600 --> 0:56:42.879 my brother, my friend, my son, my wife, my mom, 0:56:43.640 --> 0:56:48.840 get ready to see what God will reveal now that 0:56:48.920 --> 0:56:54.440 you fell into his arms. Get ready to see what 0:56:54.480 --> 0:56:59.840 God will reveal now that you've stopped fighting and started following. 0:57:01.080 --> 0:57:01.799 Get ready to. 0:57:01.760 --> 0:57:05.160 Cease Saul, become Paul, and confess it. For everybody who 0:57:05.160 --> 0:57:07.439 has somebody in your life that you love. Man, we've 0:57:07.480 --> 0:57:10.719 all been there, somebody who's going the complete wrong way. 0:57:10.920 --> 0:57:13.319 Maybe you even brought him to church this morning. Don't 0:57:13.360 --> 0:57:19.040 look at him right now, be awkward. But I remember 0:57:19.080 --> 0:57:21.640 looking at my dad when he was skipping church, and 0:57:21.680 --> 0:57:22.560 I said, I'm praying for you. 0:57:22.560 --> 0:57:25.040 God's going to get a hold of your life, he said. 0:57:25.040 --> 0:57:26.160 But you didn't know at the time is that I 0:57:26.160 --> 0:57:27.920 had a drinking problem and I was so low and 0:57:27.960 --> 0:57:29.200 I didn't know what I was going to do. And 0:57:29.240 --> 0:57:31.640 I felt sorry for you because you believed that God 0:57:31.720 --> 0:57:34.920 was going to do something in me. But neither of 0:57:35.000 --> 0:57:37.040 us was laughing when he came to the altar two 0:57:37.080 --> 0:57:39.360 years later and surrendered. 0:57:38.880 --> 0:57:42.880 His life to Jesus. So I've seen this. I've seen 0:57:42.960 --> 0:57:49.160 it in our church. God is so strategic in his preparation. 0:57:49.280 --> 0:57:52.400 When God gets ready, it's different than when people get ready. 0:57:52.600 --> 0:57:52.960 I used to. 0:57:52.920 --> 0:57:55.640 Always get frustrated in church. They say God's getting ready 0:57:55.640 --> 0:57:59.120 to bless you. God's getting ready to move, God's getting 0:57:59.120 --> 0:58:01.960 ready to show up. God's getting ready to turn it around. 0:58:02.240 --> 0:58:03.280 And I would think, he's God. 0:58:03.320 --> 0:58:07.400 Why does he have to get ready? That's something we 0:58:07.440 --> 0:58:09.040 have to do before we leave the house. 0:58:10.440 --> 0:58:12.240 What's God doing putting on his coat because it's a 0:58:12.240 --> 0:58:16.480 little cold. What's God doing putting some makeup on? What's 0:58:16.520 --> 0:58:20.320 God doing? God's getting ready. He's not preparing. 0:58:20.440 --> 0:58:26.280 He's God. He's already prepared. He's not preparing. He's positioning. 0:58:28.320 --> 0:58:30.480 So that when it's time for Paul to write the 0:58:30.560 --> 0:58:33.240 letter to the Galatian Church, he can do it with 0:58:33.320 --> 0:58:38.000 his name Paul. When God gets ready, no person can 0:58:38.000 --> 0:58:41.120 stop it. When God gets ready, no devil can stop it. 0:58:41.280 --> 0:58:50.920 When God gets ready. When God gets ready, he'll take 0:58:50.960 --> 0:58:53.040 where people put a period and make it a comma. 0:58:53.160 --> 0:58:56.000 Now right now, right now, there's somebody who needs to 0:58:56.000 --> 0:58:58.120 give their life to Jesus in this room, bow your 0:58:58.120 --> 0:59:06.520 head and close your eyes. Please don't fight this off. 0:59:06.640 --> 0:59:08.360 Jesus told Paul, go to the city and you'll be 0:59:08.400 --> 0:59:11.160 told what you must do. And in the obedience to 0:59:11.160 --> 0:59:14.720 follow that instruction, he received his assignment. Right now, I 0:59:14.760 --> 0:59:17.160 want to lead you in a prayer that the light 0:59:17.200 --> 0:59:20.800 of the gospel that you've received today would not just 0:59:20.840 --> 0:59:23.520 bring you light in this room, but it would transform 0:59:23.560 --> 0:59:24.400 your life. 0:59:26.160 --> 0:59:27.280 For the rest of your life. 0:59:28.120 --> 0:59:30.080 And if there's somebody here who's never put your faith 0:59:30.080 --> 0:59:32.640 in Jesus, or you did and then you went the. 0:59:32.560 --> 0:59:36.800 Wrong way, He's not done with you yet. He brought 0:59:36.840 --> 0:59:37.160 you here. 0:59:37.200 --> 0:59:39.480 Don't you understand He loves you so much that he 0:59:39.600 --> 0:59:40.720 called you by name. 0:59:40.800 --> 0:59:43.400 Today he's speaking to you. I'm not speaking to you. 0:59:43.440 --> 0:59:44.720 I don't know you like that. 0:59:44.720 --> 0:59:48.640 That's Jesus speaking to you, telling you that if you 0:59:48.680 --> 0:59:50.840 will call on his name, you will be saved. Right now, 0:59:50.880 --> 0:59:54.440 heads bowed, eyes closed, all over the room. I'm going 0:59:54.480 --> 0:59:56.800 to lead you in a prayer. And if this prayer 0:59:56.800 --> 0:59:59.200 expresses your heart. The Bible says that if you confess 0:59:59.280 --> 1:00:02.360 with your mouth Jesus's Lord and believe in your heart 1:00:02.440 --> 1:00:05.240 God raised him from the dead, you will be saved 1:00:05.840 --> 1:00:09.760 right here right now. This is your moment. Repeat after me, 1:00:09.840 --> 1:00:17.280 Heavenly Father. Today is my day of salvation. I am 1:00:17.320 --> 1:00:21.640 a sinner in need of a savior. And I believe 1:00:22.520 --> 1:00:27.000 that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the 1:00:27.040 --> 1:00:32.400 savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the 1:00:32.440 --> 1:00:36.640 Lord of my life. I believe he died that I 1:00:36.680 --> 1:00:41.120 would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. 1:00:42.160 --> 1:00:47.720 I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. 1:00:48.600 --> 1:00:52.360 I am a child of God. On the count of three, 1:00:52.440 --> 1:00:55.480 shoot your hand up. If you prayed that, one, two, three, 1:00:55.600 --> 1:00:59.200 all over the room, hands going up, hands going up, 1:01:00.360 --> 1:01:05.800 Angels starting to party in heaven. Come on, Shane's breaking off, 1:01:07.240 --> 1:01:09.680 hands going up, New life's beginning. 1:01:11.080 --> 1:01:17.560 Thank you, Jesus, Thank you for joining us. Special thanks 1:01:17.640 --> 1:01:20.200 to those of you who give generously to this ministry. 1:01:20.520 --> 1:01:23.480 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You 1:01:23.520 --> 1:01:25.960 can click the link in the description to give now, 1:01:26.480 --> 1:01:30.320 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 1:01:30.880 --> 1:01:33.680 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:01:33.920 --> 1:01:35.240 You can share it with your friends. 1:01:35.520 --> 1:01:37.840 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:01:37.880 --> 1:01:40.000 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:01:40.000 --> 1:01:40.880 Elevation Church. 1:01:40.920 --> 1:01:42.560 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.