The Church of Eleven22 - What We Have Seen and Heard: Testimony - Wk 5

Episode Date: February 11, 2024

When we encounter Jesus, everything about everything changes. We cannot stop speaking of what we have seen and heard. Share your testimony at coe22.com/stories/ - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to coe22.com

Wow, wow, wow, wow. Amen and amen. What a bold, bold testimony, amen. Hey, if you got your Bibles, I hope you do. We're going to be in Acts chapter three and four. We're going to do two chapters. Usually I'll just do a few verses, so we might be here a minute, but I'll go as fast as I can.

This is really like part two of last week. Last week we talked about the testimony of Peter, and so this is kind of the rest of the story. This wraps up this entire series called testimony, and so we're going to finish up with the rest of Peter's story. When we left Peter last week, he had just been reinstated into ministry. He had failed miserably, like many of us had to do. He had denied Jesus three times after he made these bold promises that he would never

leave Jesus, he would never forsake Jesus. He weeps bitterly. He feels like the mistakes that he have made is going to ruin him forever, but Jesus outgraces him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where he first met him, and he tells him, follow me, which is the first thing he ever said. And so he kind of gives him a holy do-over. You can listen last week if you want to catch up on this. The next thing that happens is really amazing.

Peter goes back to Jerusalem, just like he was instructed to do. He waits on the promise of Jesus. Jesus says, go and wait, and you're going to be filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Pericles is the Greek word. In just case, you don't know what pericles mean. Paraclete means spirit, and here's the way I remember this, okay? It's like if you ever play football, you need a paraclete. And you think it's dumb, man.

I know it's dumb, but you're going to remember this stuff, okay? These dumb little word tricks is how I graduated seminary. It's how I memorized Hebrew words and stuff. You ever try to go to work with the wrong shoes on? Like these cowboy boots are here, that's sweet. I ain't gonna lie, they're real sweet. This is my favorite ones. I love them, because a gator had to die for me to wear them.

That's my favorite part. I know it's a crocodile, but this is the same thing. Anywho, while they preach good, if I had to try to play football in a pair of cowboy boots, I'd get pushed all right. over the place because I wouldn't be, I couldn't ground myself. And that's where the power comes from. You need a pair of cleats to be grounded so that you can fight back. I hope you get this. And when you need to change directions in football on that grass, if I tried to do it in this, I'd slip and fall down. But a paracletes helped me change direction. And the spirit of God,

when he fills us up, grounds us in the word of God so that we have power to fight. And the spirit of God changes our direction so we can go in the direction that the good shepherd wants us to go. That's what a paraclete is. And so that's what a paraclete is. And so that's what he's going to wait on. So he receives the Spirit of God. Now here's the promise of Jesus in Acts 1-8. He says this, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Don't ever get those things backwards. If you try to operate without the Spirit of God under your own power, you will be powerless. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. Now many of you at 1120, no,

what a witness is. That means to give testimony like in a court of law, you know by experience, we don't have to get into that. But here's what he didn't say. He didn't say you'd be the judge. There's already one of those. He didn't say you'd be the prosecuting attorney, which is crazy in my mind how many people

call a ministry prosecuting attorney. You know what I'm saying? So many people are just criticizing every other ministry as if that's their role. That's not your role, man. We're called to be a witness. We're not to be the defense. attorney to like defend ourselves. We have a defender. His name is Jesus. But we are called to be

the witness. And you know what a witness does? A witness just declares the things that they have seen and heard. That's it. This is what happened to me. And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So this is what we're trying to do at 1122, is that we want to be a witness unto the resurrected of Christ everywhere and to all people in Jerusalem. So that would be like Jacksonville for us. So all over Jacksonville, this is why we have campuses in every direction that you go.

Praise God for all that. You know what one of my favorite things about this is? No matter who I meet anybody that lives in Jacksonville, I can say, we got one coming to you or close to you. Praise God for that. Then there's Judea. That's like the next place over. So we got one up in Georgia, praise God.

That'd be our Jessup campus. Then that's Samaria, that's where people don't want to go. Well, we got three in prisons, okay? So if you're there, we love you. But nobody's trying to join your campus, you know what I'm saying? So we love you. Let me tell you one of my favorite thing about our prison campuses is when people get out of prison and they come to this campus,

they don't ever say I was in prison. They say, I used to attend the Columbia campus, and now I attend this campus. Praise God, man, that's it. Okay. And then it also says we're going to the ends of the earth. Well, I know where the ends of the earth is. You know where it is? Orlando.

You ever been there? That's it, man. It's the end of the earth. No, we love Orlando. We're going to Orlando. We think. Here's what we do as a church, man. My leadership genius is this.

Pray, guess, go. And we got a lot of people watching online and worshiping with us online in Orlando. And so February 23rd, we're going to have an interest night. in Orlando. In Orlando, we'll see if God calls us there. I think it's gonna happen. If you're interested in that, text the word Orlando to 44, 1122, and you can get all the information

of where it is and all of that, okay? And so praise God. That's why we're doing this thing. So that's Acts chapter one. Jesus says, go, wait on the Holy Spirit. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witness. You will share testimony, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

to the ends of the earth. So then you get to Acts 2, this one's fun. And they are, immersed in the Holy Spirit, and they begin to glossolalia. That's the word. There's whole denominations that split over this. We're not going to split over this stuff, okay? They began to, the English translation of this is speaking tongues.

There's three different speaking tongues in the Bible. We don't have time to talk about that. We'll do it at another time. This is glossolalia, and what is happening here is that they are bearing witness, that the tongues of fire descend upon to the disciples, not just like the 11 plus 1 apostles, but all the 120 or so followers of Jesus there, and they begin to speak in other languages.

But here's what's crazy. It's actually a miracle of hearing, not speaking. And here's what's happening. The people are hearing them speak in their own language, even though the people talking are speaking their own native language. That's what's going on. It's called glossolalia, okay? It's different than a prayer language,

or it's different than a prophetic word, okay? Those are two different things later. So this would be, you know, I'm speaking English and you would hear another word. And here's why. This is a really big deal. Because the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is the power to fulfill the great commission. Wherever the Spirit of God is, the Spirit of God always points to Jesus. And so the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is not what kind of gifts that you can do.

The primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So again, what's going on? You've got to get this. Peter is speaking Hebrew, and people are hearing it in whatever language that they are, that they grew up hearing. It's kind of like this. Check this out.

This is, this is the history of our life. All we're Mephivocet. In the chapter 3 of Genesis, God crea all the woman to governar and reignar. I don't know why you people laughing. This is a miracle of God. That's my accent. You realize this?

Through the power of the Holy Spirit and artificial intelligence, we are now translating all of 1122 services into Spanish and you can check them out as C-O-E-22.com slash Espanio. So if that is your primary language or you know somebody there. it is feel free to share that. I think it sounds better than English. I'm not even kidding, man. That's the one I re-listened to.

So check that out. So it was like that. So as this is going on, as this miracle, glossolalia is what it's called, is that is happening and people are like, wait a minute, isn't that dude from Galilee, but how am I hearing it in the language that I understand? A big crowd begins to gather around,

and so the Apostle Peter sees a crowd of people, And he steps up, you know, who's gonna talk first, who's gonna talk most? And he's like, who? I'll speak. And then check this out. We talked about this all week last week. What's the primary thing that got Peter in trouble

over and over and over again? It was his mouth. And now God is going to use the very thing that got him in so much trouble to bring glory to God. You see, it ain't how you start, it's how you finish, it matters. Listen, I know this one. this mouth right here and this attitude that I have that God is using in a significant way to be the lead pastor of the church of 1122

didn't work out real good in eighth grade I just need you to know this okay and so God can often take the thing that gets you in the most amount of trouble and actually use it this is this is the fulfillment or a fulfillment of the prophecy from Jesus to Peter incessary of philippi when he says I'm going to change your name to rocky, and upon this rock, upon the public declaration that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the son of a living God, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And the very first church service in the history of the world happens. And Peter, the guy that gets in trouble with his mouth, God uses his mouth to preach. And he preaches the most non-seeker sensitive sermon ever preached in the world. He does not get up there and tell everybody, I'm so glad you hear and hope everybody's comfortable.

No, there was no comfort. Here's what he says. He says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, and God raised him up, loosening the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. I mean, how about that? He's like, you heard of Jesus? You crucified him, and you should surrender to him. There's not like three points. There was no poem, none of that.

And the Bible says that these folks were cut to the heart, and they said, well, what must we do to be saved? He goes, that's easy. Repent and be baptized. Put your faith in the one that by your sin, you crucified. And then the Bible says that they did. Now, it's very interesting. It says that they were baptized that day, 3,000 people.

That's cool, isn't it? And for years, archaeologist was like, well, that's impossible. And then not very long ago, at the bottom of the steps where Peter delivers this message, were found a bunch of mikvahs, these little ceremonial Jewish bath things. And God had been setting this up for all of Israel's history. and 3,000 people. It just has men. So I don't know if that means men and women

or it just means dude. So if you had the girls and the kids and everybody, it may be more. But the early church was huge. It goes from zero to 3,000 in one service. And then they would meet in temple courts. They would all gather together on the weekends and big old temple courts that do worship.

And then all throughout the week, they'd spread out in homes and they'd break the bread together. They'd study the words of the apostles, they'd study their Bible. If that sounds like a familiar model, we didn't make it up. We got it right out of Acts chapter 2.

That every single weekend, man, we gather together. The saints gather together. There's one body in a whole bunch of different places to just make much of Jesus and study His Word. And then we break off and sit in circles and we discuss it and we break bread together. If you're not eating in your disciple group, you should probably eat better.

Amen. And then we get back together and do it again. That's what's happening. in Acts chapter two. Then you get Acts chapter three. And it says this, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

That's what they did, okay? And a man, lame from birth, was being carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. This guy was a beggar, and he was a smart one. He knew if he hung outside of the temple

as people were going in to pray, he could probably get more money. Why? Because people would just, think, all right, God will hear my prayers better if I give this dude a little bit of money. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms or some money. And Peter directed his gaze, as did John, and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

And he didn't just expect to receive something. He expected to get what he was asking for, right? Money. And Peter says, I have no silver and gold because I'm in ministry. That's not what it says, but, you know. I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now check this part out, period.

Is he walking yet? The answer is no, he's not walking yet. Pay very close attention. Verse seven, and he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and angles were made strong. Please don't miss this. man, lip service is worthless. He says, silver and gold have I enough, but what I have, I give them to you, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. And then, by faith, he reaches out his hand to pick the guy up.

Faith is acting as if you actually believe God is who he says he is, and he always keeps his promises. That's what faith is. Now here's what hits me about this, man. I wonder how many miracles are still laying down on the sidewalk because we never reached out our hand to do anything about it. I mean, we jotted it down on the prayer list, and prayer is powerful. That's how we're going to end this thing.

But prayer that isn't accompanied by action isn't even really prayer. He doesn't just merely speak the words over him. He acts as if he actually believes that Jesus is who he says he is, and he reaches out his hand, and it is in the reaching out. that the man's ankles get healed, and the brother pops up, and he's going to jog into the temple. So let me ask you this.

Where in your life? Have you been moved to act by faith, and you didn't act by faith? Like maybe it's share your faith or share your testimony. You have no idea what hangs in the balance. Maybe it's pick up the phone and ask for forgiveness because that relationship is never going to be reconciled until you stretch out your hand by faith. Maybe it's start that ministry. You've been praying about it long enough.

I am pro-prayer, but not if prayer is an excuse to not act. Maybe it's going on the mission trip for the first time. Maybe it's to give generously. Maybe it's time to ask her to marry you, bro. Like, get off the sidelines and get in the game. Maybe it's to quit the job and go for it. Here's the thing. Here's what all the 10-10 life is about.

Do whatever brings Jesus the most glory and you'll never be wrong. Like there's this scary parable in Matthew chapter 25 where the owner gives out money to all these three different dudes, five talents, two talent, one talent, talent was a sum of money. It was about a million bucks. And the one talent guy is afraid so he goes and he hides his money. When the master returns, his verdict on this guy is this. You are wicked and slothful for playing it safe. It's crazy, man. the modern American church, you would put that guy

on the trustees committee because he knows how to save money. Jesus sends him to hell. There's a little bit of a different kingdom ethic, is there not? I mean, we worship at the idol of safety like no other people in the history. You realize it's the safe, if you live right here in Jacksonville or Jessup

or Orlando or whatever, I know there's some dangers. We are the safest group of people in the history of America. There were less safety protocols to go to the moon and then there are for your average kid to get on a bicycle to go to school these days. You realize this. And I think the worst thing you could instill in a generation is that be careful.

Now, don't be careless. Don't be dumb. If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough. Oh, right, that's a fact. Sounds like a proverb. That's what my daddy told me that. But didn't be courageous what we've been called to be? Is there anything about the life of Peter that we're studying?

Was he careful? No, man. Now, pre-breakfast with Jesus, he's pretty careless with his tongue, but after he gets reined in by the Spirit of God, he is courageous. He says, rise up and walk, and then he sticks his hand out and says, let's go. And so another crowd forms. And Peter's like, who, second service, that's what's happening. Acts 73, verse 15.

He begins to preach again. I'm telling you, any time a crowd gathers, Peter's like, okay, I'll do this. And here's what I love it. His second sermon sounds a lot like his first sermon. So if you're here and you're like, God, Pastor Jobi repeats himself a lot. I'm biblical people.

All right, you get over. He says, and you killed the author of life. This is verse 15, whom God raised from the dead, and to this we are witnesses. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given. the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Just like the prophets told us, and this one gets him into trouble. We pick it up in Acts 4, he's still speaking. It's part of his sermon. It just finished up. And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed. You might want to jot this down. Anytime there's unsanctioned life change from Jesus,

the religious folks get greatly annoyed. You know why? Because it's all about fear and control, man, and if they're not in control, and it's hard to schedule a good life change. I don't know if you know that. Anybody notice Jesus doesn't really ever operate by your calendar?

And this greatly annoys the religious elites. And they list them here. There's the priest, the captain of the temple, he was the second in command, and the Sadducees. A part of the reason it greatly annoys the Sadducees is because they were like the... liberal sect of that day, and they had made a deal with Rome, and so they didn't believe in

anything supernatural. They didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in demons, and they also didn't believe in an afterlife. They didn't believe in a resurrection. This is the oldest preacher joke of all time, but this is how you can remember. It's kind of like my pericles thing. They didn't even believe in a resurrection, so they were sad, you see. Now you remember it. And they had made a deal with Rome. So since they didn't believe in an afterlife, they were going to try to get the most they could out of this life, and they were in charge of the temple and who worked when and all this sort of stuff, and they were getting kickbacks from Rome, and they didn't want to mess it up. So now here are these guys, and they're preaching the resurrection of the dead,

preaching about Jesus, and not only that, here, they said there are no more miracles. That's not happening. And miraculously, this guy is healed, and so they're greatly annoyed, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Now, one of the things that you'll see if you study the early sermons in the Bible, it was only about one thing. It was about the risen Savior. That's it. There are no early church sermons of like, all right, here's three ways to be a better view.

There's none of that. It is just about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And so they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000. Two sermons, you're at 8,000 people. Some people think the 5,000 is the Adam 2. I don't know, it's kind of, you can't tell.

So there's somewhere between 5 and 8,000 men. It's a big old church. Two services, you're at 8,000. Now think about this. Here's the part you didn't pick up on. They're arresting Peter. Imagine at the end of the service today. Like right at the end, some coppers came in here,

and they were trying to arrest me. And I was like, man, you see our 10-10 life? We're trying to get you back. And they were like, whatever. Boom. and they put me in cuffs, and they were dragging me away. And I was like, if anybody would like to receive Jesus, raise your hand. And 5,000 people were like, whoa!

I think most people are like, let's see how this plays out first. I believe in my heart, right? You realize it? The guy giving the message is getting hauled away to prison, and 5,000 people are cut to the heart. In addition to the 3,000 on the first round, the early church is huge. Verse 5, and on the next day, they're ruled. and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem,

with Anas the High Priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the High Priest's family. You know why I list these people by name? Because they were actually there. These are not made up characters. These are historical human beings that lived. And so basically everybody with a funny hat and a name badge that showed their authority, they're there.

And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, so that's how they would try somebody. They would put them in the middle, and they would all surround them, and they would ask them questions. And here's the question they asked. By what power or by what name did you do this? Now, we're talking about a miraculous healing

of a man that's been lame for 40 years. This might be a good question for you to ask yourself, though. You ever ask yourself this? You ever look at your own life? Because, I mean, the reality is you are here. You realize that. There were a series of decisions that you have made in the past or other people's decisions about you

here you are. Now you don't have to stay here, that's good news. But you got here by following a path. Have you ever asked by what power or by what name did I get into the situation I am today? Like, did I just operate my own power for my own name? Is that why I'm here?

Am, did I get here just because I'm trying to fulfill the expectations of everybody else? This wasn't God's plan for me, this was my dad's plan for me. And if I shared God's plan, instead of my dad's plan, my dad won't go pay for college, so I just went with dad's plan instead of God's plan. Is that why you're here?

Are you here just because of the pressure of your spouse? Are you just, here's the scariest one ever. If you ever looked at your life ago, I've never even considered this. Like it all started in third grade. And you just did the next thing and did the next thing, and you're just kind of been going with the flow, and then one day you wake up, wake up,

and you're on the merry-go round of normality, but it ain't very merry. I mean, maybe the worst thing is you actually achieve the American dream and realize, is this it? Then you put your head on the pillow at night and go, I hope this, there's got to be more than this. There's got to be more than this. By what name or what power are you living the life that you're living? How did you get here? By obeying the voice of the good shepherd or just by going with the flow?

Well, Peter, this is very important after this comma, filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a new category for Peter. You see, previously, Peter was not filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore he kept getting in trouble because he always did things his way. Now he has turned over the range of his life, and he has been filled with the paraclete, the helper, that's going to give him the right words to say, and even the right motivation.

And so Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed? And here's his answer. Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel

that by the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified, that's a shot, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you all. He's saying it's not by my power because it's not about us, it's all about Jesus. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become

the cornerstone. He's quoting Psalm 118. And there is salvation in no one else. And a part of what he's saying here is including your human effort to obey the law and make sacrifices. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. He's saying there's only one reason that we stand before you today. There's one reason. And that reason is Jesus. And there's no other name. under heaven whereby we must be safe. He didn't make that up, Jesus himself says, I am the way, the truth of life, and no one comes to the Father

except through me. The way Paul says it in Romans 3, beginning in verse 20, says this, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. I think that's the most important sentence ever written in the history of writing sentences right there. It is not by your human effort. We need an alien righteousness, and he has

come. His name is Jesus, and all of the law and prophets point to it. That's what he's saying. And what do you think they're going to do? Verse 13. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, underline that word boldness, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. That'll change the world. All right, think about this. Put last week and this week together. What happened? What happened to Peter? Something changed significantly in the dude's life. This is like six or seven weeks before this. He's standing outside of Caiaphas's house, warming himself by a fire, and there's a servant girl going, aren't you one of the

disciples? He's like, remember he cursed? Blank, no, not me, not me, not me, three times. Now, he's inside the high priest's house. Eyeball to eyeball with the people that could have him killed. They just did it to Jesus a few weeks ago, right? And now he's not warming himself by of fire. He's filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. And he says, oh, there's one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. What happened to a guy like that? How do you go from full of fear to full of fearlessness and courage? We'll see. Verse 14. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. It's hard to argue with the change life. The Sadducese is like, but we don't believe in miracles. Do jump in

miracles, say, do Jumma Jax, bro, and the dude's like, I can't, I mean, what do you want me to say, man. It's hard to argue with the change life, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, what shall we do with these men? For that, a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. I talk to people sometimes in there, say, if I could just see a miracle, I'd believe. I can know you wouldn't.

If you have pre-decided that you will not believe, then God is going to have to do a miraculous work in your heart. Because you don't have an open mind to the truth of the word of God or the truth of what God is doing. You have already decided what you're going to decide, and then you're just looking for evidence to back you up. You see this with the Pharisees all the time. They would come to Jesus and ask him a question

to try to trap him. And when he answered them perfectly, did it change their mind? Jesus, should we pay taxes? He goes, well, give me some money. And they gave him some? He goes, whose image does this bear? Cesar's. Cool. Give to Caesar what it's Cesar's and give to God plus gods.

And what he's saying is, what image do you bear? Oh, I bear the image of God. Okay, give you to God and pay your taxes. The Pharisees didn't go, he's right. He's right. He's so good. We tried to trap him, but it's kind of hard to trap the almighty sovereign, all-knowing God in a corner.

He gets us every time. No, every time what they do is regardless of the signs or regardless of the truth that Jesus spoke. They just huddled up and tried to get him again. This is what's happening here. 17. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.

Here's what they're going to tell to Peter and John. Hey, listen, you can heal. Everybody loves a good healing. No problem there. You just got to stop with the Jesus stuff. You just got to stop with the name of Jesus. You can say God. God is fine.

But just can't say Jesus. Listen, man, there's just something about that name, Jesus. I'm telling you, to the follower is sweet. It's pure as gold. I don't know how to explain it, man. I mean, people can give credit to God. Everybody's fine with that regardless of what you believe. But when you start talking about God incarnate,

when the word put on flesh and dwelt among us, and his name is Jesus, there's just something powerful about that name. I'm telling you, man, the world hates it, demon shudder, and believers cling to that name. That's just what it is. And so they call them in, and they charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. All right, they're giving them an out. So you can keep healing people, just say it's in the name of God, not Jesus.

All right. So what's the God that denied Jesus three times seven weeks ago going to say? I mean, he could be like, thank you. Because of this provision, we can keep doing our ministry. Let's see what he says. but Peter and John answered them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you must judge this is a big deal here's his preamble to what he says he's going to do he doesn't he he's basically saying I'm willing to pay the price he's not going to say that's not fair or I have rights nope he's going to say I have a master and you're not it and neither is comfort or convenience I have a master who's name is Jesus, and I'm just going to do what Jesus told me to do, and I'll let you deal with what happens with that.

And so he says, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. Verse 20, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Not what we believe. People believe all kind of crazy stuff. You realize that? I mean, people believe just crazy stuff. They're not talking about just things that they believe.

They're talking about the things that they have seen and heard. So what happened in this man's life that he denied that even knew who Jesus was? Seven weeks ago to a servant girl, and now he's standing in front of the people that can have him put to death? I can tell you, two things happen. Number one, he had breakfast with a resurrected Savior who laid grace over the places where he sin. And number two, he was filled up with the Holy Spirit of God. Let me tell you what was not happening in this guy's life. There was no deconstruction here.

You know why? Because he ate breakfast with the resurrected Jesus. He knew what he knew. You could never take it away from him. He's talking about what he has seen and heard. He has tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Man. And when they had further threatened them,

they let him go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom his sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. Now check out what happens next. Everybody can have a moment of boldness, you know, get all fired up at their good church service or something.

Watch what happens next. When they were released, they went to their friends. If Peter and John had some Christian brothers and sisters who run to, I hope you do too. And reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them. Imagine this report. These are fishermen.

They're telling stories. they were like, where are y'all been? Why do you stink? We've been in jail. What? Yeah, man, you ain't going to believe it. We were trying to, we were just going to the temple, and this dude was like, hey, man, can you give me some money? I ain't got no money, but what I got, I give to you in the name of Jesus, get up.

And John's like, for sure, man, and Peter reached down this hand. Boom, dude got up, and we arrested, and we're standing in front of the high priest. They were all there, and they were like, you got to quit with Jesus. He was like, hey, man, you do whatever you think. I'm about to tell you what I'm going to do in the name of Jesus. And now we told them, and then boo, y'all, here we are. And the crowd's like, what? When you read your Bible, man, you're going to think, like, this happened.

Like, imagine this, okay, imagine. Imagine if next weekend, me and Pastor Britt weren't here. You're like, hey, where y'all been? But, like, y'all ain't going to believe this. We went to Orlando to preach the gospel, and they put us in jail. Seriously, man, it was me, and it was Pastor Brinner, it was Michael Olson. And they said, you got to stop in the name of Jesus. I'm like, I'm going to tell you what I'm about to do.

And I preached a sermon, and then Michael played him some keys, brin. and then boom, they let us out and here we are. Right? That's what's going on. They actually were arrested, they report to their friends. This is what happened. And when they heard it, here's what they did. They didn't pick it.

They lifted their voices together, and they prayed. Let me ask you, church, for you, is prayer a last resort or a first response? And what they prayed, look at this prayer. Here's what they started out with. Fresh out of jail. They still smell like jail. This is what I need you to understand. And here's what they start with.

Sovereign Lord. Those are two words that means God's in charge of all things. Listen, man, when things aren't going my way, I don't usually start with sovereign Lord. I usually go with, dear God, help sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said by His Holy Spirit, first of all, they acknowledged that God was not caught off guard, that they got in prison for preaching in the name of Jesus.

And then secondly, the thing they do after they acknowledge the sovereignty of God in their prayer, the next thing they do is they're going to begin to quote Scripture. By the way, if you want to guarantee your prayers are heard in heaven, why don't you start with the words that were originated in heaven? That's a great way to pray, by the way. And here's what they say. Why did the Gentiles raid?

and the people plot in vain, the kings of the earth, to set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan

had pre-destioned to take place. Now, don't let that word predestined make you scared. It just means to predestined. just what it means. And if you don't like it, it's not my problem. It just says what it says. Is it bothersome? Of course it is when you think God needs to check with you to get your approval on everything that happens on the planet. But if you understand that he's the sovereign Lord, then you're, listen, here's, let me just break it down. I saw some smug faces. Here we go. Do you think God has a destiny for your life? Even the people winning Grammys,

we just want to thank God for this opportunity. It's incredible if you make a process. It's incredible if you make a product that God would never bless, but you thank God for the blessing for winning. Anyway, so, okay, you think he's got a destiny? Okay, good. You think he's making it up on the fly? Do you think he's waiting to see what you were to do to see what he can do?

Or do you think he knows what is going to happen? But like, of course, he's not making it up on a fly. Okay, then your destiny, God already knows, which is pre-destestined. That's what's going on here. God is in charge. In fact, if he's not, sovereign, then I don't know how you get through pain when it comes your way.

I mean, you realize that the lifeline when things aren't going the way you wanted them to go is that God is still in control and that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are caught according to his purpose. So to do whatever, your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and I would say stop them. shan't smite them. I'd quote me some Psalms about smashing my enemy's heads against the rocks or something like that. That's a good one to go to.

That's not what they pray. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all. What's that say? Okay, now let's just say you were advising the prayer meeting. They're like, sovereign Lord, we've got all these people out here. They killed your son, which is part of your plan from before the beginning, and now they're trying to kill us. So could you give us the ability to continue to speak your word with boldness? You might go, well, time out, boys.

Isn't it your boldness that got you in trouble? You don't need more boldness. You need a PR campaign. You need a strategy. Peter and John, you were kind of like the two most important people in the church right now. Maybe you shouldn't travel together. You know what we need? We need bulletproof escalades.

That's what we need. So everywhere we go, we can keep the, you know, we can keep the dream alive here, and that's not what they're asking for. they ask for God to grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while verse 30 while you God stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus now I pray this all the time for the church of 1122 I pray all the time for there to be these very things here for healing heart soul mind and strength healing and I pray for God to stretch out his hands and there will be signs and wonders. You know what the greatest wonder is? Is when somebody surrenders their life

to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You realize every other miracle is a temporary miracle, but when somebody, like what we celebrated here in our time together, when people proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, it's an eternal miracle that enemies of God are reconciled

to a holy God, that people that were spiritually dead have been made alive in Christ. I mean, you want to see a sign or wonder. That's a sign or wonder. Here's the thing, though, man. You see, the prayer and bold declaration of the gospel precede the hand to heal in signs and wonders performed.

You see, oftentimes we want the healing and we want the signs and we want the wonders, but we lack the prayer life and we lack the boldness to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can't divorce these things. And then check this out. And when they had prayed, the place in which they gathered together was shaken. When's the last time you had a prayer session,

whether it was alone or with some other people, and the place that you were in was shaking? I mean, sometimes I'm praying at night, you know, laying in my bed, dear God, praying all the things. And then I'm so peaceful that the only shaking going on is my wife's like, roll over, you, breathing my air. I'm like, what, okay, sorry. I mean, it's the thing, isn't it?

Elderly prayer is February 13th. You planning on coming? I mean, I'm just telling you, like, we want the results of God, we just don't want to go to Him in prayer like the early followers of Jesus did. They came to them, sovereign Lord. We don't know what you're doing, but we know what you've done. We know the end of the story. We know how this thing's going to end, and we know your sovereign,

and we know you're in control. And, God, we want to be about your business. That's what we want to be about. and so when they had prayed, the place in which they gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and, of all things, continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. So it starts with a bold move. Silver and gold, have I none, but what I have I give unto you in the name of Jesus,

rise up and walk. That's what got them in trouble. And what it's book-ended with is a prayer of boldness and a prayer that they would continue to speak the Word of God with boldness. And the reason that we are here right now in 2024 on the other side of the world was because of the boldness of the early followers of Jesus, and they would not let this world stamp them down into conformity and comfort. I mean, I think the problem with the church these days is we lost our boldness, man. The church is too tame, it's too cautious, it's too safe.

It's so afraid of cancel culture it won't do anything. Here's the cancel culture I'm into proclaiming that when Jesus, Jesus Christ died on the cross, he canceled the sin debt for you and me, and that requires us to be bold to share our testimony to anyone who would believe. Listen, I can promise you as long as there's breath in my lungs, and God allows me to serve this church

and the role I get to serve it, we will not be led by fear. No way, no way. Somebody asked me, when's it gonna be enough? When Jesus passed me on the head and says, all right, we're done with you, and I'm dead and forgotten, and he takes me home to glory. Until then, until the great commission, is fulfilled in our lifetime, we are going to try to be as bold as we can for the good news of the

gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that our hearts will be shaken, our church will be shaken, our city would be shaken, our country, the whole world would be shaken because we point people to the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. That is what we are about. What about you? What about you? What is the thing? You see, the reason Peter said, silver and gold, have I none, but what have I give to you? in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. It's because Jesus told him to do that. We don't have a cut and paste Christianity. We've got to pray and seek the will of God in our lives.

We know that the Great Commission is God's will for everybody, but the way in which we help fulfill that is going to be different for every single one of us. Praise God, it's one body with a whole bunch of different parts. So what is the Good Shepherd called you to do? What is that thing that at some point when you had your ears tuned in to God's voice in your life? I mean, all the time, Jesus would say, he who has ears, let him hear. And I'm sure people are like, we all got ears, you know? That's not what he means, man.

I don't mean these things. He's talking about when you could tune your heart into the voice of God. You know what I'm talking about when you hear his voice exponentially louder? than you hear my voice right now. And there have been times in our lives when you know the good shepherd. He said it, not me. Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd.

My sheep, hear my voice and follow it. What is that thing? What is that thing in your life? What is the thing that he has called you to do? Is it share your faith? Is it don't give up on your one more? Is it start the ministry? Whatever the thing is,

man. Maybe we would be the kind of people that pray, sovereign Lord. There are all these obstacles between me and what you have called me to do. And God, would you give me the faith? Because I can't like muster up my own faith because it doesn't come for me. The Bible says that faith doesn't give from God and without faith it's impossible to please God. So God, I know what you've called me to do, but when I see my circumstances between here and where you've called me, all I say, see is obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. And so, God, what I need is I need you to give me the faith, to not be ruled by my fear, and to be paralyzed by fear, and justify why it's okay for me to be disobedient to you in this. But would you give me the faith to step out in boldness

and do whatever it is that you have called me to do? I can't even tell you what it is. I can tell you generally what he's called us all to do, to worship him, to be. To worship him, to be in community, to share the gospel for sure, but specifically to you, what is that thing? Because that's a prayer that he can't wait to answer. And you're like, how do you know this? Honestly, you're sitting in it. You're sitting in it, man.

A whole bunch of years ago, in consultation with some really, really wise people, way more godly than me, which doesn't take much, let's be honest. And we began to sense the voice of God, to launch a movement, not a building, not a set of programs, but to launch a movement for all people. Because we were told you had to make a fundamental decision. Are you going to keep people to reach people?

And I went, I think it's for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I know, I know it seems easy to talk about now because we're 12 years in and God has breathed on it like crazy, but it didn't seem easy back in the day. You know what it seemed like? It seemed to be like, God, we need some boldness. I hear your voice. I hear what you have called us to do as a people. But there's so many obstacles between here and there.

And so, God, would you give us boldness to just declare the gospel as we trust you to stretch out your hand and heal and show signs and wonders? And the reason that we are here together right now in all of our locations and everybody online and all of that is because God answered that prayer. Do you know what hangs in the balance for what you're asking for God? Trust me, you have no idea. And it's not because of any of us. It's not because anybody up here is talented or any of that. Church of 1122 may the same things be said of us were to say about these guys.

And the world looked at them and realized these are just ordinary, uneducated people who had been with Jesus. Jesus. That's it. So as we wrap up this series on testimony, what's your testimony going to be? What's it going to be? I'm hoping and praying that this moment would be a part of your testimony, where one day you're

doing something by faith where you're acting as if you actually believe he is the good shepherd and he calls his sheep to the abundant life. And you've stepped out by faith and done whatever the thing is. You could trace it back to this moment when you heard his voice clearly, you prayed for boldness, he gave you the gift of faith, and then you did whatever it is that he told you to do. Would you please stand and let me pray for you?

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray against a spirit of fear, not just in our church, but in every church that proclaims the name of Jesus. God, may we not bow down to the pressures of this culture. may we stand firm and may we stand on the one name the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved God would you grant us the ability to continuously preach the gospel with boldness and live out the gospel with great boldness and God knowing that we can trust you to do what only you can do to

stretch out your hand to heal with signs and wonders that we would point people to you and you belong God, I pray right now against the whispers of the enemy in the hearts and minds of your children. Because, God, we know that you speak. And the enemy wants to contort that and say, oh, it doesn't count for you. Lord, would you fill us up with faith? May the testimony about us be very simply

have nothing to do with our gifts or talents or any of that. But we were just ordinary, uneducated men and women. But they could tell, we have been with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, we're going to respond. A response requires us to seek the good shepherd.

So we're going to invite you to pray. We're going to bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings as an act of worship, and we're going to sing. And there's a line in this song where you're going to, you kind of like, it's from the Psalms. You're going to talk to your own self for a minute, you know. come on my soul, don't you get shy on me. And I think that's the problem with the church, man. I think that the American church has gotten shy.

And it don't make no sense, because there's a lion inside. The spirit of God is inside. So when we get to that part of the song, we ought to sing the roof off of every campus we got. And all of our neighbors go, we don't know what's going on over there, but he's the ordinary, uneducated men and women,

they've been with Jesus, okay? So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond. I grew up in Kazakhstan. I grew up as a Muslim, so I watched my mom worship God. I grew up understanding that there was God always, and I used to even talk to him when things were hard. I didn't know who I was. I couldn't fit in.

It was a very hard time trying to find myself. It wasn't until I went to college in Kazakhstan that I was. I heard about Jesus. I met some American Christians who told me about Jesus, and I thought he was a great guy. But I think at the time I was seeking to be loved and to be a part of a circle of friends that I could belong to.

What I loved about them was they didn't try to force anything. They shared the truth, and they shared the truth. And then they walked it out. They actually modeled what true love is. I just felt like I was seen. And at one point, one of the missionaries, she intentionally asked me if I wanted to place my faith in Christ. And I did.

I said, yes, I do. I did not know what I was signing up for. I just know that it was the faith of God. I believe that you don't have to logically understand everything in order to follow. After I've placed my faith in Jesus, I tried to make sure that I kept it a secret because I was terrified of my family finding out. The time came and my family found out they basically sat me down and I told them the truth. They were very upset and disappointed and felt like I was a traitor. I was told to make a decision to either essentially choose Jesus or them, my family.

And so choosing Jesus, whom I barely knew over my family was the hardest. hardest thing I've ever done. I said, Jesus, if you say who you are, then as I leave my family, you take care of me. I don't have anything. I don't have anybody but you. When I left my home, God provided for me, and he helped me get into a college in America. I moved to Jacksonville, and I started attending 1122, and I got to. I got plugged in in a disciple group on Wednesday nights. I have these amazing circle of friends who became my family here because I don't have family here.

For me, finding a group of friends is a big deal. We do life together. This was how God provided. God provided through them. God gave me boldness and courage to become free to share. about who he is and what he's done for me. And I cannot help but tell people who he is to me

and what he's done for me. And what he's done for me.