A Posture of Gratitude

Thank you for listening to this message from Damon Thompson Ministries.

I'm going to begin to teach a little bit tonight. My goal is not to see how long I can keep you here. I know some of you think that's my goal at times, but it's not my goal. And I've just been reading an Acts where Paul preached till midnight and then a kid got so tired. He fell out a window and broke his neck and Paul ran downstairs and raised him from the dead and then preached until daylight. So I'm going to tap into my Pauline anointing tonight. Hopefully.

Eutychus doesn't fall out the window and break his neck. But I heard somebody say, if you fall out the window and break your neck, Eutychus too. That's his name, Eutychus. By the way, it's just a preacher joke. All right. So Eutychus too. All right.

I thought that was very funny. I'm like Tammy laughing at my jokes that aren't funny all the time. She's laughing. She goes, you don't think I'm funny? I say, I think you're beautiful, babe. You're beautiful. I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter one.

I began to share some things in Union University this past Tuesday, which was yesterday, by the way. It still feels like Friday to me. It felt like Friday to me all day. I pulled up here to pray and was like, what are all these cars doing here? And I was like, school's going on. It's Wednesday. But you fall so into those patterns that it's interesting when it gets disrupted at least a little bit.

But I began to say some things to them, and I knew as I was saying them that some of this was not just for Union University, but for the larger body as well. And I had a couple of people confirm that to me that were not Union University students that were in that meeting that were like, man.

that was exactly where I'm at. And so I'm going to share a little bit of review and then I'm going to kind of go into the next phase of that, that we didn't have a chance to cover in Union. So, but I am going to start, we're going to, we're going to start in Acts chapter one, verse 14.

I'm going to read this verse and I'm going to read a couple of more verses. And then I'm going to share with you some things I've written regarding this. Acts chapter one, where we really are right now as a people is we are celebrating. with full and overwhelmingly thankful hearts, what the Lord is doing. And we are anticipating what's just around the corner. And You have to make sure that when you're anticipating what's just around the corner, you don't fail to be thankful for where you are.

Because it's a challenge to be able to say, I know I was born for more. Yeah, but it's what I do with the measure I've been given that determines whether or not I'm positioned for more. This is the parable of the minus. You got a man walking around who knows he's born to steward 11 talents, but he's been given five.

And what he does with the five determines whether that moves to 10. And you got another man who's stewarding one who was not ready for more. And because he was not ready for more, they took the one that belonged to him and ended up giving to the one who had multiplied his five into 10. So you've got to stay in this place where you're ever thankful for where you are, yet anticipating.

My spirit is vibrating with the expectation that there's something around the corner that I was born for, that I've not experienced yet, that eye has not seen and ear has not heard. So I want to stay in the posture of gratitude and not become frustrated. I'm not already standing around the corner. Because hope waits differently.

Hope waits in this hilarious generosity place that Parker was talking about tonight. Hope waits with a posture of thanksgiving and gratefulness over the faithfulness of the Lord you've seen thus far. And just because you know you were designed for... more.

You have to be sure that you don't despise where you are. This is despise not the day of small beginnings, not because they were born to stay in small beginnings, but because a posture of thanksgiving is literally the gate that gives you access to more.

You enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. And so as you stay in a posture of being thankful with praise, the fruit of praise on your lips, you're actually positioning yourself for the more you were designed for. To fail to partner with that grace.

for Thanksgiving, you can actually fight against what the Lord's wanting to do on the inside of you. Because here's the problem with the kingdom, and it's a glorious thing, but it can be a struggle. There's always more. So you'll never... get to the place where you said, whew, I made it. You got to get there right now and say, I have made it.

I am in the middle of the plan. Is there more to come? Yes, but I'm so thankful for where I am today. And in thanksgiving over a current position, you actually partner with grace to take territory.

Isn't that important? So let's look at Acts chapter 1, and I'm going to begin. Matter of fact, I think I'll just read verse 14 of Acts 1, and then we'll skip over to Acts 2. Acts 1. Verse 14, and let's back up to 12 because I need a little context. The disciples left the Mount of Olives and returned to Jerusalem less than a mile away. Arriving there, they went into a large second floor room to pray.

Those present were Peter, John, Jacob, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Jacob, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, the zealot, Judas, the son of Jacob, and a number of women, including Mary, Jesus' mother. His brothers were there as well. All of them were united in prayer. gripped with one passion, interceding night and day. Let's look at those terms again. They're united in prayer, gripped with one passion.

interceding night and day. Now there's a lot here. Your Bible may say that they're in one accord. Homothumadon is the word one accord, the word accord there. We don't use the word accord in our current English language. But homothumadon is an interesting word because it comes actually from two different words that mean to rush along. in union to rush along in union. So although they were waiting, they weren't stagnant. They were waiting in movement.

And this is interesting because a lot of people think that waiting means an absence of activity. And what waiting actually is, is you staying in the place of peace and doing what he set before your hands to do. that under the Lord. Waiting is not an absence of movement. Oftentimes waiting is the peace you have when it feels like everything around you is moving.

There was a whole lot up in the air for the early church before the outpouring of the spirit. They're literally having one foot in two different ages. They're still in the Judaistic age, yet they're in the age of the kingdom. That overlap is going to last until AD 70 with the destruction of the temple. And then we begin to move fully into the kingdom age. But there's some weird, wild stuff going on in the overlap between... these two ages.

Between 33 AD and 70 AD, there's some wild stuff going on. And the reason why is because you're literally seeing a convergence of two ages come together. And you're still seeing some of the old and some of the new. The old has not yet completely passed away. Therefore, the new has not completely come to pass. And the interesting thing is that's what's happening in us.

Many of us are detoxing from the religious age that we were raised in, and there's still some of that in there, yet there's something new happening on the inside of us, and we're going, when will the new fully manifest? And I'm saying it's a process where... whereby you learn to wait. And Isaiah said it like this. He said, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They'll run and not grow weary. They'll walk and not faint. Now understand this. There is movement, just not exhaustion. They that wait upon the Lord, they'll run. And not grow weary. They'll run, watch this, and not grow weary. They'll walk and not faint. But the word wait there doesn't mean wait. The word wait there is a Hebrew idea of plaiting and braiding and weaving together. Hmm.

So it's not they that sit by idly and hope God breaks through on their behalf. That's not what waiting is. Waiting is literally a braiding of perspective. Where in moments where everything you've cried out for is not yet fully in your hand, you're still believing in the faithfulness of God. And in that, your heart gets entwined with him in a way that even while you're waiting, there's no weird.

Eariness. Religion, when you begin to wait, religion will scream that you try harder. That's religion's only message, but it's not about trying harder. It's about trusting more.

And I found this out to be true. Now listen, this is important. I found this to be true. You're either growing weary or growing in trust. And there isn't a middle ground. If what you're doing is making you tireder, you have a responsibility to step back and not look at the circumstances. You have a responsibility to step back and ask where you are in this metric of trust. It's important. Trust is actually one of the most important commodities in the kingdom of God. Because it is literally not...

It's different in faith, but you can also interchange the words. And I don't want to go into the Greek of Pisces and all that, but let's just look at the idea of what we mean when we say trust. Trust is the dependence on the character of God. And you can have faith in a principle and not have trust in character. And what happens is you become the kind of person like Parker talked about tonight who becomes more dependent on the law of sowing and reaping than the character of Abba God.

How do you get free from worry? You start believing he actually is father. You go, what if, what if this fatherhood thing's not just an analogy? That's actually how he sees me. And he loves me with the same nature and measure of love that he has for his beloved son, Yeshua. And I did not see him walking around wringing his hands, although he found himself in incredibly difficult situations. Because what is the father doing in this? The father is.

proving his character to you in the waiting so that when you find yourself in another season where you're called to bring breakthrough to someone else, you've already walked through that process of having been seated in trust. To be seated in trust. I trust him. I trust that he is immutable. Means not subject to mutate.

And some of us were taught about whether on purpose or not. Some of us raised in Western religion were taught about a God who mutates. Sometimes he's over here and sometimes he's over here. Sometimes he's ready to zap you and other times he's ready to love you. And it just depends on which day you check him. And the Lord is helping us to detox from some things we learned about the nature of God that make him fickle and inconsistent when he is actually the most trustworthy thing in existence.

And when you begin to live that way, you quit panicking about what hadn't worked out yet. And I'm going to tell you this, God in seasons, because he's good. Will respond to you in panic. And then he won't. In other seasons because he's ready for you to grow up. And people in immaturity. saw God respond to panic and thought that's what God responds to. And then you find yourself in another season where you're going, why isn't it happening now the way it did then?

Because when you were a child, you thought as a child, you spoke as a child, you understood as a child, but when you became a man, you were to put away childish things. And children throw tantrums in order to get attention. Adults do not, well. Adults are not supposed to throw tantrums in order to get attention. And some of us think if we can get God's attention and he's going, you don't understand. You don't have to talk me into doing anything for you. I'm your father.

I heard someone tell this story. I thought this was a great analogy, and I can't even remember who told the story. It's been some time ago. But I heard someone tell the story of going to Disney World and complaining about how much everything cost. Now, I'm thankful that I've avoided Disney World. I've never been. Tammy keeps saying we're going to take Laz and Milo one day. We had to take Laz and Milo to Disney World. I'm going probably not. I mean, maybe like Yellowstone.

I think they would love it. Laz likes dinosaurs, not roller coasters. So anyway, so I've never been to Disney World. I had a sister that lived outside of Disney World that had passes to Disney World, and I managed not to go to Disney World. Hallelujah. I mean, you can clap for me. I didn't go to Disney World. I never did. You're welcome. I'd like to thank my sponsors.

So I didn't go to Disney World, but I heard people talk about this, how much a Coke costs, and this, how much a bottle of water costs, and this, how much, and my thinking is you probably shouldn't go there with a budget.

If you didn't have enough money for the Coke, you shouldn't have bought the ticket. That's my thinking on everything. People complain about everything. And then I heard this man give somebody the analogy. You're walking around and you're stressed about how much everything costs and you're looking at how much everything costs. He said, what would it be like if someone walked up?

to you, tap you on the shoulder and say, I know you have not been told this yet, but Walt Disney is your grandfather. And we walk around the kingdom wondering how's everything going to be taken care of? How are we going to pay for this? What about the diagnosis? What about the lump? What about the symptoms? What about the kids? What about the grandkids? What about the marriage? What about the neighbors? What about the country? What about the government shutdown?

what's going on in iran and what about what about what about and and i just feel like the father is wanting to tap some of us on the shoulder and go yahweh the god of the universe is your father start acting like it start living like it start Rejoicing like it start giving like it start loving like it

Instead of still carrying this religious notion that if we don't dot every I and cross every T, he's going to snatch the rug out from under us. That's not how he operates. It's not who he is. And so as we begin to go through that real reform, you know that there is. a detox thing that's taking place.

From notions we carried about the nature of God through our Western religious contractual orientation to move away from an understanding that our soteriology, our salvation, our soteria is not about a contract. between us and God. It's about a father who had adopted us before there was a universe.

A lamb that was slain before there was a universe. You and I who were adopted before the foundations of the world is what the Holy Spirit says through Paul in the book of Ephesians. Adopted before the foundation of the world. Well, the truest thing about you is that you're a child of God. And Paul said it like this. Beloved, we are God's children. Or is it John? John's. Beloved, we are God's children now.

Although it is not yet apparent what we will be, but when he is revealed as he truly is, we will be just like him. How do we get to the just like him thing? Because ultimately that's the goal. Ultimately the gospel should be the message of theosis. It's not, but it should be. And the more we can begin to migrate toward the understanding that God became what we are in order to enable us to become like he himself is. When we begin to make that maturation and we begin to move more.

fully into God's pre-designed intention for us, something begins to happen that says, I have to quit wrestling around with these lower level things. And I've got to come up here in a measure of trust that says he is going to take care of me more effectively than he takes care of the sparrows. considered the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin. Yet Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed as one of these.

If he cares for five sparrows that are sold for two copper coins, how much more is he going to care for you? And when we begin to move into that place of trust, something begins to happen. And I believe it enabled the early church to move into some extraordinarily mystical territory.

That you cannot engage with until you've walked through this area of trust. Because there are some things that the Father's wanting... to cause this family to inherit right around the corner, that we're going to have to engage with another measure of trust in order to fully embrace all that the father's about to do. We're being prepared for something and it's a whole lot more than a little bit better service than we had last week. How many of you feel that? I feel that.

So now let's look. We talked about Acts 1, and we're talking about homothumadon, which means to rush along together. And the analogy I gave in Union University that I thought was important was... This rushing along idea has to do, if you look at the etymology of the word, it actually has to do with being moved through like rapids. So we're rushing along, not like...

Me and you got together and said, let's get in a hurry and get somewhere. But we're actually being carried along in a rush. Is that helpful? So we rush along together. This is what one accord meant. They weren't in there getting anything done. They were in a 10 day prayer meeting, but they were all being carried along together by the same rush. And by the time the manifestation comes, it's called. A rushing mighty wind. And I want to tell you that they were in a rushing before the wind.

Because one accord, come on somebody, one accord preceded the manifestation of a rushing mighty wind. And the people who end up in the move of the Spirit are the people who are in the move of the Spirit.

You know who ends up in revival? People in revival. You go listen to what was happening at somewhere like Brownsville Assembly of God before Father's Day 1995, and you will find out there were prayer meetings that were going until 1 and 2 in the morning with just a handful of people in the room. Right, Anna? There were moves of the spirit that were beginning to happen. That if we can discern their hints.

They're hints that the ultimate, the precipice wasn't what we experienced here a couple of weeks ago. It was an announcement. It was a readying. It was a group of people being carried along by a rushing river that are about to experience. It's a rushing wind. So homophobic.

And homothumadon is a group of people say, listen, I feel like I am in this place where the Lord's doing incredible things on the inside of me. Yet I believe the Lord is getting ready to do more incredible things on the inside of me than what he's doing on the inside of me right now.

very thankful for what he's doing in me, but I feel like we're being prepared for something that we don't have context for. Are you? And I feel like, I feel like posture in our hearts that way between now and the beginning of the year when we gather together for this seven days. of day and night, not out of works, not out of striving, not out of trying to earn something, but just as a witness of our thanksgiving that we're rushing along together.

We're rushing along together. What is that posture? That's the posture that preceded the outpouring of the spirit. It wasn't the outpouring of the spirit that caused them to rush along together. It was the decision. To believe before they had cloven tongues of fire and a rushing mighty wind that we're going to rush along together. I know I get a lot of.

biblical information about what happened when the rushing mighty wind came, but I wonder what those 10 days were like. I bet they weren't in that 10-day prayer meeting bored. I bet they weren't in that 10-day prayer meeting. Go up to day three, finally over with, and we get to day four. They were not told how many days they were to wait. They were just told, go tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And I can just imagine, man.

Maybe this is me looking into what I believe is coming in January. I can just imagine them on day one saying, my God, was that it? That could have been the outpouring of the spirit. That was amazing day two. Surely that was it.

This is the best prayer meeting I've ever been a part of. Day three, day four, day five. I don't believe they were sitting there with their legs folded, bored, and all of a sudden a sound from heaven came as of a rushing mighty wind, cloven tongues like as a fire set upon each of them, and they began to speak with other tongues.

As the spirit gave them. I don't believe that's what happened. I believe they were being braided in those 10 days. I believe as they waited in those 10 days. Their confidence and trust in the goodness of God. That he would indeed be.

begin something with 120 people that would still be touching the world 2000 years later. And this is the problem. And I'm rambling already, but this is the issue. The issue is we've been trained in religious false humility to be unwilling to say this is that. So we always dumb down what God's doing. I do it all the time and say, well, it's not like that. You know, I know God's moving everywhere. And he is, and that's great. But how arrogant are you, Peter?

To believe that what Joel prophesied decades earlier was just y'all's 120. When Joel said God... I'll pour out my spirit. The Lord said, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh. I don't think he was talking about 120 people. But Peter did. Not because it was going to stop with 120 people. 120 people is 3,000 people by the time the sun goes down. Oh man. But it doesn't start with 3,000 people.

Because anybody can see 3,000 people getting touched and going, this is that spoken by the prophet Joel. But apostolic vision looks into 120 people and says, I feel something stirring in this 120 people that tells me we're about to be able to see an outpouring. That touches all flesh all over the world. And I want to get our hope up.

And I want to say that one of the most dangerous things you can do in this hour is stand on the bank, watch people rush along together by you and wonder why God's not doing it in you because you're on the bank. I'm going to be very strong about what I'm about to say to you. And I want you to hear me. They are not experiencing what they're experiencing because God likes them more than you. They may be less cynical, less jaded, less distracted, more focused.

And the father is saying to us, you can stand on the bank or you can get in the river and rush along in union.

And I really feel like that's what the father is. The only requirement is that we engage at the heart level and say, this is what God's brought me here for instead of God brought me here. I mean, you got people in this room that are shaking their head yes at me that are hallelujah. And what I say is this house just. burned down. And then a tree fell on the next house. And they're not chicken littling the skies. Y'all don't know about chicken little.

The sky is falling. The sky is falling. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They're saying this, this must be better than I anticipated. If, if, if, if. This is either going to move me out or root me in. Come on. And I'm going to make the decision that my kids are not going to miss out on this rushing river because of something made out of brick and mortar. Come on, man.

And you start going, then what am I whining about? I heard this story. I tell this story all the time, but it affected me. Keith Moore told me this story years ago. Keith Moore pastors a great church in Missouri and also one in Florida. and he told me this story years ago that he was a part of teaching at rhema bible college and he said he was

He would teach in what they called the healing rooms. And oftentimes they'd bring terminal people into those healing rooms to sit in the room while they taught on healing. And he said, we had one particular lady that we believed that she was healed of cancer. And had gone through a miracle in her body.

Then later on, we were really disappointed to hear that she passed away. And Keith Moore, who was kind of the right-hand man to Brother Kenneth Hagin, he went to Brother Hagin and he said, unfortunately, he said, sister so-and-so passed away. And he said, I was afraid of that. and said, hmm, I was afraid of that. And he said, well, we felt like we saw her get healed. He said, no, he said, I was afraid she wouldn't make it because the wine never left her mouth. She never quit whining.

You know those people. The wine. And I'm telling you, wherever you are in this process, you better let the wine leave your mouth. And get into a posture of thanksgiving and gratefulness. I said this to the Union University kids. There's a group that gathers up here in the front. You have a decision as to whether you want to be a part of that group or not. I want to say that to the larger crowd. There's a move of the spirit and there are people joining.

in what the Lord's doing and there are other people who are sitting back with wine on their lips who are too busy complaining about how everything is not because you thought moving to Mobile was going to be magical bullet and it might be the final nail in the coffin. But it's essential to resurrection.

And some of finishing your self-promotion and some of your finishing I want to be in the middle of the spotlight. Some of the end of this egocentricity is actually the breakthrough you cried out for that you didn't think you needed and you didn't think you wanted.

But God brings you into a place like this because he said, I'm going to take you through the final things that are keeping you from resurrection life. The gospel of the book of Acts is about resurrection life. Paul stands before Caesar. Paul stands before Felix. Paul goes back to Caesarea. You know what everyone, he said, I'm on trial today because of the resurrection of the dead. I'm on trial today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead. Literally, we are.

meant to manifest resurrection life. We're being invited into a measure of life and life more abundantly we've never experienced. And I want to encourage you to get off the bank and start rushing along in union. Now let's look, that's the posture on one side of the outpouring of the spirit. Let's look at the posture on the other side of the outpouring of the spirit.

I was going to do Acts 2, 42 through 47. I think I'm going to skip it for the sake of time. And I'm going to go straight to Acts 4. Let's look at Acts 4, 32 through 35. Who's back there? Emily? Acts 4, 32 through 35. I mess with them a little bit when I skip ahead like this, but we're good. Hallelujah. Manning's tickled. Over there, my guy. Shouting you out, brother. Acts 4.32 says all the believers were in one mind and one heart. Mia.

Cardia, watch this, and miyosuke. Cardia, where we get the word cardiology. They were in one heart and they were in one suke, which is where we get the word soul. So when Dr. Simmons gets ready to translate soul, he translates it. Watch this. This is so interesting. They were in one mind, soul, psuche, and one heart, one cardia. Myocardia, myosuche. Watch this. Selfishness. So when Parker started sharing this, I'm like, sweet Lord. Have we not made sowing and reaping selfish? Of course we have.

Why? Because at the root of prosperity, what we really are dealing with in most people's life is materialism. Not dreaming about giving it. Dreaming about giving it so that. If you give a car away dreaming about the one you're going to get in return, you sort of miss the point.

The joy is in seeing that individual get what they couldn't get to without God letting you participate in their blessing. It's kind of like the little boy with the five loaves and the two fish. He didn't even know if he was going to eat.

He just knew it'd be joy to be able to surrender the little bit he had to be a part of a greater story. That's what giving is. It's surrendering the little bit we have in order that we might be a part of a greater story. All the believers were in one mind and one heart.

Selfishness was not a part of their community for they shared everything they had with one another. The apostles gave powerful testimonies about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I want you to look at this. And great measures of grace rested upon them all. That means if you're in the room, there's not a person in the room. with a greater measure of grace than you. So if it's not working for you, the truth is you're fighting against what somebody else is participating in.

Now, I think this is fascinating because how many of you know what was available to the apostle John was also available to Judas? That there should be the story about a guy called the apostle Judas. You see what I'm saying? There should be a story about a guy by the name of the apostle Judas, but there's not a story about the guy by the name of apostle Judas, not because what was available to John wasn't available to Judas.

But because Judas fought against the grace that would give him the ability to rush along in union with the apostle John. The story should not have ended with them rolling dice to decide who was going to replace Judas. That seems like a very non-prophetic way to pick the 12th apostle for the establishment of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to cast lots.

But this is what happens. This is what happens. This is what happens. The church ends up in a crapshoot when people don't partner with grace. And we have to hope somebody comes along to fill the spot God brought you here to fill.

And God's saying, I brought you here to fill the spot. And all I need you to do is partner with grace. You don't have to figure it out. You don't have to make it happen. You don't have to strive. You don't have to jump through hoops. You don't have to be recognized and applauded. You don't have to come with your resume about what you did at the last.

church you were a part of, you just get to come here and partner with grace to get off of the bank, get in the river and let God carry us along until our rushing provokes a rushing.

Our homophumadon provokes an outpouring of wind. Now watch this. One is aggressively happening on the inside of those that are in that room. until something is going to so happen in them that it affects the outside of them. So when they're in this rushing along season for 10 days and then there's an outpouring of the Spirit where the wind comes and all of a sudden it so affects them physically that other people look in and think they're drunk.

That means you got the right kind of wine on your lips. And instead of complaining about what's not happening, why don't you drink from what the Lord is doing? And it's why it's so awesome to see communion be such an essential part of what the Lord is doing here in the next generation. Verse 33, again, the apostles gave powerful testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great measures of grace rested upon them all. Verse 34.

Some who own houses, land sold them, brought the proceeds before the apostles to distribute to those without. Not a single person among them was needy. Why was there not a single person among them that was needy? Well, because they were generous. Yes, that's true. But it's also because great grace rested upon them all. And it's grace that meets your need, not just somebody else's generosity. And there is not...

You go take the person sitting over here that is the most on fire of anybody in the entire building and they don't have more grace available to them than you do. Than I do. And when I see God moving on somebody like that, instead of just watching it like a spectator, I recognize, come on. I recognize my God, man. He is no respecter of persons.

He was pouring his spirit out. This is an announcement that this is available. And there's something fascinating about the 120. It appears all 120 had the same experience. Peter, who was failing real recently, has the same experience as John who makes it all the way to the foot of the cross and inherits Mary, the mother of Jesus, as his mama. But John didn't get something Peter didn't get because John was doing better than Peter recently. This is what I came to say tonight. That's the gospel.

The gospel is John did not get a greater measure than Peter. Matter of fact, Peter's not the guy I would have tagged to have preach the sermon because he's still in restoration process. Right? I mean, Peter. Cussing, campfire, denying Jesus, Peter, rooster crowing, Peter, is tagged as the spokesman for the sermon. that will instigate the spread of the global gospel of Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. Peter, why?

Because Peter didn't feel like because he was struggling, he couldn't partner with the same grace as John. Why? Because Jesus came to fix the idea that you have to have a perfect scorecard to partner with grace. The very idea of grace is that. that you don't have a perfect scorecard. The engagement was not with power, it was with grace.

The fruit was power, but they were engaging with grace. It did not first say great power. I'm going to close with this. It did not first say great power rested upon them all. It first said great grace. And then you're going to get miracles. You're going to get the apostles doing miracles. And then it's not going to stop with the apostles because you're going to get Stephen doing miracles over here as a deacon.

Which I argued and I argued theologically in Union University that that's a great slap to the face of cessationalism that says the miracles went out with the last apostles. And I'm going to tell you they weren't even happening just with the apostles. Stephen's a deacon. He's doing so many miracles. They kill him. They don't kill him because of what he teaches. They kill him because he's doing what they would be able to do had they partnered with grace.

But they are fighting against what Stephen partners with. Then we get Philip over here doing miracles. And Philip's not identified as an apostle ever. But we get Philip over here doing miracles. So all of a sudden miracles have started happening in this homestead community. All of a sudden we start experiencing some things that we don't really even have a point of reference for. Sometimes we're anointing them with oil, but rarely.

And we love that. If there be any sick among you, call for the elders of the church, anoint them with oil, pray the prayer of faith, save the sick. And on that day, the Lord will raise them up. But the Lord can also raise them up through a shadow. The Lord can raise them up through a spoken word. The Lord can raise them up through live stream.

And what I'm saying to you is between now and then, get the wine off of your lips and put a greater wine on your lips so that you can partner with grace to not stand on the bank while the rest of us rush along in union.

If I was a pastor, I'd steal this message and preach it to my church. No, I mean, I'm serious. I'm saying there's so much that we could, me and you could sit on the couch and you could talk about what you're going through for hours or you could partner with grace.

You're fighting against the very thing you're crying out for. The very thing you moved here for. And you start whining and you start complaining and you start saying, but this and this. And there's going to be this is always going to be this is in life.

You don't need to have a PhD to know. There are going to be vices in life. This is going on and this is going on. And we're dealing with stuff. This is going on. I wish this wasn't going on. I wish this would be taken. But at the end of the day, you stand back and you go, is that going to be my narrative? My kids are burning for the things of God and the narrative is going to be some people over here acting stupid.

No, that's not the storyline. That might be over here in the side, but that's in the periphery. What's happening in the center is we are rushing along in union and I'm seeing an entire generation of people jump in with both feet and say, if you'll go with us, we... believe we could experience something extraordinary together. So I just want to say to you that there is grace tonight to partner with grace.

Grace, maybe we'll title it that, grace to partner with grace. And great grace was upon them all. Don't be Judas. When you could be Peter. Don't fight against the grace. Dive in. As we rush along together, this is what I heard the Lord say, and this is why I'm teaching this tonight. Matter of fact, can y'all jump back up there or tie somebody?

Me, if y'all need me on violin. Anna's back's tired. This is what I feel the Lord saying. And I felt him say this to me today, so this is why I'm teaching this. The rushing is unto a rushing. Homothumadon comes from two words that mean one to rush along, the other in union. So they were already in a rushing before they got a rushing.

Before there was a wind on the outside, there was a river erupting on the inside. And you and I are rushing along together, but I'm telling you, we are being made ready for another rushing. And the last thing I would want for you as a father, the last thing I would want for you is for you to be standing on the bank and miss out on the coming of the next rushing mighty wind. What comes out of your mouth matters in a way you could not possibly imagine. James said the tongue is like a rudder.

If you let criticism come out of your mouth, it's actually going to do very little to the person you criticize. But it will absolutely disqualify you from being in the posture to experience the next rushing. And listen, you saying, I know I'm saying this about this person, but you know, I really love them. Doesn't make it not criticism. I heard Bill Johnson say this one time. He said, we got to quote Bill Johnson at least once or the service doesn't count.

Bill Johnson said this one time, he said, he had a guy say to him one time, he said, this guy, he's an incredible speaker, but he's a terrible administrator. And Bill said, won't you just leave that next part out?

Why don't we quit having to level people down? And religion by nature is critical. And we believe God is critical of us. God is exasperated with us. And we point that towards other people. And I'm saying to you, listen to me, listen to me. There is not a measure of grace present on me and Tammy that's not present on you.

There's not a measure of grace present on Elijah and Judah that's not present for your children. There's not a measure of grace on these on this platform that's not, I mean, as powerfully as God uses Rudy. And I've never seen anything like it. Frankly, I've been in a lot of room with people playing a lot of horns. Real famous preacher I know is a horn player. He used to show up in my meetings and play the horn. Now he's got more people on his staff than I have in my church.

When he begins to play that horn and that thing comes in, instead of just being mesmerized by that, honor it and say, that same grace is on me. I wonder what sound God wants to make out of me. I just refuse to do with these guys. I refuse to go with this group. I say, guys, that's not gender specific. But when I look at what God's happening with them,

I don't disconnect from it. I feel an announcement in it. Let's rush along together in union and there's another rushing coming. And if we can deal with. Disunifying attitudes. Feel this. If you can deal with attitudes of disunity. Something begins to happen to a cohesive unit that gives us a measure of breakthrough together that honestly we cannot experience independently.

There is not one biblical or historical record I've been able to find in my study, and I've been studying this now for almost four weeks. There's not one biblical nor extra biblical study I can find that shows that one of the 120 missed out. Even though not all of the 120 became notable or noteworthy in history, none of them missed out. When the Bible says all, it's all. That great grace was present upon them all.

Therefore, the spirit got poured out upon them all. And therefore, they were all a part of this new manifestation of what it meant to be family, community, whole in the earth. And I feel like the Lord is just asking people to shift your perspective, even if it's just a little bit. And so I'm going to partner with grace because great grace was upon them all. Great grace was upon them all.

Let me read this to you. Hallelujah. I'm not going to read that. Thank you, Lord. Great grace. I can't get away from it. great grace is upon us all. Me, you, them, great grace is upon us all. You know there were a myriad of characters in that 120. But great grace was upon them all. And I love the genius of the Holy Spirit that Peter is the one that got tapped to preach the first message.

I don't know how Peter responded to that. There's no story in here. There's no backstory to tell us they all got together and decided it was Peter. I think they all knew all along. I think they knew the day he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed art thou, Simon Marjona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my father who is in heaven. You know what? I'm going to change your name and I'm going to make you a foundational rock.

that the church is going to be built upon. And when he stood up that day, he fulfilled that prophecy. His revelation became a rock that the early church was built upon. And it's a foundation we still stand upon today. Great grace is upon us all. I don't necessarily think I'm supposed to have an altar call response, but I think as we play and sing together a little while, this is what I'm asking people to do.

If there's been a tightness in your jaw because you've set yourself to be resistant, I just hear the Lord say, take a deep breath and partner with grace. You may say, I don't like everything happening here. Me neither. Mainly you walk around talking about you don't like everything happening here. That's the main thing I don't like about what's happening here.

But it's not about this place being perfect. It's not about us being perfect. Somebody said, if you're looking for the perfect church, don't go there. You'll ruin it. This is about us saying, man, there's a rushing happening and I don't want to stand on the bank. I feel it's so fathering in my heart to be able to say, I don't want to go into January 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and anybody miss out on that.

because they still have a wine on their lips. Let's get engaged with the fullness of what the Father's making available. Let's say in our hearts, I want to disconnect from anything. that would cause me to miss on the fullness of the rushing mighty wind that God has called me to be born for. Let's just lift our hands together as we play and sing and declare that we're going to partner with grace tonight.

I feel great measures of grace. Let's partner with grace tonight. Come on, let's go. Let's partner with grace. Thank you.