OFF MENU

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message.

Oh my God, Well.

Well I'm praising you because hey, how big is your Because let me hear it right now.

If you've got a.

Reason, don't put the pentiton Pentecostal courts in there on there.

I tell you what.

Somebody's praising him today because they woke up today.

That's a good start.

Now, listen.

Some people don't praise God because they woke up to see another day. But if you ever thought you wouldn't see another day and you did, then you have a reason to praise him. Everything that has breadth and is thankful, praise the Lord. Somebody's praising him because they had something to eat today.

Now listen, I'm.

Not saying it was healthy, that was your decision. I'm not saying that you aren't still hungry. But somebody's praising him today because he fed me. Somebody's praising him today because I had somewhere to sleep last night that was soft and comfortable. Somebody's praising him because this week you ailed again, and it's been a long time since that smile was on your face and you felt a trickle of joy, and you're about to see an avalanche of God's blessing come against your depression.

Somebody's phrasing him today.

Because somebody's in church with you that you thought would never be back in church, but they came today. Somebody's phrasing him because although the medical diagnosis doesn't look good right now, you know that Jehovah Rapha is your healer and that he is the resurrection and he is the life.

Somebody's phrasing him today because although I'm not where I want to be, I look back in my past and I thank him that I'm not who I used to be. I'm praising him because now you fill in the blank.

I'm praising him because he's faithful. I'm praising him because he's King of kings. I'm praising him because he's my I'm praising him because he's my shepherd.

I'm praising him because.

I should my thought.

I'm praising him because he fit me in the valley.

I'm praising him for every mountain he brought me off from.

A personal praise right now, say put in there. I'm praising it in cons Oh no, got Brad praising.

Beyond because he's good. I go what he don't pray?

I pray he'll love me.

Baby, got me going for me?

Yeah, I'm praising.

He'll be gol, dude, leave me not. I praid he'll be good. Leave never and go. Man, you shore just y me you jes back.

To me?

Shut.

Oh my god, he's good to me.

He's been good to me. I want seven people say he's been good to me. Yeah he's really not good. Yeah he's really.

Worthy of it.

You don't really love him.

I don't really appreciate him, you don't really know him. Yeah he really did it.

Jesus is real to me. Y'all want to keep singing that?

All?

Right?

Downloaded on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, Go get a cassette. Sure been good. The new song is out now. But I have a feeling for some of you that's not a new song. For some of you, that has been the song of your heart through every season of your life. That life hasn't always been good. And people haven't always treated you good, but He's always been good through it all.

For we know that in all things, God works all things together for good. They're not all good, He's all good. How many know what was all God in my life? That I made it this far? I still want to.

See in the comments, Hey, Epham, I want in the comments every because you can think of while you're praising him. I'm praising him because and just fill in the blank. We're praising him today because you're here with us. Elevation Valentine. Let's welcome our Epham around the world.

Welcome. We're glad you're.

Here for the final installment of our series, Ghostwriter.

This is it, y'all.

We gotta make it count, all right.

Well, it's at least the series or the season finale, and then we might do a season two sometimes.

Because we only got to acts ten. The birthday girl herself, Holly Ferdick left us last week in Acts chapter nine.

I'm going to pick up where Holly dropped you off in Acts chapter ten, and I want to say not only happy birthday to you, Holly, and all the things that I wrote in that letter that I wrote you at four thirty am. So if there were typos, please forgive them. And if I got a little mushy at the end or a little inappropriate with some of the things that I said at the end, you'll forgive me.

The birthday, not a church, but of my Holy Spirit. I told you, listen, I told her, I said, this week where your birthday falls, I would take the weekend off and go through it.

She said, well, would you just preach a special birthday sermon for me? I said, deal, because we wanted to close this series where we've been talking about the Holy Spirit and how many are grateful by the way for the Holy Spirit and for what he's teaching you in your life. That he is so much more than a goosebump or a good feeling. He can give you a goosebump. He can give you a good feeling. If God has given out goosebumps, I'll take him.

How about you?

People say that faith is not feelings, Well, I need sometimes to feel God's presence because I feel a lot

He became hungry and wanted something to eat.

And for some of you, that's your new life verse I want something to eat, Lord, I claim Acts ten ten over my life. I want something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened in something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I have

They called.

They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there. I'm going to make a whole sandwich out of that verse, so we'll come back.

To it verse nineteen. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, I hate to interrupt your deep thoughts, but three men are looking for you.

So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking for.

Why have you come?

And replied, we've come from Cornelius to Centurion. He's a righteous and god fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.

Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guest.

The next day, Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Japa went along. The following day, last verse he arrived in cessarea. Cornelius was expecting them. Say amen, for the word of the Lord. Say it again a little louder, please, And then now go back to this verse. This is the verse I want to dedicate to Holly and to all of you. On Pentecost Sunday, Holly's birth day. Verse ten, he became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared.

The title and.

Assigned and of my final installment of our series, Ghostwriter is off menu. Speak Lord, we're listening in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, you may be seated. There's something special about to happen in our lives today. Of all of the wonderful things that I would miss about Holly if she ever was raptured and I was left here, I would not miss the moments before we order our food in a restaurant together.

Make the meal take thirty five more minutes, and I don't like it. The second thing is pretty much.

Walk in the restaurant knowing what I'm going to eat, whether I've been there or not. There's three items that are pretty common to every menu, protein based, and saw order one of those. My wife, on the other hand, I gotta tell you something about her, because you know, you see her up here on the stage and she looks wonderful, and she's even more wonderful the more you

She talked about that last week. Did you hear that message?

Now?

What?

What a word? Because aren't we all wondering that?

Now what? God, I prayed for this baby, you gave me this baby. Now what God, I got them out of the car seat, Now they want.

The car keys?

What?

What's such a good word? And in the process of her speaking to you, she left something out. She said her favorite thing to read was a story with the character goes through.

That's not true.

My wife, Hollyford, her favorite thing to read in the entire world is a menu. I've seen this woman study a menu at a restaurant that we have gone to every Thursday night for eighteen months.

We're not very adventurous. We go to the same restaurants.

It's the same menu, and she studies it like it was the Declaration of Independence and she's in an.

Eighth grade history class.

She studies it like it is a contract for an entire condominium that she is. She studies it like it is a Nicholas Sparks notebook letter that she was left by her the love of She studies it like it is this eight capitals and she is about to go to geography. She studies and I have seen her late at night before scrolling on her phone. Looks kind of suspicious because she looks so happy scrolling on the phone, and I'm like, what are you looking at, Candy Crush?

It because you know, I'm the one who leans over to her. What would I like here.

After all of that that I just said, It's really nice to have somebody who studies the menu. But what I can't understand elevation Church. And forgive me because this is the last week my series. My wife's birthday is Pentecost on separate and the Holy.

Spirit and all that. I'm excited about it.

Why would you read the whole menu? Study it in advance? And I mean she will grill the server. If you are a server and you get us at the restaurant, we will tip big. But you will earn it because you will be answering a quiz. It will be a quiz. There will be a quiz.

So the what you're doing?

So many times the broccoli chicken with the UH with the lemon cream sauce. Tell me about the lemon cream sauce. And the server is always so nice because she's so nice. Well, ma'am, it's a UH. It's a sauce that consists them lemon and then there's cream and the level of nuance well, well, is it like lemony lemony or is it more creamy lemony cream cream more cream than lemon or more you know what the to me about the honey sacha, to me about the well, ma, it's it's honey siracha, and uhh.

I've come to admire it in a way. Just what I want to know is I have to hold that.

When the services now, thank you for dining with us tonight. We have a few specials that are not on the menu. Would you like to hear about the hosts?

I'm taking, like, no way she.

Prepared for this, like it was the bar exam.

We're not just going to take a flyer on something that the chef whipped up because he was tired of what he has to.

Make every night. And she'll lean in and go, yes, tell me about the specials and leave nothing out.

And I'm going, oh.

God, just bring me a steak or a burger patty and some a one. I can make it work. Do you have some peanuts?

I asked her recently, Why do you want to hear about the specials? She said, well, what is this something fresh? What if there's something new?

And I guess what she's doing is since I'm so boring and I take her to the same three restaurants over and over again, She's creating a new experience in the same place.

And I want to be a little bit more like you, because as I get off of.

This way too long opening illustration that I indulged in, and I thank you for allowing me to indulge, I was thinking about how in Acts chapter ten you were probably wondering why I was reading that story to you, Like, are you what you're reading to me about somebody who went up on a roof and prayed and went in a trance and went downstairs?

What does that have to do with this divorce I'm going through?

What does that have to do with this situation with my kid who probably needs to go to rehab but I can't make them go, and I can't force them, and now they're not even under my jurisdiction anymore. What does this that happen two thousand years ago have to

In verse nine before we move any further.

It says about noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. I think there are some situations that you have to pray your way through because you can't figure them out. Now, anytime life gives you a situation where you can't figure it out, that's an opportunity for you to learn to pray your way through what you can't figure out. And that does not mean that you will have to spend every waking minute of

And so we pray our way through pressure, or.

The pressure pushes us, pushes us over the edge, and pushes us into places of hiding that are dangerous. I don't want to get sidetracked by this, because honestly, I'm not just so interested that Peter was praying, or that he was praying at noon, which by the way, was not even a required time to pray. This was like a bonus prayer for Peter. Let's take a moment into church,

I think we should do that. I think we need to humanize these Bible characters.

I think you ought to keep those hands going because you're in church right now and you don't have to be. And just like you clapped for Peter, I want you to clap for yourself for a minute. I want you to clap for yourself for a minute that you made it to church today. I know you're not praising yourself, but Prace God that he got you here today.

Grace God that he brought you back to church another day. I didn't say you prayed an hour before you came, but you came.

I thank God you're here.

Wonder what he was praying about, don't you.

I mean, like Pastor Holly shared last week, he just raised somebody.

From the dead and he never did that before.

Now he's staying in the city, and certainly the paparazzi are looking for him, trying to find and Peter in Joppa, and so now in order to get.

A little bit of perspective, he has to go up on the roof to pray.

Maybe if you're a new mom, you have to go in the bathroom sometimes and pray. Maybe your prayer closet is your bathroom for a little while, but they will find you in that bathroom. There is no safe place for you to go and pray. And I think it's interesting that he went up on a roof because I think that's a high place. And I think sometimes while we're just around all the stuff of our life and just around the surroundings and just around the demands.

And that's why I think anytime.

You can get to church physically, get the church physically, especially if the church is called elevation, because we try to get you.

Higher for a few minutes.

And he's up there praying, And as he's praying, we don't know what he's praying.

I imagine he is praying about his purpose.

God, how do you want me, little old me Simon Peter the disciple who cursed while the rooster was crowing, How.

Do you want me to keep this going?

I mean, it's amazing how you used me to heal that man at the gate called beautiful. It's amazing how you used me to preach and convert all these people. It's amazing how you were there with me in the prison. It's amazing how you used me to get Anius off of his mat. It's amazing how you used me to get Tabitha up, that woman who had made all of those things for all of these people.

But now I'm in Japa.

Now he's still in Japa, but he doesn't really know what he's doing in Jopa. But he's in Joppa and he's stopping somewhere and he doesn't know where he's going, but he has stopped somewhere that he is praying.

About where God has him and where God is taking him.

And he's praying, and then he gets sleepy while he's praying, and he sees something in his vision that completely freaks him out.

A blanket comes down from heaven.

And this is where everybody who really thinks while I read the Bible is like, so, Pastor, when you say that Peter got high, are you.

Just talking about the roof he went up on?

Did they have mushrooms back then, pastor, what's going on that he would see this blanket?

Oh?

You just see blankets with birds and stuff on them every day, the stuff that happens in the Bible.

That's the way we like it. Though. We like the Bible.

Stuff can be weird, supernatural, freaky crazy.

But we're just trying to pay our bills. And what I am suggesting to you.

Is that the God who showed Peter this wants to show you something too. Somebody shout, God, show me something, be more specific, Holy Spirit, show me something.

That's been my biggest prayer of the last year. You can rip it off in you. I just pray, God, show me something. What did I not see about that conversation that I should have seen?

God?

What did I miss while I went through my day that you want me to incorporate into my tomorrow?

God?

What was the thing that I missed today that if I.

Don't pick up on it and adjust it, I will multiply the mistakes of today and too tomorrow.

God.

What is the thing that I have thought I was right about all my life that I'm really wrong about right now? What are the answers that I knew yesterday that have become irrelevant in this season of my life that I am still clinging to that.

Are keeping me from being who I need to be.

Peter was praying, I wonder, was he praying for an opportunity to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

Now, the Gentiles, just to catch.

You up a little bit, they were not bad people, but they were not God's covenant people. God's covenant people were the Jews. And God always had a plan to bless the Gentiles through the Jews. He told Abraham, I will bless you, and you will be a blessing, and all of the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. And so now Peter is standing in the continuation of something that God spoke centuries before he was ever born.

This thing did not start with you. It's bigger than you. Everything you're going through is connected to something bigger than you.

One of the greatest gifts the Holy Spirit can give us is a wide lens on our life to realize that there will come somebody after you that is dependent on your example, that there has come somebody before you who has given you an example to follow, and that those who came before you might have had chains on them that you have the power to break because God called you and assigned you to break them. That's a wide lens. When you worship, it gives you a wide life.

To see it. Stop talking to God like you have to negotiate a hostage out of the situation. He wants to give you wisdom, wants to give you opportunity, wants to show you open doors. Wants to tell you who to call, wants to tell you who to talk to, wants to bring people in your path. He just wants to know. Will you be prepared? Prepared?

Peter was preparing because I don't know what's next, but I gotta get ready for it. So I gotta pray my way through this thing. I gotta pray my way so I can prepare. I almost brought my screen out today because I wanted to show you something. I wanted to write the word prepare on the screen and spell it the way that you would think was wrong, but

Spelled it wrong.

I was going to say, no, no, no, God is preparing you for what He has prepair you.

Four.

I believe, while Holly was growing up in Miami, Florida, and I was growing up in Monk's Corner, South Carolina, that the experiences and gifts that God was given me in Monk's Corner and the experiences and gifts that God was giving her in Miami were two ingredients that were meant to go together to make the ministry that God has privileged us to serve within today.

So I believe that we were pre paired. You still don't get it.

My second illustration is this, Before I preach, I always take out of my pocket this thing. It just seems unnecessary weight to be up here preaching, so I'd always take it out of my pocket.

I went to take it out. Do you know what this is? I'm not going to do a product endorsement, but this is the thing. Yeah, okay, the.

Thing that drives you crazy when you see somebody walking around like they are such a baller that they can't take that out their air for five minutes to check out in the grocery store line.

And I do it too, but I'm usually just listening to something.

I'm not talking to anybody, And sometimes if I want to get somewhere quick, I'll put it in and pretend like I'm talking to somebody, just like I walk through it.

Oh yeah, we'll get back to you on that. That'll be great.

Funny because I can't hear your phone through this Bluetooth AirPod, but I can hear mine.

Because my phone is paired, so you don't know.

I might be listening to Fred Hammond or Drake up here right now, but it's my phone, and I wouldn't have to.

Make this work with this.

Because I'm not waiting until I get up here to pair it. It's prepared, prepared, prepared, and so the voice that I would hear in my ear would be relative to the device that this instrument was pared to. The Bible says walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Is the problem with the voices that are going through your mind, that are sabotaging your strength, sucking you dry of your joy, and causing you to lose your confidence in what you know good and well.

God called you to do.

Is it possible that you have been prepared to the wrong device. Is there something that's going on in your mind today? I'm just asking because when I read the passage, you were like, this is a weird one, Pastor is it really?

Or is it a picture that Peter even though.

He wasn't prepared to raise a dead girl, He wasn't prepared to go to Cornelius's house. He wasn't prepared to speak to a centurion and that's chapter ten that he was prepared. I think I think it's possible. I think it's possible. I think it's possible that although you don't feel ready for this season of your life, that although you feel alone in this season of your life, that although you feel you don't have the skills that it takes for this step of faith that God has given you.

That although you feel like you're the wrong one for the job, I think.

It's possible that God has been preparing you for the exact assignment that you are designed to accomplish. I will fulfill it. Say it out loud, I will fulfill it. If it's for me, it will be. And that's why I want you to disconnect from every device that is not a part of your destiny. Every voice, every website, every social media app, everything you play on your head in a loop and you call it your truth. It's

Not every teenager. Baby, you hadn't met me yet.

I'm full of the Holy.

Ghost and fire, and I'm baptized, and I'm bored, and I'm born again, and I'm fired up.

And I'm prepared.

All right, I'll do it.

The Lord said, I gotta tell you about David. He saw Goliath. What could prepare you for Goliath?

Oh?

I killed the lion. Oh I kill the bear. Oh I got a slingshot. Now, when I hook up this instrument to.

This device, when I hook up this experience with this challenge, sometimes you forget what you've got.

Yeah, And sometimes you remember where you've been, And sometimes that's a good thing. But sometimes you have memorized a menu that is no longer available to you. Can I preach this thing, y'all? I gotta get you ready for the summer. Yeah, I gotta get you ready for the summer. Everybody's trying to get a beach body. I'm trying to get you a beach spirit. Biceps won't help you. Whenever you all hell breaks loose in your family.

None of that going to matter a bit.

But what matters because we're talking about we're talking about food, but.

God is using the food.

If you thought this passage was actually about food, you need to read it again through the lens of the Holy Spirit, Peter did.

He's up there hungry. And you know, whenever you're hungry, everything looks good. And that's the truth.

Ask Esaul, how good a bowl of beans will look when you're hungry? And that's why some people date the wrong people? Okay, verse ten. He became hungry eating stuff you never would have ate. Well, he became hungry and he wanted some to eat. And while the meat okay verse the in this is so good? Y see this, yes sEH first ten. And while the meal was being prepared, what was being prepared? Put it in the comments what was being prepared? The meal wasn't the only thing being prepared.

And so it was right that they celebrated you. But it wasn't that they celebrated you that touch me.

It was what they called you, Pastor Holly, because it took me back to the memory of the time that you said.

I will never marry a pastor. She said that now he is one.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Simon would have never seen himself as a shepherd, but Jesus called him Peter and said, feed my sheep. God was prepairing, prepairing Jews and Gentiles prepared, and God needed somebody who was an official apostle to knock down that barrier officially and get the gospel to the gentiles. And I'm glad he did because I am a gentile, and I'm glad that the gospel didn't stop with what Peter thought about it.

He's preparing me, He's not just preparing a meal. He's preparing me.

Are you so focused on the meal that you don't even see the mission? Are you so focused on this day's needs, this day's inconvenience, this season's hunger, this season's annoyance, Like it is so typical for me to get so irritated so that I will miss something that could have been a miracle because of something as small as an irritation.

And I thought it's significant. On our last week of the Ghostwriter series.

Talk about how sometimes the greatest things that God brings into our life are off menu.

They are not things.

When I say menu, I'm talking about how you expected him to use you. I'll never be a pastor's wife. Cool, I'll just make you a pastor and then you'll have to be a pastor's wife. I'll never be free, you say, well, God says good. I just give you the blood of Jesus, and I'll declare you righteous, and I'll set you free, and if.

The sun sets you free, you'll be free. Indeed, I'll just do what I want to do.

You can't call unclean what God has called clean. That's what he told Peter. Because we look at the passage and we see a bunch of characters. Right, there's this guy and I didn't get to say about him, but this guy, Cornelias, he's amazing, it's amazing. He's over one hundred soldiers. He is very, very faithful. He's not aver, he's not a Jew, he's not circumcised, he's not definitely not a Christian yet. But God wants to give him the Holy Spirit. So one day he's praying at three pm.

At noon the next day. But that's beside the point.

Because while you are praying about stuff, God is preparing stuff. And don't worry if you don't see what he's preparing, because he was praying thirty miles away. Don't stop praying just because you don't see proof. The proof might be on the way while you're praying. So Cornelia sees an angel. Now Peter didn't see an angel. Peter heard a voice and saw a sheet. Now I think one of the reasons for that is that he had had three years with Jesus and when he called him Lord and said I can't do this.

He knew the voice because he was prepared because one thing.

And I'll leave this illustration alone after this, even if it was paired, if I left it back there, it would be too distant to pick it up.

That's why you got to stay close to God in your heart throughout the dad for it to connect.

It must be close. God didn't leave you, You left him in your heart. Do not leave Jesus in this church today. When you leave, you have the Holy Spirit He goes with you. This is a moving menu. Yeah, this is like a faith food truck. It's gonna show up wherever you need it this week. It's gonna show up wherever you need it this week. Boy, I needed it yesterday. I was about the road rage real bad

And I don't know. And isn't that how most of our life feels? Honestly, it's not so clear always. If the Bible had a verse, should I let my aging parent.

Move in with me?

Or should I provide them with the nursing home.

And if I provide them with the nursing home, how will I pay for because I don't have any money?

Ayway, if the Bible give you an.

Exact verse about that, but it says my God will supply all your needs, it does not go into that level of detail.

The detail in this passage is fascinating.

How Peter sees this sheet and the Lord tells him something about food, but he is using the food check this out to show Peter his future. And what he is saying to Peter, he's saying to you and I God is saying just because it's not on your menu doesn't mean it's not on mine.

Just because us.

You don't think I can do it doesn't mean it's not already happening. Just because you don't see a way that it would turn around at this stage doesn't mean that.

It's not already halfway turned.

For Notice what the Bible says about noon the following day, verse nine. As they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray y'all missed it.

Dropped down to verse seventeen.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, The men sent by Cornelius.

Found out where Simon's house was. Now, when the angel came to Cornelis, he said, go find.

A guy named Simon the Tanner, And when you get there in Joppa, you're gonna ask for a man who used to be called Simon, but he goes by the name Peter. So the men get there when verse seventeen, while Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision. And in my prayer this morning I saw somebody who is wondering what does this mean?

Here? I am single again? What does this mean? Here?

I am going back through this cycle again? Thought I was through with it? What does this mean? My kids aren't speaking to me. What does this mean? I cannot get through this door because of my employment record?

What does this mean?

Here?

I am in a situation where I feel rejected.

Should I fall back now? Or is that a sign to try harder?

Is the fact that it hasn't happened yet a sign that I'm doing the wrong thing and I should try something else. Is the fact that I'm struggling the way that I'm getting stronger?

Or is it a sign that God is redirecting me.

Now, Wild Peter is praying about all of this, like You've been thinking about this and wondering, what does this mean that I'm going through this? What does this mean that I'm anxious? What does it mean that I'm so afraid? What does it mean that I feel like I'm out of options?

What does this mean?

Wild Peter was still wondering about the meaning of the vision.

Verse seventeen.

The men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house and stopped at the gate. So God said to tell you, while you're wondering about your next step, the answer is already at the gate waiting for you. I'll declare it again. While Peter was praying, the men were already there. I am so slow, Church, forgive me. I am so slow. I read verse nine about fifteen times, and I didn't get it. About noon the following day, as they were on their wage're approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

So I pictured it like this. Wild Peter and the.

Other disciples that he had met there in Jappa were going back to the city. They probably been out all morning doing some ministry, preaching, some crusades, and as they.

Got to the city.

They stopped at the house, and Peter's like, I'm gonna go up there and pray. But that is not the they that is referenced in verse nine. Put it up again about noon the following day. This is good as they were on their journey and approaching the city.

They is not Peter and his voice.

They is the three men that Cornelia sent out of the prayer that he prayed a day earlier. They are already on the way. I don't know whose word that is. I know what day you need in your life. I don't know if the day that you need are people to partner with you, mentors to help you. I don't know if the day that you need in your life are emotional areas of healing where you need.

The balm of Almighty God.

But God said to tell you on this final week of my series on the Holy Spirit, they are already.

On the way.

And get ready because when.

You get down there, it's gonna be somebody you hadn't even met yet.

Get ready because what God's gonna bless you with.

Is it even gonna be on the menu? By thought, somebody say it's off menu, it's off menu. What good has on his mind for you.

Is off the menu.

What Good has on his heart to do through you is off the menu. It's not in your mind, it's not in your senses, it's not.

In your past, it's not in your tradition.

But it's coming. It is coming, is coming. It's coming. It is coming, is coming, It's coming, is coming, It's coming. It's already at the gate.

It's already at the gate.

It's already at the gate. While you're praying.

It's waiting. It's waiting, it's waiting.

I find people say it's waiting at the gate. It's waiting at the gate. It's waiting at the gate. Yeah, so you got a decision to make honey Pie. You got a decision to make baby Boom. You got a decision to make Saint. You got a decision to make Simon. You got a decision to make Peter. Because it goes like this, there's three men at the gate, and there's two men on the roof.

What you mean, pastor Steve? Who else up there? You're talking about the Lord Peter and the Lord. No no, no, no, no no no no no. I read you the verse.

I told you we were gonna come back to it. I told you I was gonna make a sandwich. I put it in a ziplock back. I prepared for this field trip.

I packed this.

Lunch because I want you to get it. I want you to get it, even if it's not on the menu. I want you to get it. Even if your mom didn't give it to you. I want you to get it, even if your dad didn't give it to you.

I want you to get it. Even if your kids aren't saying thank you.

I want you to get it, even if nobody recognizes the value of your life.

The Bible says that they went to the house of Simon.

The Tanner watched this looking for a man, and when they got there, they called out verse eighteen, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was there.

There's two people on the roof and three people at the gate. There's Simon on the roof.

Everything Peter had been before he met Jesus, and there's Peter on the roof. Simon is looking at the blanket, saying, I never did that before. I can't do that kind of stuff. We say when God shows us what he wants us to do. Because this blanket, it's God showing him. I want to cover the earth with the Gospel. Worried about a meal, I'm worried about a mission. Stop getting tripped up on the wrong stupid stuff. They hurt your feelings. Don't let a hurt feeling keep you from your future.

There are some things that he needs to say to you, Simon. Did you notice that. I want you to notice this.

When the Lord starts talking to Simon Peter, Simon Peter, both of them are up there. You know, Simon is you know, at least he represents the part of us that is stuck in our tradition and stuck in our limited experience, and stuck in the way that we perceive things, and stuck in the way that we think certain people are and the way that we think certain genders, and the way that we think that certain.

Women can do this and men can do that, and you know, people can do this, and people can do that.

I'll never forget people telling me when did you decide to become a multicultural church?

There's never a decision. And then Kirk Franklin asked me one time, were you are you? Were you surprised? Are you ever surprised how much black people like you? And and and I said, absolutely not. That doesn't surprise me at all. It's mutual. We're prepared, prepared, they're not mismatched.

My uh, my friend the other day he said, what a lot of people don't know is you you know more gospel music than any white man alive. I said, because I was singing in gospel choir since I was sixteen, So this wasn't a surprise to me.

Not to me. Now.

The reason I bring these traditions up is because those are all pretty cute. What if it's not so mentionable what you're attached to. What if yours is something that's sexual that makes you feel filthy? What if you are paired to and connected to a cycle of condemnation or compulsion that causes you to keep giving away everything valuable for the next meal. What if within you it is a severe and chronic emotional condition that people tell you to just rejoice over top of but it keeps getting

Is the horse and the road. This Holy Spirit, this Holy Spirit. Look what he did for Peter. While Peter verse seventeen, was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men stopped at the gate.

They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there, and this is what must happen in your life daily verse nineteen. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, catch it, catch it, catch it. While Peter was thinking, why I do about this?

I can't do this? What does this mean?

I don't know, the Spirit said Simon. See because all his life he's been playing. Simon says, thinking like Simon, eating like Simon, moving like Simon.

But how many no new minds make new moves with God? Who is this four other than Holly? I mean, this thing is cooking inside of me right now.

And while Peter was thinking about it, the spirit said, Simon, I want to spend less time playing Simon says with myself, because my Simon will tell me some stuff that I know is not going to move me for just me. My Simon will tell me, you know I mentioned road rage. Hey, drive up around this medium medium, go cut them off. Turn the car sideways, be there waiting for them.

Get out, Stand up on top of the jeep with your shirt off. That's my Simon. So it is imperative for me. It is imperative with your polo shirt tied around your head like a.

Bandana on top of the jeep on the way home from church today and let them know that's not right how they cut you off. And then so I need watch this. I need the Spirit to speak to my Simon so when I go downstairs I can be Peter.

I need the Spirit to speak to my Simon and tell me that's crazy. That's your ego talking.

That's just you trying to be somebody important and you're not even thinking about what really matters. I need the Spirit to talk to my Simon because the Spirit can show me the me that is new, show me, the me that is new. Ooh me, new me, new men you. It kind of works if you put it together.

Menu.

So, God says, you've been dealing with situations a certain way. You always hide when it gets scary. You've been dealing with situations a certain way. You always numb when it gets uncomfortable.

You've been dealing with situations a certain way.

You always withdraw. The moment that it gets too intimate, you get squeamish.

And you move out.

But God says, you've got a new menu. You've got a new menu, and on this menu is a new set of fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. This is the fruit of the spirit. And it's amazing because the Spirit started speaking to Simon. When the Spirit spoke to Simon, he said, don't hesitate, don't try.

To figure it out in your head.

I don't know who this is for, but stop judging God's capacity by your calculator. Holy Spirit spoke to me four days ago and said, you keep imagining scenarios like I'm not going to be there with you when you go through them.

Stop it.

Simon says, you might not make it. The Spirit says, I am in you and with you, and I will show you the deep things of God. I has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of a man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him. But God, Oh that's first Corinthians two ten.

Y'all want to see it.

I has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of a Simon what God has prepared, prepared, prepared, But God has revealed them through his.

Spirit. And this is the point I wanted to preach you to today.

And I know you're hungry, but don't go into a trance on me right now, because the Bible said that.

You got to let His spirit speak to.

Your Simon, so this can happen Verse twenty Get up, go downstairs, do not hesitate, for I have sent them.

Verse twenty one. Peter went down. And it's a good thing. It's a good thing.

Because if Simon went down, the Gentiles never would have got the gospel. Okay, let me resay that God would have had to pick somebody else. You know, God's gonna do it what he's gonna do, how He's gonna do it. Peter would have missed it. Stop sending Simon down into Peter situations.

Stop showing up.

Like a baby Christian when you've been knowing God for forty nine years. Because God said, I got something I'm preparing for you, but I gotta prepare you for what I have prepared. If Simon goes down, he tells these men, I can't eat with you. Your gentiles go away. But when Peter went down, he said, I'm the one. I don't feel like the one. I don't get it, I don't understand it, but I'm the one. Now, let's go to Cessarea, and let's take the Gospel and the Holy

Peter starts preaching, and the Lord did something that he did a lot with Peter. He interrupted him. He's just like, he's like, shut up already.

And the Holy Spirit came and they all began to speak with other tongues, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel started rippling through generations to the point that today we are in church as gentiles. Because Peter came down those stays.

I'm so grateful.

That even.

We weren't on the menu, we were on God's mind.

When the Lord sends something into your life this week, in your rooftop moments, When the Lord sends something into your life this week, in your confused moments, and.

You're wondering what it means, check the gate and send Peter down and say I'm the one.

No, no, no no.

People wouldn't have picked you. You weren't on their menu. But we have an off menu. God he takes people.

Who say I'll never marry a pastor and he goes, ha ha.

Ha ha, Holly, Haha, Pastor, Holly, get ready for God to do something in your life this week that wasn't even on your menu. Get ready for God to change a situations that you.

Gave up on.

Get ready for God to do it in a way that's your eyes have not seen, and your ears I have not heard. Hot five fifteen people say I'm ready, I'm ready.

I'm on the rooftop.

Then i'm ready.

I've got a relationship with God.

Then i'm ready.

I'm the righteousness of God, and I'm ready.

Off menu, off menu. Weren't even expecting it, were you. That's good.

God likes to throw surprise parties, So your pity party is going to be interrupted this week by a surprise party for God to show you.

That the thing you thought made you kittleful.

Actually makes you powerful. Give Peter down the stairs, let's go.

Let's have a Thurday party.

Let's have a birthday party.

My snon that Renard.

Give it twenty five seconds, afray.

Praising, You'll be gone.

You didn't.

Give them away by cleaner head pray.

You did not come head Percy. He'll be kind.

Hana, prazy you because.

A bend pray.

Thank you for joining us.

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