When Something Ugly Becomes Beautiful

I'm excited about this topic. The title is, When Something Ugly Becomes Beautiful. And as we know from church history, how many of you know who John Newton is? About half the room.

Some up in the balcony. Well, he actually was involved heavily in the slave trade. Something on America's past that is just mind-blowing, especially for believers.

He was really involved with the slave trade. And God saved him. And he wrote a hymn you guys might know.

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound. Just think of something so ugly. I think it's the most sung hymn ever in the history of our nation.

By far. I went online last year when I was looking at some of the stories behind the hymns. The amount it's played at funerals and events and churches, it's just amazing.

It's reaching millions of times a week in our nation. And from John Newton, what about Horatio Spadford? How many of you have heard me tell that story before? Lost all of his daughters all of his daughters in a boat crash. I think 1800's or so.

I don't know exactly. Five kids and his wife survived. And then he went to that spot in the ocean.

I think it was the Atlantic if I'm not mistaken. And the hymn, It is Well with My Soul as sea billows roll. And he could see the sea just, can you imagine your daughters are down there somewhere? It is well, it is well with my soul.

Listen, I don't know where you're at today, but God can take something ugly and make it very beautiful. I even look back in my life, I don't want to go through that again, but how many of you can say, thank God, He used that. Because I don't know where I would be.

They might be ministering to me at the homeless ministry out there on Avenue H in a camper. The way things were going. That's why we need to come off of our high horse and really humble ourselves.

And we define something as ugly when it doesn't meet our standard. Our standard and that's ugly. And I think of this often, many of you know, how many of you grow your own vegetables? And sometimes they look ugly.

Do not throw them out. They're actually very good for you. You shouldn't go to a grocery store and every single apple looks the same.

You should have carrots with little pieces going off. And it's God's creation. They're usually healthier for you.

They're not genetically modified and things like that. But there's a, your distortion is not your destiny, is what I'm trying to say. There's things that make you ugly.

There's things that might be ugly in your life. And I'm going to go into that even more next week. But God will take that ugliness because His definition of beauty is what we have to focus on.

A few verses I want to remind you of this morning. 1 Samuel, I use the ESV this morning. Normally I use the New King James.

But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or his height or his stature because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

What about 1 Peter? Do not let your adorning be external, mainly talking to the women, the braiding, well, nowadays, probably both. The braiding of the hair, the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with imperishable beauty of a gentle, quiet spirit.

That's what God looks at. The gentle, quiet spirit. Not the contentious, angry, critical.

It's that gentleness filled with the Spirit of God. And then Isaiah, I love this one. But now, O Lord, You are our Father.

We are the clay and You are the potter. We are all the works of Your hand. And so that's why as Christians, many of us are staunchly pro-life.

Because whether a baby's born this way or that way, or it's God's creation. God created that life. Now, of course, within that scope of argument, there's a lot of different people feeling a lot of different ways, but we just need to know that life is God.

That child is God's creation. There's no baby after it's born. It's right when that life begins at conception.

That's God's creation. So we're in the book of Acts, actually chapter three now, when something ugly becomes beautiful. Something ugly is at the beautiful gate.

Something ugly is at the beautiful gate. And I need to let you know, as I get into this, I've been in prayer. That's one of the reasons I came forward this morning.

I don't want, this is such an important topic. Isn't it healing? And does it still exist today? What does it look like? And I really don't want to put my opinion in there. I don't want to, you know, we all, maybe some of you haven't, but you've all seen videos of just weird stuff.

Obviously fake. And you've got two groups, whether you're aware of this or not. Some are like, if it's odd, it's God.

You know, just carried away, I guess, is a good word to use. Where others are very staunch and conservative. And it's where they, I call them heresy hunters.

You know, every little thing is questioned and they're very critical. And there's, have you guys experienced those two camps before? And we start to watch both sides and we kind of get like, well, who do we believe? Who don't we believe? And I'm going to try not to name names and things, but I'm friends with people that people don't like and I'm friends with them because they maybe are more charismatic. Like, well, gosh, how do you reconcile that biblically? Aren't we supposed to be? My goodness, I'm supposed to love my enemies.

What about others we might not agree with on this point? And it's hard as a pastor, you can ask Pastor Abram this as well. We've seen over the years, you go back 14 years when we started this church, and we've actually had people leave because we're not more like this group. Where's the healing, the deliverance? Every Sunday, we need to see all the time.

Just recently, a close couple of friends of ours. Because they think it's deliverance and healing and that's commonplace in the church. You guys are too conservative.

Okay, we can learn from that. We can grow. But then I have other people saying we're too much like that side.

You guys are too charismatic. I'm out of here. I'm like, I'm going to lose my mind.

What is it, guys? And see, so that's why it's an interesting topic because you don't want to misrepresent God, correct? You don't want to work up or you don't want to fake things, but at the same time, this side would say, well, of course God still does miracles, but in their hearts, I don't know if they really believe that. And when it comes to the gift of healing, I'm going to talk about that in a little bit. And just so you know, we've been clear many times before, I am, like many of you, what we consider, what does the Bible say? Like, if I can just stay within those parameters, I'm good.

I don't care if half the church leaves. What does the Bible say? And to me, when we get into 1 Corinthians, it appears that the supernatural gifts are still active in the church. There's no way I can come to the conclusion that all that ceased with the apostles or the canonization of Scripture.

There's no way I can see it, so I can't fake it. You can't fake it till you make it when it comes to this. And so that's why it's a challenging topic, because I see, you know what, let's just be honest, I cannot watch Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland.

Or I just, I cannot. I think it hurts. I do what they, like we're pastors, like what? Lord, you know how somebody gives you a bad name? How many policemen don't like rotten apples or rotten policemen? Because it gives, and so, correctional officers, right, you're like, I am, but I'm not with him.

And so I see these guys, there's absolute lunacy. It's ridiculous. And then even when I say that, people email me, but I was blessed under this ministry.

Okay, okay, fine. I'm just saying personally, I have a hard time with some of the theatrics and you look at even how they do things and this guy matches Katharine Kuhlman and he looks the same and says the same. And there's been people who've followed up with a lot of these people and they were not genuinely healed.

You can read, you can research all this. However, this side, I see a modern day Pharisee, honestly. I see somebody who's not humble, they're not broken.

It's exactly what the Pharisees did. Mocking a genuine move of God. And so it's like we're kind of caught in between two worlds on this topic of healing, because clearly God does it, but it's not like this phony, fake, weird stuff, okay? This is my own personal opinion.

And I'm sure most of the elders would definitely agree on that. And so my point is, as we go into this topic of healing, understand that we do not take it lightly. We don't, I mean, this is God healing.

This is God's Word. We better have a little reverence and fear and trepidation about this topic. And I don't, I wanted to, but I don't think I'll get to it.

But next Sunday, I want to talk about when God heals and when He doesn't heal. Because I think healing is missing. We think it's like, okay, the gift of healing, for example.

Okay, let's say, for example, I have the gift of healing, which I don't feel I do. Then I can just go pray for you and you're healed. No, then I'm control.

Then I'm control. Then I'm sovereign. That's not how it works.

When God sovereignly decides to use a person to bless someone else. His sovereignty. And that's why I think many in this conservative camp are confused.

They don't think we can walk in and just start whatever we want, because how do you know God isn't using that sickness to get that person to the cross? How do we know God isn't using that sickness to get that guy to repent and work on his marriage? How do we know that God isn't using that sickness because the lady needs to stop eating all that junk food? Diabetic. How do we know God isn't trying to get them to make changes? See, we don't know. We just assume, okay, God wants to heal.

So that's important. Very important. When does He heal? When doesn't He heal? And we're gonna try to unpack that.

So something ugly at the beautiful gate. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple. So this is incredible.

Peter and John are walking to the temple at the hour of prayer. It's the ninth hour. Actually, it's the evening sacrifice.

And as they're going, a certain man lame from his mother's womb. And I just, I don't know, maybe it's me this week, but just the pain of a parent. And some of you know, maybe some of you listening later, I have a heart for those that have experienced something like this from the moment their child was born.

And we see moms caring for their kids the rest of their life. And it breaks my heart and the church should come alongside of those. And so he was lame from his mother's womb.

And things were a lot different back then, especially in the prisons too, people have to bring you food and clothing. You didn't get three meals and a TV and time out on the yard with your celly. You guys surprised I know all this language, huh? They would have to bring you clothing and food.

And so a certain man lame from his mother's womb that he was carried, he was actually, he was put by the temple steps and the people that would come by and just walking by him. I mean, from his mother, this has probably been going on a while. I'm gonna say something, I want you to chew on till next week.

It's possible that Jesus walked by this person many times. Correct? Let that sink in. Why? Well, set your calendar for next Sunday.

But that just blew my mind. I was actually reading Dr. Steve Schell's book on understanding the book of Acts. And I'm like, I don't think that's right.

Let me think about it. Well, how many times did Jesus go to the temple? Not just for his ministry, did He ever go as a teenager? Unbelievable. Jesus walked by this man.

And Peter no doubt walked by this person many times. What is different? So they put the lad daily at the gate and the word lad, we don't know the exact age of this young man, but it had been a while it appears. And they would lay him there at the gate.

Can you imagine his parents or others just putting him there? Maybe they ran out of their own resources because you can only help so much. And they're relying on others to help. But what's interesting is they laid him at the gate, which is called beautiful.

They laid him at the gate of beautiful. And he was asking alms from those who entered the temple. So he's asking for money.

And so he sees Peter and John. They're about to go into the temple. And what does he do? Asks them for money.

Can you help me? And what immediately stood out is the man asked for a temporary fix. How many of us do the same thing? Such a heartbreaking scenario, isn't it? And fixing his eyes on Him. So Peter now, and you can tell if you've ever been in a situation like that where something is different than what's normally taking place.

You know, right, when God wants you to do something. I won't go into details because I didn't get permission, but my wife during We're in the Heavens, and if we ever break down whatever happened, she goes, I knew I should have went and prayed for that guy. God was, remember that during the whole prayer meeting? God's telling, it's like, oh no.

And he actually came to know the Lord that day. But it was, you know, those promptings, those promptings. And he probably is a watchman.

I'm like, well, be careful. I don't know these people. Fixing his eyes on Him.

And Peter said, look at us. So he told them, look at us. So he gave them his attention expecting to receive money from them.

And Peter said, the famous line, silver and gold I do not have. I don't have money. Some problems can't be fixed with money.

Maybe somebody needs to hear that this morning. You can't keep throwing money at some problems. Just ask Newsom about the homeless crisis.

And how many billions, billions. But can you imagine if we got more churches equipped to go and minister to them and pray with them and be on-spot specific, boots on the ground, grassroots approach? I'll probably remember to say it in a little bit. But this is another interesting part to think about.

You ready for number two this week? Think about these things. The majority, and I don't know of, there's a few, but all the healings, different things, rarely happened in the church. They happened outside the church as people are going about their daily lives.

But sometimes we think, and I've made this mistake myself, we'll get them to church. Invite them to church. Sunday it'll happen.

Or Wednesday. But maybe you can pray with someone at Panera Bread. I don't know about Costco, that's a little challenging.

Vons, Trader Joe's. And being sensitive to what God wants to do. But being sensitive to what God wants to do goes back to what I said earlier about worship.

It's an outflow of what you're already putting in all week. So it's hard to go and be sensitive to God and pray with people if you've been filling your mind with garbage all week. Watching things you shouldn't.

Engaging in things you shouldn't. Hanging out with people you shouldn't. Eating, drinking things you shouldn't.

And now, there's no sensitivity to the things of the Spirit. Do you ever feel that way? I do. It's hard to walk in the Spirit when the flesh is taking control.

So Peter said, silver and gold, I do not have. But what I do have, I will give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk.

That's exciting. And of course, to signify what area He came from, to make sure they're talking about the right Jesus, they would say, of Nazareth, because there are other people I'm sure named Jesus. But Jesus is His name.

Christ is the position, the anointed one. The Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk.

Get up and walk. And He took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately, His feet and ankle bones received strength.

So He, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them. Walking, leaping, and praising God. So, this actually, I believe, we're gonna talk about next week, this is Peter exercising the gift of faith.

I mean, sorry, the gift of faith, yes. But the gift of healing. So now Peter can't just go pray for whoever he wants to and they're healed.

See, what happens is people, maybe they misunderstand the gift on purpose because they don't wanna believe that it still exists. So they say, oh, you just can't go pray for whoever you want. Nobody's saying that, that I know of.

But you gotta be available. You have to be sensitive to what God wants to do. So the gift of healing, Peter, is going to the temple.

No plan on praying for this guy or healing. Now, I got the gift of healing, let me touch everybody. He's walking and then God says, I'm gonna give Peter the gift of healing for this person.

I'm sure Peter sensed something, looked down steadfastly, their eyes met, and had the faith to engage that gift of healing. He didn't go and pray for other people. And that's what the gift is, it's a gift.

I don't know why it's so challenging sometimes for people. It's God giving a gift to bestow on a person. Gift of healing.

It also talks about the word of wisdom or a word of knowledge. Don't let hypercharismatics take away from what that truly means. God will spontaneously bring something to your mind to share with somebody, something you wouldn't know.

And it's a gift to help the other person. This has happened in the prayer room. I've been praying for, and I prayed this, and something you feel, and I just pray, it's not even, it's like, wow, where did that come from? And they say, how did you know that? I don't know, I just felt really strongly to pray that.

And that's God giving a gift for that specific time. Doesn't mean you walk around, I'm a prophet. What do you need to hear? That's tarot card reading.

That's new age reading the stars and things like that. It's a gift that God sometimes bestows when a person is willing, ready, able. They're open to what God wants to do.

Granted, it's hard, because thoughts come in as well. Lord, is that you or me? How many times have I told you, I trust Him 100%. I don't trust me.

Like, is that, mm-hmm, is that me? I don't know. But we'll get into that as we go. Usually it's a strong impulse.

You know that there's something there. I have to pray for this person. Other times, though, it's just a step of obedience.

Have you ever prayed and seen results and you didn't feel anything? Have you? Can I mention you, Susan? Is it okay? Too late, okay. Was it stage four? We put her report up, I'll never forget, a couple years ago. Stage four cancer throughout her whole body.

Everywhere, little white dots. So, let's see what the Bible says. Get the elders, oil, pray.

Beautiful prayers, but I didn't feel any electricity. And then, I think a couple weeks later, the week later, said, hey, my scan came back, it's all gone. I'm like, what? Let me see that.

And here it is, we showed, and it was gone. So, well, God doesn't do that. Well, you have a hard time convincing us that He doesn't do that anymore.

Because clearly He does do that. Don't let people who abuse it give it a bad name. You know, if you saw all those videos, like let me lengthen your leg.

Oh yeah, see, see, see, see, it's moving. And you're manipulating the foot. That doesn't mean God still doesn't heal.

It means somebody might be a charlatan. Or they might have healed before. I've been in this position too, I'm sure some of you.

God's used you in a powerful way. And you think now He's gonna use you every day in the same way. And like, you can, I spoke into that person's life yesterday and now I'm gonna, wait, but you missed it on this one.

Whoa, what happened? Because pride, excitement, fighting our own flesh. That's why the Bible says test the spirits. Test the prophecy.

We have to test these things. And I know it's challenging. I mean, if I could just be completely honest with you, although I love the gifts and everything I talked about, this side of the camp is just, it's much more comfortable.

It's safe. See, nothing's weird. Nothing weird's gonna happen today over here.

I don't have to put out any fires. I don't have people complaining. I just, it's safe.

Let's just sit here for a while. It's just safe. But if I go to that side, whew.

Here we go. Here we go. Somebody cries out and needs prayer and gets delivered.

Wow. Incredible. It's not too safe, but God's not safe.

God's not safe. The way you define it, right? Think of it. Safe in the way that we define.

We don't want to be, or we don't want our bubble to burst. We don't wanna be challenged. We don't wanna see things that are like, that's kind of interesting.

That's kind of odd. And so it is. It's like, that's why you have to steward the gifts.

Have you thought about that? There's rules to the gifts. And D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, rebuking the Reformed churches of his day, said living children need rules. Dead children don't.

Get upset at him, not me. I'm just quoting it. And this guy's a theologian.

Like he's, and his point was, right, if a living, vibrant church needs rules, if you don't need any of the test of prophets to interpret, if you don't need any of those rules, are you living or are you dead, spiritually speaking? That's his quote. That's what he said. You can look it up.

And so this side can be controversial. So I'd like to sit on that side, but I'd also like to watch God move. And that's more of just, that's probably more of just, not pride's not the right word.

Maybe fear, or do you ever get to the point where I just don't wanna deal with it? Like I'll come to church, it's safe, I'll go home, I don't need all these complaints and people this, and it's like, wherever the ox is treading, there's manure. The Bible says that. Wherever, where the ox is working, there is manure.

Okay? It's, and I love, and like, you guys know when John Stratton's up here, right, and he'll say something, I'll say, oh Lord, here we go. And then months ago, I'll never forget, this girl's crying, I think she's sitting, here, Julie, where are you sitting? I'm praying for him, I'm like, what's going on? He said he prayed, he called out, he's mentioned cutting and how God said, he goes, I just cut myself this way. I'm like, holy smokes.

But that's God. And see, when you're open but cautious, it's not a bad thing, because God calls us to use discernment. Discerning of the spirits is actually a gift as well.

And so as much as I'd love to sit on this side, I think it's ego, maybe, like just, like, you know, Shane's solid, he doesn't let weird stuff happen. But that's not biblical, because God makes a mess. You know what? I have a feeling the evening sacrifice wasn't well attended that night.

Everyone's going to the sacrifice, now this guy's healed. God just messed up the whole service. And he's jumping, jumping, and leaping.

What's wrong with this charismatic lunatic? Settle down, bro. Just stop it. They're trying to contain, stop it.

But isn't that what we do? We try to stop a genuine move of the Spirit because it bothers us. That man's a little excited because though I was blind, now I see, and though I was dead, I've been raised from the dead, spiritually speaking. I have this life again, my feet are working, I can walk, this is incredible.

I don't have to beg for money. He might be a little excited. So some of you judgmental jerrys might want to calm down because people get a little excited at church.

It's okay to get excited. My goodness. Lord have mercy.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was He who was begging at the beautiful gate. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.

It's funny, if you look up these words in the Greek language, they don't mean wonder and amazement. They mean scared, stiff. I bet they were.

They were like, oh praise God, isn't that great? That is so cool. They're like, what just happened? Surely we have been visited by a prophet in this place. And that's why Peter is going, I love the next, as we keep reading next week, he rebukes the people again for killing Jesus.

He's like, this Jesus, there is no other name in heaven and earth where you will and can be saved. And he uses it as an opportunity to preach. But I want to talk about just two steps.

The first step toward making something ugly, beautiful. Focus your attention completely, steadfastly and securely on Jesus. I love Hebrews 12 too, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

And we see that, whether Peter fixes his eyes on them or the guy fixed them. There was a setting, there was a, and whenever you engage faith, you get your heart, your eyes fixed on Jesus. How many of you have ever had to exercise great faith? You had to fix your eyes on something.

You cannot have your sights down like this. You have to fix your eyes on the cross, no matter what happens. My daughter, my son is walking backwards, not forward.

I'm, Lord, I have great faith they're going to be at this altar. I don't see it, but I'm fixing my eyes. The enemy's trying to come in and get me with negative panic attacks and fear and anxiety, but I'm fixing my eyes on the cross.

No matter what comes, I'm fixing my eyes on the cross. And that's how you make something, something that's ugly. You make it beautiful.

Fix your eyes on God who created you. That's what I want to tell with young adults and teenagers with TikTok and Instagram and all these things are in the filtering. What is filtering? I can do a filter and look like Fabio.

You guys remember him? Or what's the soccer guy, Beckham? Wow. And we've got this false sense of beauty and what we should look like. Get back, fix your eyes on Jesus.

That's what I mentioned earlier. Most miracles were done outside the church. Could it be that God is wanting to work through you outside the church? I'd rather take a risk than no risk at all.

And for example, if you don't know and you want to pray for somebody, you just sit in maybe a wheelchair, maybe handicapped, and you want to pray, you don't have to pray. Lord's going to heal you right now if you don't sense that. But you can, can I pray for you? Do you need anything? And as you're praying, watch what God begins to do.

Encourages them, encourages you. And you begin to pray and you begin to walk out and step out in faith. I think that pleases God more than doubt and fear.

And I'm worried about how I'm going to look. Is that true? I'm worried how I'm going to look. Oh, West Side Christian, Shane, he's that, whoo-hoo-hoo.

If you guys knew how much we guarded this church, watched this church, removed wolves from this church, corrected at this church, follow through, we don't just let anything happen. Oh, isn't that cool, brother, that's weird. No, we're called to steward it.

If you had any clue what we do behind the scenes, it would put you at ease. Because somebody might say something, I'll go find out after, hey, was that spot on? Was that, are you going through, and we're following up. I hate to keep bringing this up because I don't want to embarrass him, but a friend of mine spoke here in February.

It's very relevant, so I'm not just going off. And I prayed, Lord, not my opinion, but a friend of mine, former NFL player, spoke here in February to the men. And he told a guy, he said, this time next year, your wife's going to be pregnant, you're going to have a child.

And I said, bro, I'll be calling you in a year. Because on one hand, you can't discount what God might be doing. Who might say, oh, no, no, no, nope, nope, nope, how dare you? Can you imagine me quenching and stopping? Unless, of course, it's over the top and you have spiritual discernment, but you test the Spirit, okay, let's see.

And I hope you're right, because that's harmful if it's not. And it could ruin our friendship. And so we do a lot of those things, trying to steward the gifts, because living children have rules.

If there's a church, like D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, dead children, if there's a church and there's nothing vibrant happening, no life, that's called spiritual decay. It actually needs to be revived. Do you remember what he said? Silver and gold.

We do not have, but what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I've told this story before, but it's perfect for this. It's a discussion between Pope Innocent II and Thomas Aquinas.

No, we're not Roman Catholic, but this quote is important. So the pope is counting a large sum of money. Can you picture it? It's a very wealthy organization.

Did you know that? I mean, the numbers are staggering. The Mormon church too. Staggering.

So he's counting all this money and he looks at Thomas Aquinas and he says, ah, Thomas, look, the church can no longer say, silver and gold, have I none? And Thomas says, ha, and you can no longer say, get up and walk. I would have loved to have been there for that one. You cannot pursue riches in Christ.

Ministries, maybe they start out well. And that's what happens. I truly believe some of the people that are questionable, like what happened? They started out being used of God.

And there's something that comes in called pride. Anybody aware of that deadly little damning characteristic? It's terrible. Because it's so deadly that you can go to someone and lovingly correct them and they don't want to hear it.

They don't want to hear it because of pride. And now, they're God's man. They're God's woman.

And they've got 100,000 followers. Quarter million people just watch my... And now, they think they are the voice of God. The thing that's happened with Daystar.

Have you guys followed that? That might have begun good. Innocent. But you look at it, God will use you, but then the enemy wants to promote you.

And God will promote you as well, but make sure it's in His time, His way, maintaining that humility, maintaining that brokenness. It's good they didn't have the money or they may have blocked the miracle. Can you imagine if they would have given Him that money, they could have blocked the miracle.

So sometimes God might withholding from you to do something even deeper and better. Do you know how many people have came up to me later and said, thank God, He didn't answer my prayer right away. Do you ever freak out when you're looking for work or employment or finances? And it's not happening at your pace.

That'll actually bring out the worst in us, but can lead us to the best spot. Totally submitted to the will of God. And you'll come out of there going, thank God for that, because God finally got me to that place of utter despair and brokenness.

And what's interesting is this is the first healing recorded in the church. What we're reading is the first healing ever happened in the book of Acts, in the Bible. Of course, Jesus healed, but as a church.

So I wanna answer this question again. I don't know if I'll finish everything. I wanna use more next week.

Is the book of Acts descriptive or prescriptive? So what I mean by that, if you don't know, does the book of Acts describe certain things that happen, but it doesn't necessarily mean we can do it, or is it prescriptive? Meaning it prescribes how to do something. And I would say it's both. It is both.

But the reason I said that is many in this camp who do not believe the gifts are for today think the book of Acts is only descriptive. It only describes what happened. It doesn't mean you can do it too.

And to some degree, that's why you study, the Bible is both descriptive and prescriptive. There's some things, don't go make a vow to God that you'll kill whatever comes out of your house first. And the guy had to kill his daughter, or some theologians, or don't try to go find a nine foot tall, eight foot tall Goliath.

Don't go fight a lion and a bear like David. I mean, oh, look, they did it. You know what gets some Pentecostal preachers killed is getting bit by rattlesnakes on the pulpit.

What says here, if I grab a serpent, I will not die. No, that's mocking God. You, well, let me hope.

That's ridiculous. That's mocking God. It means as you're walking in God's will, and God, it's not your time yet, and you get bit by a Mojave green out there in the desert, you'll be okay.

You happen to consume something that maybe has some antifreeze in it. Don't do that ever. You're not gonna die.

It's walking in God's will. God has you until that time is up. So Acts is descriptive and prescriptive, I believe.

So let's get into this. I'll finish up in a minute. So Peter had seen Him many times.

Oh, there's that guy again. There's that guy again. There's that guy again.

Maybe have helped Him before. And see, this is challenging. When it comes to Bible stories, if you take 10 pastors, you'll probably hear 10 different, how old he was, how he was, because there's liberty, like the movie The Chosen.

A lot of the critics don't realize that. They're kind of filling in the blanks there, okay? I'm not promoting or not, maybe some other time. But there's some liberty, as long as it's biblical, as long as the truth isn't watered down.

We could assume that Peter saw Him throughout the time that he'd been going to the temple, years possibly. So I'm asking you, what's the difference? Why does he decide to heal Him this time? Don't say anything, but how many of you know why it happened this time? Donna, put your hand up. Trying to be humble.

That's it, you guys? What did we just study in Acts 1 and 2? The Holy Spirit came upon them. Jesus said, don't go do anything. Wait for the promise of the power, and you shall be endued with power.

That was it. That was it. Peter's now filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's walking, and that's why you're gonna see the whole book of Acts written over about 30 years. You're gonna see, that's why there wasn't miracles, like we see miracles every day. It's written over 30 years, the book of Acts.

And so, now he's going out in the fullness of the Spirit. Everything I've been talking about, the topic that bothers some people, I guess, right? The fullness of the Spirit, the unction of the Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Doesn't mean the person's not perfect.

Peter could have cussed somebody out on his way to the temple. Don't do that. But he could have, and they said, Lord, I'm sorry, God, please.

I hate that fisherman, so I'm working on it. Lord, please, and Peter's praying, and God, I'm sorry, I'm gonna do better. I'm gonna go back and apologize tomorrow.

He dealt with the sin, and he's still empowered. See, sometimes we think that if a person, if they're doing something for God, that they're absolutely perfect. They walk on water.

They haven't sinned all week, obviously. And again, I'm not excusing sin. I'm trying to encourage people that you keep a short account of it, you repent of it, and you walk in the fullness of the Spirit.

Lord, what do you want to do? So believers filled with the Holy Spirit will begin to do, I mean, we could get really controversial if you want. Jesus actually said His followers are going to do more than what He did. And people sometimes freak out.

Not greater in scope. Well, Jesus did this, but He raised one. Watch me raise three from the dead.

It's not that. It's greater that the church can go out and do what He did. Millions of people praying for the sick.

Hitting all continents. And we'll tackle that verse. But that's the difference.

That's the difference maker. Peter was endued with power. The Holy Spirit came upon him.

And it's what I've been pressing for how many years to the church. Guys, that's a missing element in many hearts of the church. They've got sound doctrine, but they don't have the power of the Spirit.

They're quenching the Spirit because maybe how they treat people, or their kids, or their spouse, or others, or they've got a critical. Anybody ever struggle with a critical heart? Or is it just me? Guys, balcony, you going to be honest up there? Oh wow, that's a lot of you guys. I'm going to have to change my sermon title to humility.

But don't we? Comes in there. That critical spirit. Like I share, Dave, I remember you were laughing on this one.

I mean, I go visit churches and I can get real critical real quick. Especially if they have the flags up there. And I fill the air.

And they sing that song, heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss. I'm like, oh, dang! How did that slip through the theologians looking at your PowerPoint? Why is that guy wearing flip-flops and a short? I know, I don't dress that great, but come on. Why does that lady walk around praying for people speaking in tongues? Like, doesn't she know that the Bible says there needs to be an interpreter? Here comes my critical heart.

Oh, I can find it, can't you? Can't you? And so that critical heart must be dealt with. And now Peter is empowered. He's empowered, he's sensitive to what God wants him to do.

And again, we'll talk about this more next week. But so many people, and I remember, the church, I believe, well, I don't want to unpack this one right now, but let me say this. So many people, and rightly so, and myself, we're hungry for that type of not spiritual power to be powerful because you actually, you don't want you to be elevated.

Like, I would never want, go see Pastor Shane, go see Pastor Shane. He can pray, you'll be healed. God forbid, God forbid, but we desire that.

Don't you desire to pray for people and they be healed and set free? But many desire New Testament power, but we don't have New Testament holiness. Trust me, how you live will affect your prayer life and your discernment. I can always tell, when you're fasting and you're praying, social media, bye-bye, phone off for the day or week would be nice.

And you're praying, you're fasting, the flesh is so starved, king's stomach, you said shut your mouth, sit down. You speak when spoken to. No Krispy Kreme.

But you get to a point sometimes where you're very sensitive to what God wants you to do. Because you've erased the TikTok and the Instagrams and the YouTubes and the news, and you're sensitive to what God wants you to do. Unless we get to that spot of sensitivity, it's hard to hear and be led by what God wants us to do.

Of course, sometimes, I was in the mall last night, oh my goodness. You know, and you're looking for somebody to pray for or people, and I was talking to a guy in a wheelchair, I love to stop by and always talk to him. And so you're sensitive to that.

You're sensitive, but even when you're sensitive to that, the flesh comes out, right? You're repenting, and I went into one of my favorite stores, Buckle, and I found these black pants because my other ones are ruined. And I went up, and she's like, oh, $105, $105? What happened to Black Friday weekend special? Oh, that's on some selected items. And I wanna say, well, I'm selecting to leave, Buckle.

Did I say that? No, because people recognize, oh, well, maybe I'll come back later. Thank you. But you feel that, and it's like, but sir, only on selected items.

Like, I should know that. And so it's a constant battle, a constant battle between what wants to come out and what God wants to come out. But it does begin with repentance and saying, Lord, that's not right.

Keep me humble. Keep me broken. God, please.

But I'm gonna leave you with this. The main miracle blocker, the main miracle blocker, without a shadow of a doubt, is unbelief. And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. And I don't know, maybe you've seen it. Again, I might get in trouble today and tomorrow on the series and naming names and stuff.

But, and I know the producer, the guy who made American Gospel, you know, a lot of good points in it. But to me, it made me doubt a lot more of God's genuine working of His Spirit. Because it was so focused on the negative or the weird or the, you know, that you begin to doubt sometimes.

And there's things that I would have really challenged. Is this being written from the right heart? Because you see those guys, correct? They'll critique. They'll critique the people I mentioned.

But it's like, they're having fun doing it. It's like, where's the brokenness? Where's the humility? It's like, ha, ha, ha. And they make fun.

They make these little emojis and these little faces. It's like, guys, that's not coming from a right heart. You might have a good point, but a wrong heart.

It's called pride and insensitivity. And you may doubt the person. Let's say a healing is taking place.

Or you may doubt the person, but don't doubt God. Don't doubt God. Pastor Abram told me this, so I'm borrowing it from him.

I'll never forget it. Scoffing at the method will prevent the miracle. How many of you not know what I'm talking about? Most of you do, okay.

But many of the scoffers, scoffers, will say, well, God, that couldn't have been a legitimate healing because of such and such. You fill in the blank. I could stay up here for a half hour on examples.

One example I think of, don't do this. A guy named Michael Todd tried to do it. It was ridiculous in a sermon.

But he spit on mud. Do you know who did that in the Bible? Well, they mocked the method. Now, it doesn't mean we would kick people in the stomach and all this weird stuff, but I've learned over the years, God doesn't follow my pattern of the way I think He should do things.

There's not a checklist. Hey, just do these five things. How many people prayed for healing and it took time? Especially if there's demonic bondage.

It might take four or five periods of fasting. It might take, oh, man, I feel some breakthrough, but here, and other people, it's set free. I've never went back.

I'm hoping she'll give her testimony. A lady I prayed with in the prayer room, 20 years of alcoholism, pint of whatever every night, and it was gone. Gone.

Have you ever went through withdrawals? Have you ever went through the psychological and the chemical and the every, that's impossible unless it's God. And I was trying, like, what did I pray? What was that prayer? I'm gonna try that again with someone else. Or many of you remember when the guy was delivered from marijuana up here, ran to heaven a couple years ago? For a half hour, it's like getting a little, bro, what's going on here? Let's get him in the prayer room, right? Because my ego, what are people gonna think? Like, what was that all about? Somebody else just got delivered and it was quiet.

What are you doing here? The method, mocking the method will prevent the miracle. Again, it doesn't mean we're just like, whatever happens, I don't care. No, we have discernment.

We have wisdom. And actually, the people who mock the method don't wanna see the miracle anyway. That's their excuse.

That's their reason. However, if something is out of order, done wrong, needs to be called out, then we will definitely address that. It has to be.

But sometimes you let it play out a little bit. You see, what is God doing? I don't know how many of you remember years ago, but I'm in the prayer room. This lady here, her first time here, I'm in the prayer room, and I hear her here during closing worship speaking in tongues.

Oh Lord, what are you doing, higher God? No interpretation, nothing at all. So, biblically speaking, that's out of order. I don't care how you go, Shane, you're quenching the Spirit.

No, I'm looking at the Word of God. When you don't obey the Word of God, that quenches the Spirit. And there must be interpretation.

There must, nothing. Also, when we talked to her, she didn't like that and she never came back. You showed me everything I need to know about the sincerity and genuineness of what you did.

Right there. So you see, you have to... We don't just walk around as doormats. We're called shepherds and watchmen.

So you better watch out. I will watch and I will shepherd. And I will call things out.

And I will question because I'm supposed to. We're supposed to as a church. How many policemen and correctional officers? You know, you get jaded, don't you? You question everything and everyone.

It affects your life. And that's sometimes that pastoring. We've got to, you know, for every hallelujah, this person, this is great, this person wants to stab you in the back and come in and hurt the sheep.

So you have to be on alert. Even during worship, it's hard. You know, I don't recognize somebody.

I've got a vest on. You know, what's going on here? They're going to come at me with a knife. It's okay, I'm ready.

Old school. But it's hard. As you're coming and enjoying, we're watching.

We're shepherding. That's why Ray, the security team, they do an incredible job. Incredible job.

Let them know that. I don't know what they had to do with the sermon. But scoffing at the method will prevent the miracle.

Listen, there's always going to be questions. There's always going to be questions. I have questions.

Don't you? Always have questions. Make sure these questions keep you clothed in humility, not puffed in pride. And I see it.

We question, you know the right heart. You question, what about this? What about that? What about this? What about that? You're a questioner. You're a critical heart.

You're contentious. That's the wrong heart. But it's okay.

You say, you know what? Hey, Ronald Reagan, trust but verify. Dealing with Russia. How many of you remember that saying? It's good in the church too.

So I'm actually supposed to question. The leadership is supposed to discern. And so if we come in and question, we're supposed to.

The people in off the street don't run the service. The leadership is held responsible for stewarding the atmosphere of the service. From the very first opening, songs, worship, prayer were to steward the environment.

So I have more, but I'm gonna close out with the final step for you to think about. The second step toward making something ugly beautiful, I wanna encourage you to come. Let's get the video ready.

I'll introduce it in just a minute. Is I wanna encourage you to come next Sunday as well. I'm gonna unpack this.

But this is so important. Trust God's sovereignty. Trust God's sovereignty.

His sovereignty. Let's play. Can we start right at the beginning with good volume? Why did God give you cancer? Because God allowed it, right? Because God is in control.

Because he chose me. And why did he choose you? Because I'm a special boy. You're a special boy.

You are. But you've been through so much pain. Why did God say yes to that? Because he chose me to do it.

And are you mad at God? At all? No. Why? Because I'm glad that he chose me and I wanna like marry him. Why? Because then I never have to go through this.

And you don't want that to happen. Why is that a crime? Because I have to go through this. I wish I was going through it.

I wish I had cancer so that you wouldn't have to have it. But God said no, huh? You know, it's hurt Daddy and Mommy so much to see you go through everything. I have a question.

Why do you still smile? Because even though I have pain and stuff, that God still makes me happy. And I don't like to be sad or mad at God. Guys, God's sovereignty is so huge.

I've seen so many people walk away from God, the church, because of bitterness, frustration, and anger. And it doesn't change God's mind. They dig their feet in and they are angry and they are bitter and they're hurt.

And rightly so. Rightly so. But why would you allow those emotions to keep you away from God instead of running to Him? Father, I don't understand this.

I don't understand this. It doesn't make sense. I can't get through this.

But Lord, I do not want to get bitter and resentful and angry at You. God, would You help me? Would You help me? And watch what He does. It's amazing.

I'm trying not to cry from that video. But that boy has more joy than most people I know. If that's you this morning, you need to repent of bitterness and frustration.

Maybe those watching later, listening on the radio. I know it's hard. I'm not excusing anything.

I'm not saying your situation. I know people right now that are going through hell. I can't comprehend it.

And I wish I could tell you that many of them are surrendered to God and following Him regardless. Most of them are bitter and angry. That's why they don't come to church.

That's why they don't pursue God. And the sad reality is they will die that way. God will not change His mind.

He will not say, all right, you got me. It's been a month. It's been a year.

It's been 10 years. Okay, okay, okay, let's make a deal. There's no deal.

Repent and watch the rivers of living water return. Those with the most joy, guys, don't you see this? Those with the most joy in the Christian life have went through the most hell. Hello? Truth bomb.

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. Bang, whatever that was. I don't know what that was.

But isn't that true? Those with the most joy have went through hell. Those who have the most joy and peace and trust in God have went through His sovereignty and not understood everything or anything hardly. But Lord, you got me through.

And you've seen that picture with just a set of footprints. And the person said, Lord, where were you? You weren't with me. He said, I was carrying you.

And the same thing. Let that pain drive you to the cross. Let that pain drive you to your knees.

Open that prayer closet again. Get out the WD-40. Escort those hinges.

Turn off the phone and get in there and cry out again to God saying, Jesus name, I will be set free of this. In Jesus name, I will turn something ugly into something beautiful by your grace and your mercy. Let's put up the last slide though, because this is important as they're coming up.

I want you to just reflect on this verse. Listen, listen, don't look at your phones. Don't do anything right now.

There is no other name under heaven given by men which they will be saved. There is no other name. Peter's going to use this moment.

Ah, an amazement. He opened the door. Instead of going, yes, can you believe this? Look at this.

This is great. He said, you stiff-necked people, you put Christ on the cross. There's no other name that can save.

So you better come off your high horse and humble yourself and stop questioning Jesus and questioning God. He said, I am not only the beautiful gate, I am the holy gate. I am the life.

I am the truth. Nobody comes to the father except through me. Make that decision this morning.

Turn your life completely over to him.