[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Good morning everybody. I'm so glad that you're here. Let me just say I am over overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. For those of you who are willing to move to Saturday night to move to a different service. Let me just tell you, it absolutely worked. We had so many people join us for the very first time. So many people said, I didn't even know that you guys were here. Somebody invited me. So thank you for inviting people. Thank you for switching services. Thank you for moving to other different times. I know it was super inconvenient. Thank you for praying. For those of you who are praying for Easter weekend, we broke every record that we have ever had in the history of our church last weekend. Let me just tell you so somewhere between 15 and 1600 people gathering together to worship the Lord right here in Longview, Texas. It was absolutely epic. Let me just tell you. Thank you so much for being willing to sacrifice. I appreciate all of you who sacrificed so much, who were generous, who have been standing behind us financially. Just to be able to pull something like that off, it, it, it's making a massive difference. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Please do that. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. We also want to welcome in all of our friends watching from online. You might be watching anywhere in the world, but let me just say, hey, we welcome you. We're glad that you're here. Come on High Ridge family, let's welcome in our online friends.
Welcome, welcome, welcome. We glad that you tuned in today as well. Grab your Bibles if you would. We're going to spend some time in the book of John, John Chapter 20 or one for my Spanish speaking friends. What's up my peeps?
We're so, we're so glad you could join us. So John chapter 20. I want to start a new series today called the First Watch. Say it with me, the first Watch.
This is all about what happens immediately following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What happens with those that are on the very first watch. And so if you know the timeline of the story, you know Jesus is on, has, has come back from the grave on the very first day of the Week. And let me just tell you, he. He does not. He. He doesn't do things the way that we would normally do them if you would just come back from the dead.
Jesus shows us so many wonderful things about his character and about his personality just by how he operates in the next few hours immediately following some of the most traumatic events of his friend's life.
He has a sense of humor. And you can. You cannot read the Gospels, you cannot read the story of what happens on Sunday and not see that Jesus has an incredible sense of humor. And he starts walking through walls. He starts jump, scaring people. He starts pretending to be one person. And then later on, they realize it's actually Jesus. You know, he pretends to be Mexican. He pretends it's in there, said Mary mistook him for the gardener. I take that. That's my people right there. We.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
But Jesus is handling this completely in a different direction than what many of us would handle it. And know this, that in your own life, you know this to be true. And death and trauma and anxiety and grief, they have a way of just changing you. When you walk through dark days, it tends to make you a lot more dark. It takes a little sparkle out of your life. It takes some. Some light out of your existence when you walk through difficult days.
But not Jesus. He's having the time of his life. Why? Because death doesn't hold the same power over Jesus as it does over many of us. He recognizes it's not something to be afraid of. It's something that has been conquered once and for all. Not just death, but. But hell and the grave and sin. And Jesus is like, those are not a problem for me, and I'm going to have some fun with it. He makes a sport of it.
And so here we find by the time Sunday evening rolls around, Jesus's disciples have been through a lot. Now, come on. If you know the story, they've walked through. Not. Not just a crazy day with all the rumors and the dead people getting up and walking around. Cause there's over 500 other people. Did you know that. That get up out of the graves around Jerusalem and walking into the city, like hundreds of people witnessed this. Not just Jesus.
500 other people walking around. There's Meemaw and Pop Pop, like, you sure have gotten big, like you were dead. We went to your funeral.
And in this moment, we recognize that it hasn't just been a crazy day. It's been an insane week.
Some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows the disciples had experienced all in one week. And so at the end of Sunday, when all these rumors are coming around that Jesus is alive, several people in the room are saying, no, no, no. I saw him. I thought he was the gardener. And next thing, it was him. I saw him. We were on the road to Emmaus, and then he shows up. Jesus appeared to several people, and there's rumors the whole city is going nuts. And here we find the disciples gathered in fear just to process all the things that they were hearing, all the things that they had experienced. It's. It's been a lot we could all agree on that they did not see themselves as the world changers that Jesus was about to push them into. They could not have possibly known that the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave was inside of each of them. And then just a few hours, they were going to be living life on mission, not cowering back in some darkened room trying to process.
Jesus knows their potential. He knows what they're capable of. He. He knows what they're about to do, even if they don't look like it at the moment.
And so here Jesus comes. As they're gathered in this room behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders, fear that the same people that killed Jesus are probably about to come and kill us because they know that we've been with him.
Jesus walks through walls, jump, scares these people, and says, peace be with you.
That's how I would have done it for sure. Come on.
And you'll notice that when you read it, it says, peace be with you. And then there's like an exclamation point.
So it's not like, peace be with you. It's like, peace be with you.
Which shows me a lot about his personality. Come on, somebody. And this is what we see. John, chapter 20. Look at this. In verse 19, on the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors. Look, John, make sure that we see the doors locked for the fear of the Jewish leaders. You don't lock doors from. From the outside. You. You wouldn't be able to get out there. They've locked them from the inside to protect themselves, to. To keep their enemies out.
And Jesus shows up right here. And in that moment, in the middle of a locked room.
I love that John makes sure that you see that those doors were locked. We verified it. How did he get in here? And Jesus is like, I'm having a blast.
Notice this? It says Jesus came and stood among them. And Said, peace be with you.
And after he had said this, look, he showed them his hands and his and his side. And then he picked them up off the floor for those that had passed out.
That's my version.
It says the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And again, Jesus said, peace be with you.
And then Jesus says these words that are so important as, the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
I'm sending you.
Now picture the disciples in this moment. They don't feel like it's time to be sent.
They could not have felt any less motivated in this moment. I'm a little freaked out. I've been processing some things. Jesus, this has been a rough week for me. He's like, it's time to get on mission. Are you kidding me? Like this? I'm taking a week off.
It might be two weeks.
It might be a year. I've dealt with a lot.
Jesus chooses at this crazy moment.
He sends them.
Now it's time to go on mission. Now it's time for you to become who God has called you to be. I don't feel like it's that time, Jesus. Well, you're wrong.
Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I've been obedient to what the Lord has told me to do, and now it's time for you to recognize that you're sent.
And not only is Jesus explaining his mission and he's explaining what the disciples are to do, he's speaking across time through the writer John to us when we don't feel qualified, when we don't feel like it's good time for me right now to be used by you, Jesus. I'm just trying to get some gas. I'm just trying to buy some groceries. This is not the time, Jesus. I didn't even do my hair. How am I supposed to witness to a person?
Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And look at this. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the somebody. Say the next two words.
The Holy Spirit.
Jesus breathes on them. And then he says this. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. And I want to make sure that I included this scripture, particularly inside this text, because it's important that you see. It seems to be kind of.
Kind of a side note, but it's important that you see this. This is a often misunderstood scripture, because it seems like in this moment that Jesus is telling his disciples, you guys can forgive anybody's sins. And if you choose not to forgive them, they're going to hell. Like, that's not what that means. Because it would be easy for us to say, I am not forgiving that person if they can spend eternity burning. That's the reason why God did not give you that authority.
Understand, this is not control, authority over forgiveness. This is representational authority. Okay? You're. You're not the one that wrote the letter. You're the one that. You're the mailman. Okay?
So we, We. We are not the source of forgiveness. As believers, we are. We are the messengers of forgiveness. That's our call. That's our hope. We're we. That's our mandate. We're to tell the world that there is forgiveness, there is grace, there's a new covenant. And Jesus is making sure that you understand, like, you're not the one that did that. I did it. But your job is to tell the world that they can have their sins forgiven.
And he says, as the Father has sent me, now I'm sending you.
So there's so many wonderful things that we see in this great chapter that Jesus is handling with his disciples that we see. Wake up. Wait a minute.
I can see myself in here. You're not just speaking to your disciples. You're speaking to me. I recognize that there are times in my life where I don't feel qualified. I don't feel like this is a good time for me to serve. I don't recognize that there's potential in me to do anything more than just to exist.
And yet Jesus is saying, the work is finished on the cross, and now it's your watch.
There's three different things that I think are important for us to hear today. And as I was reading this story this past week, I felt like there was some things that the Holy Spirit was highlighting to show us the importance of seeing how Jesus handles his disciples. Grief and their worry and their processing. How he handles their rough week and how he sends them into their destiny. How he sees things that they can't see.
And as we're looking at how he treats them, we recognize how Jesus still has a pattern of treating us.
How he handles us, how he motivates us, how he sees things in us that we don't see either. So here's several things that I think are important. Number one, Jesus loves to flip tables, and so do we.
He loves to flip tables, and I love the stories. If you kind of catch that personality of Jesus, not only is he, you know, walking through walls and jump scaring people.
But notice just a few days ago, he's also freaking out a little bit at the temple. And theologically, you can make the argument that he does it twice. He walks into the temple, just starts flipping over tables like you do when you're losing at Monopoly. What would Jesus do? Just, you know.
But here we see in this locked room, Jesus does not flip tables in anger, but he's flipping them in joy.
He's flipping the whole situation around.
Jesus flips the tables on their anxiety and on their worries, on their fears. And in one moment, the table gets flipped to joy.
Jesus takes joy and he flips it into peace. And then he flips peace into a filling of the Holy Spirit. And then he flips that into a commandment to go and do.
And we see how Jesus continually flips our emotions from what we want to what he wants to something that's productive.
Jesus loves to flip the tables. Not just in the temple. He loves to flip the tables of your situation. As a matter of fact, anything that you invite Jesus into, odds are he's going to flip it.
He loves to do that. And here's what we see as they're gathered behind locked doors in fear of the Jewish leaders.
We see ourselves in a lot of the way that we process our fears.
Because here's the thing.
Many of them had already experienced a personal moment with the risen Savior. Some of them had met him at the tomb. Some of them met him on the road. Some of them met him on the way back. Several of them had seen Jesus. They had seen Memaw and Pop Pop walking through the city. Several of them knew that this story was true.
And yet, in spite of the fact that Jesus had gotten up out of the grave, that victory over death and hell in the grave was purchased once and for all. In spite of all that, we find them still locked in fear.
If death has no power over Jesus, if those rumors are true, then why am I afraid of the people that tried to kill him? What's the worst they could do to you? Kill me again?
Like all that fear is gone, but yet they still find themselves behind a locked door of fear. And here's the good news.
You're not stopping Jesus.
He walks right past their locked doors and speaks directly to their issue.
For many of us today, we can find ourselves in that same situation if we're not careful.
Here's what I want to say. The locked doors represent the gap between belief and transformation.
And here's where we find the American version of Christianity.
It says, belief is enough.
Let me just remind you. They believed.
They believed that Jesus got up out of a grave. The rumors were true. Several of them had seen it. He's alive. I'm telling you. I saw him. I talked to him, I touched him, We. We walked together, we ate together.
He's alive.
They believed.
But yet I'm still living in fear.
And there's a big gap between believing that Jesus got up out of the grave, that the Easter story is true, and actually living like it's made a difference in our lives. I can't say that Jesus is alive and then live like it changes nothing.
And that's the difference between the Christianity that our world has fallen in love with, the Christianity that says, all you gotta do is believe and then you're good.
You've got your fire insurance.
I'm here to tell you you're still alive.
You still have breath in you. You still have potential to do more than just receive salvation. Now you've received a mission from God. It's more than just coming to church and hearing a history lesson. At some point, you need to recognize that there is potential inside of you to use the rest of your life to. To do more than just collect more toys than your neighbor. That's not the point of your life.
I wonder what locked doors do we find ourselves hiding behind?
We could say, I believe that Jesus got up out of a grave. I believe that the story of Easter is true. I believe that he's changed everything.
But I still choose to stay behind this locked door. What. What would that be to you? What is it that keeps us stuck?
For some people, it might be the same fear. I'm afraid of what might happen if I actually did the things that Jesus told me I was supposed to do for others. You're living in shame.
I don't believe that God can use me.
For others, it might be regret. Well, I tried one time. I did this and I messed it up. I didn't do so well. For others, it might be fill in the blank, but we still find ourselves the gap between belief and transformation.
I believe that the story of Jesus's victory is real.
But I don't want it to change my life or inconvenience me in any way.
Understand that Jesus loves to flip that table. He loves to take that table and flip it inside of you, of what you think you can do versus who he knows that you really are on the inside. And because inside of each of us is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead and inside of each of us. If you've received Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your savior.
That Holy Spirit inside of you, it is not weak. It is not.
Let me say it this way. There is no junior Holy Spirit.
There is no second class third. Well, I've got a Holy Spirit just a little bit, like, that's not a thing.
And when you start seeing things the way that Jesus sees them, tables will begin to flip inside of you.
And because of the Jesus that's in you, I believe because of Jesus, because of the Holy Spirit living inside of me, that I can bring Jesus into the darkest situations, believing that whatever it is, it can turn around.
And let me just tell you, if you believe that Jesus got up out of an empty tomb, but you don't believe that it means anything else to you or in your life, don't pray for me. I don't need your prayer. I want people that not only believe that Jesus got up out of a grave, but live like that means something. I want people that believe that no matter what the situation is, Jesus can flip it. And he does pray for me.
Those are the kind of people you want praying for you, that believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that no matter how dark it might be, Jesus loves to turn dark situations around.
Jesus loves to flip tables. So do we.
And if Jesus is inside of me, if he's commissioned me, I believe that when I walk in the room, the power of Jesus comes in with me.
If the Holy Spirit's inside of me, the Holy Spirit's here, too, he said, where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there in your midst. He said, just ask.
Jesus loves to flip tables. Perhaps you came here today with a particular situation that you're dealing with.
Let me just say, Jesus loves to flip tables.
He loves to turn the tide.
Back in my day, we'd say he loves to flip the script. Remember that? You don't remember.
Not only does Jesus love the tables, but number two, Jesus loves to fill rooms, and so do we.
He loves to fill the room.
Now, let me just tell you, last week we had five different Easter services, and they were full of people.
Full of so many people I had never met before, people I was looking to connect with. Like, I don't know if I've ever seen you, but welcome to church. And, like, I've been going here for two years. Like, I'm so sorry.
I'm actually on your staff. Oh, my bad.
It's been a long. It's been a long day.
But we celebrate the fact that we have become a Place of a filled room. I love seeing a lot of people coming and worshiping Jesus. Let me remind you of this. The room being full is not the win, because a room full of people can become anything but a room full of. Full of Jesus.
Oh, Jesus loves to fill rooms with himself if he's invited.
Let me just remind you, if Jesus doesn't fill the room, nothing really changes.
Nothing really changes. You might have been entertained, you might have enjoyed coming together, seeing a person that you haven't seen in a while. But if Jesus is in the room, you have potential for everything to change. And this is exactly what happens when this room was full of fear until it became full of Jesus is that he comes into the midst of them all of a sudden. That fear, that anxiety, the worry, the regrets, the crazy conversations that they must have been having change instantly. Why? Because Jesus loves to fill the room. And when he fills the room, everything changes. By the way, he wants to fill any space we invite him into.
Jesus loves to fill the rooms.
Let me just tell you the greatest miracle of this Easter week was not just a bunch of people that came. And it's so exciting when they do. That's a big deal. That's not the greatest miracle. The greatest miracle is we lost count of how many people got saved.
So we keep strong records of everyone that professed a decision to follow Christ. That's a big deal. We, we lost count at the number 67. 67.
But there was more than that. We just couldn't get to them all at the same time. Like, I know that there's more, but we're trying to keep as accurate a record as possible. But that's our all time record for any service. Let me just tell you, that's a big deal. When 67 people make a decision to follow Christ, that's something to celebrate.
I love that Jesus fills the spaces inside of people's hearts, inside of people's lives. He loves to fill that space. He loves to fill the void with himself.
Long before he ever fixes the situation, he wants to fill the space.
Let me just say it this way. Jesus doesn't just fix situations. He fills spaces. First, Years ago, my family and I were on a mission trip in Nicaragua preaching in crusades and, and we had some of the most insane spiritual warfare. At the same time, we saw some fantastic breakthroughs. And I remember there was anointing one night for healing. And God was supernaturally healing people. And I remember there was a long line of people waiting for me to lay hands on Him. I'M like, I know that I can't. This is not my gift necessarily. But if the Holy Spirit's here, he can flip any situation around that he wants to. And watching God begin to change people's life and supernaturally heal. And it was a beautiful thing to see.
And I remember that there was a lady that steps forward, and this one sticks out in my mind because she had long, dark, black hair. She was a younger lady, but her hair was all in front of her face, and her head was down. And I could see her as she was approaching this line. It's probably 100 people deep. And the Holy Spirit was just spotlighting one person. And I could just see her. The hair is down over her face.
And I'm praying for one person and praying for the next person and praying for the next person. She comes closer and closer and closer and closer. And finally she stands in front of me, and I try to make eye contact with her, and she won't look at me.
And I remember asking my interpreter that was there. I was like, can you. Can you speak to her and ask her, you know, what are we praying for today?
And she finally looks up at me and she says, I need Jesus to heal my face.
And I said, I'm happy to pray for that. And I had a check in my Holy Spirit. Immediately the Lord began to speak to me and said, ask her to receive me in her heart first. And I'm about to fix her face.
And I had the interpreter interpret the exact same words. Tell her, the Lord wants to heal your face, whatever it may be, but he wants you to ask him to come into your heart first. And she looks up at me, pulls. Pulls back her hair. And her face was covered with a tumor, a big black tumor on this entire. Just entire half side of her face. Her eye was disproportionate. And she looks at me and she says, I don't want that. Tell him, just fix the face.
And I said, did I say it wrong? He said, no. I said, tell her again, Jesus wants to fix your face. This is about to be healed. And I could sense the faith that was there. You could sense it. And for those of you that have been in those situations, you could sense the power of God was right there waiting on a person to ask Jesus to fill the space before he changed the situation. And she says, no, I don't want that. Just tell Jesus to fix my face.
And I told the interpreter, tell him if he doesn't fill the space, he's not fixing the space now that Sounds a little Johnny Cochran ish to me, but it works better in the interpretation. But I wanted to make sure that she could see that there's a miracle here waiting for you. And I wish I could tell you today that that woman said, you know what? You're right. I've reconsidered. But she didn't. She turned away and walked away in disgust. And I wonder how many of us still miss what Jesus is wanting to do because we limit him to just fixing situations.
How many times do we turn away because he wants to feel the space, not just fix the situation? Jesus loves to fill spaces with his presence. And that's when things begin to turn around. Notice that when Jesus comes into this room, he doesn't just fix their situation, but he fills the space. And that's the turning point. It's not when their threats against them disappeared that they stopped being anxious.
They stopped being anxious. The moment that Jesus came into the room, there was peace, there was joy, there was excitement, there was power.
The situation outside had not changed.
But Jesus loves to fill spaces first.
And the change that happens was not out there. It was in here.
Understand this, that when we start seeing things through his eyes, we start experiencing the power and the presence of Jesus. When Jesus is filling the space, what's going on out there doesn't matter anymore.
Cause he's changing something inside of me.
When Jesus shows up and now their faith increases. Now the joy is there. Now the excitement is there. Now everything begins to happen. And this is where Jesus does some of his best work by filling the space, the void that each of us have. Here's what we know, is that when Jesus fills the room, ordinary becomes extraordinary. And hiding places become holy places.
Let me just remind you, when Jesus fills the space, ordinary people become extraordinary people.
Closets become battlegrounds.
My car becomes an incredible night of worship. When I'm bringing the power of Jesus into that car. There's places that might be normal until Jesus fills the space. Then it becomes holy ground.
It might be just an ordinary house, but believers gather, start calling on the name of Jesus and that becomes a group.
Ordinary becomes extraordinary when Jesus fills the space. And Jesus loves to fill spaces.
So this is the moment where everything changed. When Jesus comes into the room, and it helps us to recognize a simple truth that the situation that is going on out there does not have to change. As long as Jesus is in here, what changes will be at his pace when he wants to fix that? But that's not the issue. The issue is, is Jesus in the space?
Will I invite him in? So what do we do? We don't wait for better conditions. We invite a greater presence.
Here's the third and final thing I want to share with you. Number three. As we're looking at this amazing story in John, chapter 20, number three. Jesus loves to send people. And so do we.
I love how he doesn't let them just stay inside of a locked room and stay in their fears.
He doesn't just let them process. He sends them.
Jesus sends them. He says, as the Father has sent me and I've done my job, now I'm sending you. It's time for you to do your job.
And by the way, he's saying the same thing to you today as the Father sent him, he's sending you.
And the miracle happens the moment that they start believing it and walking past a locked door into their world, preaching the news that it's not a rumor, Jesus really does change lives.
That's the moment they step into their destiny. Where they go from just being called to being sent.
Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. I love how he speaks mission to people who are still afraid.
He gives a mission to those that are. We're still processing. We're going to need some time, like, mm, mm.
It's time to go.
Lord, we've been through some traumatic things. It's time to go.
It's time to go.
It's time to go. I don't feel qualified.
It's time to go.
Isn't that powerful how Jesus comes into a room full of fear and sends them out into the very thing they were afraid of?
But now the difference is they're full of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus loves to. Let me. Let me say it this way. Jesus calls and sends people before they feel ready or qualified.
And if you don't feel ready, if you don't feel qualified, welcome home.
You're the exact kind of people that Jesus says, it's time to go, it's time to serve, it's time to move. It's time to witness, it's time to listen. It's time to read, it's time to study. It's time to move.
Jesus loves to send people that don't feel qualified at all. And by the way, the Bible is full of them from beginning to end. Let me just give you a few. Here's Moses in Exodus, chapter four, trying to make a deal with God to use somebody else. I am not your guy. He says, God, I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech. I don't talk good. And God says, no, no, no, go.
I will help you.
It's not about what you can do. It's what I'm going to do through you. God, I can't talk to Pharaoh. Good. Just open up your mouth. I'll tell you what to say.
Now go.
He does the same thing to Joshua. Joshua, chapter one, verse nine. Joshua says, I cannot lead 2 million people. I'm nobody. And God says, be strong, be courageous. He didn't say, you need to feel strong and courageous first. Go get your stuff together.
And then when you feel strong enough, when you find the courage, like, no, he said, be strong, be courageous. How am I supposed to do that? He says, because I'm going to be with you. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. I'm coming with you. I am your strength.
Find courage in me. I don't feel qualified. I don't feel like I'm ready. Good.
Ready is not a feeling. Ready is a choice.
Stepping out on faith is not a feeling. It's a choice of whether or not you're gonna do what God has called you to do. It's a choice.
Gideon says, God, I don't know who you're calling a mighty man of valor. I am not that guy. I'm a mighty man of hiding.
I don't have the strength to do what you're asking me to do, to lead a battle against the Midianites. And I love what God tells him in Judges, chapter six. He says, go in the strength that you have.
Go with what you got. Here's what we know. God will use what you have, not what you wish you had.
And I wish I had the strength. I wish I had the courage. I wish I had the money to be able to give. I wish I had the time. It's not what you wish you had. Go with what you do have.
Go in the strength you have.
Step out.
Recognize that you have been sent. You've been called.
You've been pushed into mission. It's time for you. This is where the story of Easter becomes more than just a Bible lesson.
It becomes a life altering event.
Not just for them, but for us.
We know the story of Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on water. But let me just tell you, Peter did not suddenly imagine that he could actually do this.
He knows that it's only by Jesus asking him to come. And he does what I would have done in that moment. You know, Jesus comes walking about upon the waves in the storm and they're they're freaking out, and they're like, it's a ghost. And he says, okay, Lord, if it's really you, prove it. Make me walk on water right now. Like, that's an awesome thing to say.
Jesus, if it's really you, I'm not going to believe unless you give me a million dollars, whatever it is. I'm just saying, Peter. Peter says this in Matthew, chapter 14. Lord, if it's you, tell me to come. Tell me to walk on the waves, too. Then I'll believe.
I love Jesus. He's like, come on.
The. The miracle didn't happen inside the boat when he was thinking about it or just that he declared it.
The miracle happened when he actually stepped in and did what Jesus told him to do. And the same is true for you and for me. To become who God has called you to be. It has to become more than a feeling. It has to be more. It has to be more than just, oh, at some point, this is what I think I could. No, no, no. You have to step out and do it.
The Lord doesn't do it for anybody. He doesn't force them into. He just says, here's my word. Are you going to trust me?
And each of them became something far more than what their minds had limited them to, believing that they were not capable of.
It doesn't matter what the situation looks like. It doesn't matter what you see, it doesn't matter what you feel.
What matters is what God said.
Second Corinthians, chapter five says, we walk by faith, not by sight.
I would add, we walk by faith, not by feelings.
Now, your gift of sight is important. God gave it to you. Use it.
Your feelings are important. God gave them to you. They tell you things. Feelings are wonderful, but they're not great at being in charge.
What you see and what you feel, what you experience, what those things have to be subjected to the power of what God said.
And this amazing group of believers, full of fear, hiding behind a locked door, believing that Jesus is who he says he was, but not recognizing a simple fact that they are who Jesus said they are.
They're going to change the world. They didn't feel like it. Just like you may not feel like it, but it was true then and it's true now.
So Jesus says, as the Father is sending me, so I am sending you. Well, how did God send you? How did you do that? He says, receive the Holy Spirit.
The Father sent me.
How did he do it?
Holy Spirit? And as I send you, the how is going to be The Holy Spirit.
And then it says this that Jesus breathed on him and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
You know, you can't see somebody's breath. If you could see their breath, like that would be super strange.
You can't see it. They had to receive it by faith, believing that what he's breathing on them is supernatural breath.
They receive it by faith. They didn't receive it by feeling.
Come on, somebody. They believe that Jesus was doing this on purpose. He knows what he's doing. He said, receive the Holy Spirit. And he. And he breathes on them. This is the only time in scripture that you will ever find Jesus breathing on someone.
He.
He does this so intentionally. It takes us back, by the way, all the way to the very beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. Genesis chapter two, where it says, God formed the first man out of the dust and he put him together, and then he breathed life into him and man became a living being.
And notice this, that when Jesus breathes onto his disciples, this is new creation language. He's saying there's something that has transformed from the beginning of time. Now it's something new, but it's the exact same pattern.
And when God in Genesis chapter two breathes into very first man, not only does he breathe into him and cause him to come to life, but the very first thing that God tells him is to be fruitful and multiply.
Go and bear fruit.
It's time to go. Can you imagine? Think about this. This is his first day of existence.
Be fruitful and multiply. What do you mean by fruitful? We'll explain that later.
You'll figure it out.
He doesn't have a concept of that, but he's having to trust that God knows what he's talking about. And I have a command to do what he's telling me to do. Same is true for you, by the way. The same is true for me. And when Jesus breathes onto his disciples in new creation language, he says, as the Father has sent me, I'm sending you. And you have a ministry. You have a message that there can be forgiveness of sin, that the power of death and hell in the grave is no longer a thing. You are not just called now you're sent.
And you're sent by the power of the Holy Spirit.
That's a big deal because Jesus doesn't send us empty. He sends us with Holy Spirit power.
You are not empty.
It might feel like you're stepping out on blind faith, but that's not true.
You're full of the power of The Holy Spirit. And because there is no junior Holy Spirit, there is no Holy Spirit light, there is no holy generic version of Holy spirit, there's no Dr. Thunder version of Dr. Pepper.
That's not a thing. With the Holy Spirit, you have.
If you've received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. The same spirit that rose Christ from the grave lives in you and lives in me. And you are sent with that same power.
So I want you to see in this scripture that it shows us that those that were on first watch are very much like those of us today that recognize it's our watch.
We may find ourselves still afraid, still believing in Jesus, but just trying to live our life like it doesn't really matter.
Still locked behind doors of fear, still refusing to see what God has purposed inside of each of us, refusing to see the potential that God has in each of us. Because it keeps us locked in a state of paralysis.
We call it paralysis by analysis. God can't use me. I've messed up. God can't use me. I'm weird. God can't use me. I'm too short. I'm too tall. I'm too big. I'm too little. I'm too black. I'm too white. You have a whole list of twos of the reason why God would choose somebody else.
You have a list of things and expectations in your mind of what God is going to use you for. Let me just tell you. It's hardly ever what you think.
And the moment that you say yes to Jesus, the moment that you allow him to fill that space, the moment you're filled with His Spirit, you begin to step out on the faith of what God has asked you to do. That doesn't come with a suit and a microphone.
It comes with a breaking. It comes with submission. It comes with trust.
It comes with a deeper relationship with Jesus. And it's good and it's necessary and it's right and it's your calling.
What doors are you hiding behind today?
What is standing in the way of you stepping out and letting the Lord use you?
What is standing in the way of you moving from.
From saved to sent?
What's standing in the way of you moving from consumer to contributor?
What's standing in the way of you moving from being led to leading?
What's standing in the way of you using your testimony to build a bridge to people that are far from Christ?
What locked door are you hiding behind?
Because the miracle doesn't happen inside of the room. The miracle happens when you start believing that What Jesus has told me to do, it's time to start walking in it. That's the beauty of the resurrection of Jesus, is that it's not just an event, it's not just a story. But it changes everything. And if it hasn't changed something inside of you, causing you to believe that you are more than what you settle for, that your life is more valuable, your soul is more valuable than how we sell it so short, if that hasn't become a reality to you, then maybe today is your day where you start believing you are who God says you are.
And you can do what God says you can do. You can become who God says you can become, that there is a future for you, there's a hope for you, and it's bigger than just having more toys than your neighbor. Come on, somebody.
That's not a life.
That's a contest.
As we finish up today, I want to.
I want to just re. Emphasize the importance of your life.
You only get one.
And I understand that each of us has walked through some things that would cause us to be cautious and the enemy would use so much fear and anxieties and worries. And you have your list of reasons and issues of.
Of why you can't, why you won't, why you shouldn't, why somebody else should do what God has called you to do.
I understand it. I get it.
But I want to challenge you today to not just sit behind a locked door week after week after week, being a spiritual consumer.
I want to challenge you to get involved, to serve someplace. If you're not serving. Life has to be bigger than just about you.
It's not about you.
What God can do through you matters.
You are called, you are designed, you are built to make a difference.
And you have your list of issues.
Why you won't or can't or shouldn't or you used to. I'm not doing that anymore.
Let me just remind you, God's spirit is calling out again and saying, come out from behind that locked door.
And he's saying there's peace for you and there's ascending for you.
As we finish up, I want to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes. I want to give you a chance to hear from the Holy Spirit.
I think for some of us, if I've done my job correctly today, some of us have been confronted about some things, some things that maybe you've forgotten. You've left it in a dark room, that you don't approach it anymore. Of what God could do with your life.
I Sensed this from the Holy Spirit. There was a time where you believed that God had great things for you.
But you're not quite sure if you believe that anymore.
My friend, he's calling again.
He's reaching out again.
God brings dead things to life.
For some of you, you've been hurt by a church. You've been hurt by a preacher, hurt by something. And you've caused it to take. To let you take a step back. And you've gotten stuck there. My friend, that's enough.
The calling that God has on your life is too great to let anybody else stand in the way.
It's too great.
It's too important. It matters too much to let your fears and your offenses and your worries and your anxieties and your shortcomings keep you from becoming who God has called you to be. Your calling is too great.
It matters too much.
So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I'm gonna pray for you. I want you to just open your hands. If you wouldn't mind. You might not have ever done that in a church service before. It's okay. Nothing's gonna happen. You're gonna be just fine. Almost as if someone was handing you a gift. I'm gonna pray for you right now. That the Holy Spirit would come and fill you up fresh and overflowing. That God would restore parts of your heart. That he would revive dreams. Today. This is not some weirdo moment. I just want you to hear from the Holy Spirit right now that you're here for a reason. Today.
God is pushing you out of your fear.
He's flipping the tables. He's filling the space.
He's sending you. And it's time for you to start believing it. Would you open up your hands? Maybe just place them on your knees as if someone was handing you something? Let me pray for you, Father, in heaven, right now. I pray that you would come, that you would fill every space. Lord. Father, we receive right now all that you have. Can you just say that with me? Lord, I receive.
Come on. Lord, I receive all that you have.
Father. Breathe on us today. Father. Speak life into this place. Father. Come. We want you. We want your spirit. We want your direction, Father. You're the one that leads us beside still waters. You're the one that restores our soul. You're the one that leads us to green pastures. You are the good shepherd, and we trust your leadership. We trust that where you are sending us, Father, where you are calling us, where you are pushing us, where you are challenging us is good. And it's in our best interest to become all that you've called us to be. So, Father, I pray for my friends that they would be filled with your holy Spirit today, that they would walk in your direction, that they would step out of the boat, they would begin to move. The directions that you've had for each of them to move. Lord, you have life, you have purpose, you have meaning.
It's a new day.
And Father, even if we don't feel that we're qualified, even if we feel like we're messed up, Lord, you use broken people all the time. You use people that others have written off all the time. Use people that have been written off by themselves all the time.
You can use us.
So, Father, we receive from you today in Jesus name and with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you came here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I.
This is all brand new to me. I don't know how would I have a relationship with Jesus. I want that. My friend, I'm so glad that you're here. If you want a relationship with Jesus, I'm going to help you meet Jesus today.
For others, you might have said, pastor, I've gone to church, I've done all the things, but I'm so far from God. I've gotten so far away from him. I need to come home. Yes, you do, my friend. You need to come home. And I'm going to help you the same way somebody helped me one time, Somebody loved me enough to tell me the truth, to pray for me, to help me. And I love you enough to do the same for you. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you want a relationship with Jesus, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. I'm going to ask that you pray this prayer out loud with me.
As a matter of fact, all of us are going to pray this prayer out loud together so you don't feel embarrassed in any way. I would never do that. But you need this.
So if you want a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer out loud together. Come on, church, help me. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins.
I've messed up.
I need your grace.
Please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life.
In Jesus name and with heads bowed and eyes closed, with no one else looking around, if you prayed that prayer and you meant it. If you say, pastor, that was me. I prayed that prayer. Can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud? Good.
You can place your hands down. I want you to know if you lifted your hand, if that was you, then there's a phone number that's going to appear behind me on a screen. If you're watching online and you pray that prayer, I would love to connect with you. There's a phone number appearing on your screen as well. Would you text me? Text the words I prayed to that number and I'll send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what happened in your heart and what to do next. I'm super proud of you, the decision that you just made.
Thank you for texting me. For those of you that do that, high rich family, go ahead and look up at me if you would. And let's stand to our feet together today as we finish up this service.
There's a couple of things I want to make you aware of.
If you've been kicking the tires around here and you're like, you know what, Pastor, I'd like to get to know you. I'd like to get to know you better, maybe get to know the staff. I might have some questions, like to just maybe have some face time. Then this Sunday is for you. Immediately following this service across the street in our youth room, now, not our kids room, but the youth room which is on Rockwell Avenue, we're going to have a staff hangout and get together. So if you've never met us, if you've never shaken the hands, if you have questions about the stand staff, about the church, we are going to be willing to just hang out, connect with you. So it will not be weird. I'm not going to ask you for money. I'm not going to involve you in some multi level marketing schemes like a pyramid.
It's a triangle, not a pyramid.
It's none of that. It's. It's just we want to connect with you. And so this would be a low key, easy way to connect. I'm not saying you have to become a member of our church today, but you want to be. You don't want to do it anyway, might as well.
But if you want to hang out, if you want to just meet, just have a chance to talk to us, that's for you. So immediately following this service, if you want to pick up your kids, you can bring your kids across. We've got some snacks and stuff. We just want to meet you and get to know you. It's important that you don't come to church and think you're going to remain anonymous. God will spotlight you and say, come on, step out. Take a step. So if you want to meet people, if you want to connect, this is how you do that. We would love to meet you then. Also, I want you to know if you've not been baptized yet, if you've never been baptized. We're going to have that scheduled April 26, immediately following the third service. We have three. On Sunday, immediately following the third service, we have baptism. And so we've got shorts, we've got towels, we've got T shirts. All that stuff's provided for you. But you will need to register. You can do that on our website if you'd like. Also, my wife runs that ministry and she's here. If you want to just hang out with her and say, I don't know how to use the Internet. I'm kind of weird like that. Can you help me sign up? We can do that. We will help you. You need to get baptized, and we would love for this to be your Sunday, April 26th. I've got our elders and their wives coming up. These guys are available to pray for you if you need prayer about anything that you might be walking through. We would love to pray for you. Then let me bless you and send you out to an incredible week. Father, I pray that you bless my friends. I pray that you bless their finances. Would you bless their families? I pray that you watch over their children and their grandchildren. Would you bless their businesses? Would you bless their homes? Oh, God, I pray that you would bless their lives with your presence. I pray that they would walk in your truth, walk in your anointing all week long, that they would bring the power of Jesus everywhere that they go. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, and all of us said together, amen. God bless you as you go. Have an awesome week.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: If you want to be a part
[00:51:48] Speaker A: of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support, and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week, and we will see you next time.
