Grace to Grow | Kelli Brownlee

my name is Kelly, and I used to be on the pastoral team here at APC, and so this is home. This is like coming home to visit family. So I'm so glad to be here. And we want to make sure we welcome our God behind bars community, and all those that are watching online. We love you. We believe the Lord has a word for you today. And we want to honor Pastor Jeff. Our Pastor Josh of, well, of course, Pastor Jeff, the memory of Pastor Jeff. Leek and Pastor Josh and his wife, Pastor Melody, and all the wonderful staff and leaders of APC. Are you grateful for your leaders here? I'm thankful, too. And I want to honor my daughters. I have my daughters with me today. Love them so much, and I'm so grateful that on a Sunday morning, they want to be in church with their mama. Love you so much. Amen. Well, if you haven't figured it out, I'm Pentecostal to the bone. And so I just want to invite you to talk back, yell out. If you feel like getting up and running around this sanctuary, that's fine, too. I will ask Sean and Joe to just let y'all do it, OK? But the reason that I invite you into an expression of worship is that when we agree with God's word,

something happens in our spirit. When we actually say out loud, oh, I agree with this. I'm going to allow this to take root in my spirit. And I believe that the Lord has something for us today. Over the last few weeks, many of you have heard Pastor Aaron Holt. He had a great word a couple of Sundays ago, and he was talking about faith moves. And y'all were in here yelling and shouting out, I trust God. And I was yelling at my laptop, too. You better preach. It was a great word. And then last week, Pastor Josh reminded us around Matthew 633, seek first the kingdom of God, and all of his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. And I used to play basketball. And when I was playing basketball, I used to love when the cheerleaders would get us riled up. And they'd say, let's get fired up. And do y'all know what the audience would say in response? Yes, we are fired up. That was OK. All right, well, anyways, that's what they would say. We are fired up. And that's how I just kind of felt last week when I heard Pastor Josh just kind of charging us with that Matthew 633. But I don't know about you. And maybe I'm just telling on myself. But sometimes there's a gap in between what I hear

and then what I actively step into. That I'm here in the moment, and I'm charged up. And most of the time, I'm usually the one shouting, to be honest. But then when I get home, Sarah's not leading me in worship. And I don't have the band playing. And I have to make a decision and a choice to activate the word that has been spoken over me and actively step into growth in following Jesus Christ. And I want to challenge us because some of us get stuck here. We get stuck there. We have a great time at church. But we're not actively growing in our personal lives as we follow Jesus. And I want to challenge us that the most change doesn't happen in a moment. Most change happens over time. Artist Hemingway in his book, A Son Also Rises, one of his main characters was having money troubles. And one of the other characters asks him, well, how did you go bankrupt? And the guy responds, well, two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. And that's actually how most things happen in our lives. If you decide today that you were on a journey to lose 20 pounds and you're going back to the gym, you are going to lose that weight gradually, then suddenly. You won't go to the gym and walk for 30 minutes, then you wake up tomorrow, two sizes smaller. That's not how it works, right?

It's the same way with how the arch outside is going to be built. It's going to be built gradually, then suddenly. We're going to see some people with hammers and nails and building. And then after a time, it will be completely built gradually, then suddenly. It's the same way the pirates have had a losing season, yet again. We are 70 to 72. Like, I'm embarrassed, right? That didn't happen overnight. It happened gradually, then suddenly. One game loss at a time. And this is actually how good or bad change happens. It happens gradually, then suddenly. Can God deliver you in a moment? Absolutely. We know he can. But then we still have to go home and walk out the process. And when they were younger, her father was an alcoholic. And her mother would take them to church every Sunday. And she would ask him if he wanted to come. And he, for years, he said no. And for one magical reason, he said yes, one Sunday. And when he got to church, he had a powerful encounter with God. And to hear him testify about it is an amazing moment. He said, the Lord literally took the taste of alcohol. Out of his mouth. To the point that when he smells alcohol, or even if he's in an atmosphere where alcohol is, it literally turns his stomach.

So we believe God is able. He's more than able to do that. The gospels tell us that some people were healed immediately, and some people were healed as they went. This is the Word of God. But how many know he still had to go home and learn how to live without alcohol? He still had to learn how to be a husband without leaning on alcohol. He still had to learn how to be a father without leaning on alcohol. What happens in a moment still requires our willingness to go home and walk it out in process? Are you all with me this morning? All right, I'm going to show you a picture. And this is me. I am, my father had seven siblings in his family. My mom had ten siblings in her family. I was the youngest on one side and the second oldest on the other. But I was the only grandchild that lived close to both of my sets of grandparents. So if my cousins are watching, I was the favorite. Amen. So everything I did was a big deal, okay? So I'm starting to eat solids at this point. And you know, I probably ate some pea puree. It had green all over my face and everybody said, "Oh, Kelly Rose, that's so cute." And you know, I probably said a couple words like, "Dada." And mama, and they probably said, "Oh, she's a genius. She's amazing." And at that age, that was the cutest thing ever. But I'm 48 now. If I came up here today and I put pea puree all over my face, and I said, "Dada." And mama, y'all wouldn't celebrate the way that y'all would have when I was seven or

eight months. And the reason is, is because we all need to be growing. We cannot stay in the place where we begin. We need to allow the Lord to take us into a place of growth. And so today's message is called Grace to Grow. The main idea is this, the grace that saves us is the same grace that transforms us. Salvation happens in a moment, but becoming like Jesus happens over a lifetime. Now, in order for us to be on the same page with this message, I need to talk about a few words. And the first word I want to talk about is grace. How many of you have heard of the word karma? Don't be scared. I'm not going New Age on y'all, it's going to make sense in a minute, okay? Karma is getting what you deserve. So if one of y'all cuts me off down at McKnight and Seibert, and almost push me off the road, and then we get to the intersection of Duncan and McKnight, and I see you pulled over by a cop in the CVS parking lot, that's karma. You got what you deserve, okay? But the wonderful thing is grace is the opposite. We don't get what we deserve. Grace is the goodness of God given to us the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the salvation of God, not because of anything we've done, but simply because of who he is. That means we can't earn it. It is unmerited favor. I couldn't get it no matter what my ethnicity is. I couldn't get it no matter what my socio-economic status is. It doesn't matter which way I vote, it doesn't matter my age, it doesn't matter my disabilities, my strengths, my weaknesses, all are the same and level at the foot of the cross. Hallelujah. This is a reason to rejoice.

That is grace. That because of our faith in Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, we are made right with God. And there's another level of grace where God's spirit on us to perform or complete a specific task. That is also a form of grace. But here's what I want us to understand. We don't just stop. I'm bad. It's that I'm dead. That we are spiritually dead when we come to Christ." And so, yes, we make a decision to be saved, but then there is a process we must go through to continue to mature as believers. Another big church word, justification. A one-time legal act of God where our standing with God is changed from guilty to righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. And this is instantaneous. The moment we give our lives to Jesus, the moment we confess and repent of our sins and we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are made right with God the Father. Hallelujah. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9 says it like this, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." Thank you, Jesus. There's another big church word called sanctification. I want you to say it with me, sanctification. This is the ongoing and gradual process. Hello? Of transformation and maturity that a believer walks through as they become more like Jesus Christ. And sometimes we mistakenly think of being a follower of Jesus Christ in terms of a single moment. We say, "I got saved." But making a decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior is the starting line of the race, not the finish line. It's an ongoing process. It's saying yes the first time and saying yes again and again and again. It's a work from the inside out. It's unlearning, it's surrender, it's letting go, it's change and it's growth. And can we just all get on the same page? It's hard. Yes. It's hard. Do y'all know it's hard to let go of your own will? Okay, let me talk over to the side. Let me see. Did y'all know it is hard to lay down your will and say, "Lord, not my will but your will be done." It's not easy. It's not easy not to tell your coworker where to go after they steal your lunch. It is not easy to get along with a neighbor who is mean and cuts their grass at six in the morning on a Saturday. That's not easy but can I also tell you we are not called to live in life of comfort as followers of Jesus Christ.

We can do hard and holy things. Come on now and we cannot use the excuse. Oh, that's just my personality. Well, guess what? We got an answer for your personality. It's called the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, temperance, meekness, goodness. That's a work of the Spirit. Oh, you know, Pastor Kelly, I've been custom for like this for 30 years. It's okay. Everybody know. I'm just I still love Jesus. The Bible says, "Let no corrupt speech come out of your mouth." Uh-oh. See, as followers of Jesus, what starts as a decision should be proven by our growing. And the Lord is reminding us today, I have given you grace to grow. We're going to talk about four movements of growth and we're going to look at a young man named Peter. Let's go to Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, the new living translation. It reads like this, "One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish." Master, Simon replied, "We worked hard all night and didn't catch a thing, but if you say so, I'll let the nets down again." And this time, their nets were so full of fish that that they begin to tear. A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat. and on the verge of sinking. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh Lord, please leave me, I'm such a sinful man." For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid. "From now on, you'll be fishing for people." And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Now, some of you heard me say that we're gonna talk about a man named Peter and you said, "This passage is about a man named Simon." Spoiler alert, same person, okay? Simon was his Hebrew name, but as he began to follow Jesus, Jesus gave him another name, the name Peter, which in the Greek means rock. And this word and this name was not just a nickname, it was a declaration not only over Peter of what he would do in building the church, but it was a declaration and a prophetic word over the big sea church. So when I say that, I don't mean Alice in Park Church, I don't mean story collective church, I mean the body of Christ, the family of God. And the word that God spoke over Peter is that upon this rock, upon the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord to glory the God, the Father, this church will stand against all evil and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That's a word about you, that's a word about you. If you are grafted into the family of God, adopted because you've given your life to Jesus Christ, then no weapon formed against you will, prosper, and every tongue that rises up against you in judgment, you will condemn. Hallelujah, that's a reason to rejoice. But see, in this moment, Simon had not stepped into being Peter yet. In this moment, his efforts in fishing

had not brought forth much that night. And Jesus performs this miracle and immediately Simon is aware of a few things. The first thing is that Simon refers to Jesus early on in this passage as master. And master depicts that he saw Jesus as a commander or a superior, but then later on in the passage he responds to Jesus and calls him Lord, which denotes a change of perspective that he was moved by what Jesus had done. He was aware of who Jesus was, and that's why he responds to him and says, oh, leave me, I am a sinful man. The first thing that we notice is that Jesus captures Peter's heart. And this is where many of us miss it. Many of us are so good at coming in here and pretending. We come to church and Sarah leads us in worship and we wave our hands. And we know all the songs, but our hearts are far from God. And I wanna challenge you with this. This is not a word of condemnation, but God would rather have your heart than your behavior. You wanna know why, 'cause your behavior is in your own willpower. I'm gonna be disciplined and I'm gonna go to church. And Pastor Josh called a fast and I'm going to fast and I'm going to do it because I can do anything I put my mind to.

And they asked for $50 and that's exactly what I'm gonna give, I'm gonna give $50. That's just your discipline. That's not devotion. Devotion is, oh my goodness. I've been spending time in the Lord's Word. And as I was reading the Word of God, I was suddenly aware of how in all I am of Jesus. And I couldn't help it right there in my bedroom to get down on my knees. I couldn't help it right there in my bedroom to say, oh, what a wretched person I am, but who am I that you would come close to me and wanna be my friend and wanna be my savior and wanna be the center of my life. And I can't help but love you. And because I love you, I'll change. Because I love you, I'll go to church. Because I love you, I'll serve others. Because I love you. And this is what the Lord is inviting us into. He's not inviting us into behavior modification. He's inviting us into fellowship. And we see this with Peter, that he is enamored. And he knows that he's not worthy to be around Jesus, but immediately he wants to be with him. In the first movement of growth, you can do all the right things, but the Lord wants your heart more than anything. Number two, the Lord wants our habits. The spirit changes how I live. One of the things I think that we sometimes skip over if we're reading about Peter is that Peter was a businessman. Anybody

here own your own business. Okay, I see a couple of hands. Wonderful. Lord, bless and prosper your businesses in Jesus' name. If you are a business owner, you know that you can set your own schedule. If y'all decide y'all are going to be open on Christmas Day, you can be open on Christmas Day. If y'all decide that the doors are closed and not another customer come in at 5 p.m. you can set that. You can set your logo. You can set your colors. You can set your schedule because it's your vision. Peter was a businessman. He was in business as a fisherman with his brothers. When he decided to follow Jesus, he left one place for another. He left his vision for Jesus' vision. So all of a sudden his schedule had to change. All of a sudden he slept when Jesus slept. He ate when Jesus ate. When Jesus wanted to teach, he had to be up to hear the teaching and to minister to the people. His schedule was no longer his own. His habits were no longer his own. And this is a key part of our transformation. Can I tell you what you did to get where you are right now is not going to take you to where you want to be. Hear me. The prayer life you had five years ago, awesome. It's not going to sustain you for where the Lord wants to take you now. We have to be willing to give our habits over to the Lord, our schedules, our time, our energy. And can I just be very frank with y'all and know that it's coming from a place of love? If you don't have time to read your Bible, if you don't have time to pray, then you don't actually have time to follow Jesus. If my husband and I were two ships passing in the night, every day and every night, never had time to sit in fellowship with each other or talk about what's going on in our lives or laugh at a movie or play a video game and let him get whooped in 2K. I don't tell him I said that. We wouldn't actually have a relationship. And I want to challenge some of us that our habits do not say that we are actively following Jesus. What in your schedule? What in your time needs to change? Three are hands. The spirit reveals what he can do through me. Now, I want to kind of set this up. We're going to read in Acts 2. This is 50 days after Jesus has been resurrected. And he's made his ascent into heaven. And many of us know this scripture. There's 120 waiting in the upper room for the promised Holy Spirit. And the Bible says that all of a sudden the sound of a rushing mighty wind came in the room where they were and the Holy Spirit sat on each person that was there. And it sat and looked like tongues of fire. And they begin to speak in unknown tongues. And some of the people outside thought they were drunk. And other of the people outside were fascinated and begin to ask questions. And so Peter, who was

once a fisherman, now steps into the prophetic declaration God spoke over him. And he steps up and he begins to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is where we pick up in this passage. Acts 2, 37 through 41. It says Peter's words pierce their hearts. And they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" And Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God." Then Peter continued preaching for a long time. Strongly urging all his listeners, save yourselves from this crooked generation. And those who believe what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day, about 3,000 in all. That's through Peter. That's who Peter, that if you do any studying on Peter, that's who Peter, who had an attitude and he was impulsive at times. The Lord used him on the very first day of the birth of the church. He was used to bring in over 3,000 souls. And my question to you is what's in your hands that you won't allow the Lord to use. What if the body of Christ is waiting on the gift that the Lord has given you? What if Alison Park Church is waiting on the intercessory gift that is in you? What if the body of Christ needs the bonus that you have to interpret dreams, the bonus that you have to sing or start businesses or plant churches? But you're too scared. You're too worried about what people would think. What if Peter had not said yes to who the Lord had called him to be? I wanna ask you today, what is in your hands

that the Lord can use? What can we do in partnership with the Holy Spirit that we cannot do in our own ability? Last night a woman came up to me and shared with me the last time I was here the Lord gave me a prophetic word. And in my mind I didn't make any sense. It was something about a building and somebody was getting ready to step away from their business because they needed a building and God said not to step away and to just wait and he was gonna work it out. Woman came up to me last night and she said, "I don't know if you know this, but that word was for me." And she went on to tell me about how the Lord blessed her with the building, but it was hard as she was waiting and she didn't give up and the Lord made a way. I was so busy up here trying to figure out, "Lord, should I say this?" But our faith, our willingness to just partner with the Holy Spirit and say, "Lord, use me." Could be the very thing that someone has been waiting on. Our yes can open a door for somebody else's yes. What's in your hands that you're not using? Lastly, healing. Jesus changes how I see my failures. This is a very important part of Peter's story. Maybe you already know this, that Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter had become one of Jesus's closest disciples and friends.

He betrayed Jesus and he denied him. And in this passage, Jesus is resurrected and he is on the shore and the Bible actually records that Peter went back to fishing. And you can read that sentence just as plain as it is, but actually what's underlying in that sentence is Peter went back to his old life. He went back to what was familiar. And many of us do that when we fail. When the Lord has brought us out of an addiction and we fall back into old patterns, we stop coming to church. We stop showing up at small group. We stop serving because we assume, I'm too far for the Lord to reach me. But that's not what we see in this passage. John 21, 15 through 17, first of all, we see that Jesus cooks. It's in the scripture, he made breakfast. John 21, 15 through 17, it says after breakfast, Jesus asked Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, Peter replied. You know I love you. Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord, Peter said, you know I love you. Then take care of my sheep, Jesus said. Third time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

And Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question at third time, he said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And Jesus said, then feed my sheep. Jesus wasn't simply reminding Peter that he was still loved and he was still seen, If you love me, then get back to work. If you love me, then remember who I called you to be. Get up. If you love me, don't let your past hold you bondage and step into all that I have for you. 'Cause I've given you grace to keep on growing and keep on growing and keep on growing. That word is for somebody in here. You have stopped believing that the Lord can use you because of a mistake you made, a broken relationship. Does it matter? Your greatest setback still has the greatest potential for God to perform a comeback. And that's not a cliche. This is the truth of Jesus Christ that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That means that on your darkest day, you are still loved. That means when you've made a mistake and you are walking in disobedience to the Lord, there's still a God who is calling and reaching for you. And there's somebody in this room. You have allowed the enemy to make you believe that the Lord can't and won't use you anymore.

And I'm here to tell you the devil is a liar. We break that lie off of you now in the name of Jesus. Did you fall? Yes. And do you need to get up? Yes, but you don't have to do it in your own power. The Holy Spirit is a helper. And He is here to help you this morning. I'm gonna ask everybody to stand as we respond to this word today in worship. I'm just gonna say what I feel. There is someone in here. Help me, Lord. There is someone in here that the spirit of grief, and I wanna be careful because all of us are probably walking through some level of grief in this season. But there is someone actually, it almost feels like there is a dark cloud that is walking with you everywhere you go. You're barely able to get out of the bed in the morning. It's almost like you have physically aged over the last 10 months. And I wanna release the joy over the Lord over you this morning. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And I understand, I understand you say, Pastor Kelly, you can't imagine what I've been through. I understand, I get it. I may not know exactly how you feel, but I will tell you this.

I've lost two children. I've cared for parents that were sick. I've been through some very hard things in my life that truly had it not been for the grace of God. I would not be standing here. I am a two-time suicide attempt survivor. Yes, I am. There is no place too far for the Lord to reach you. (audience applauding) It's no place too far, no place, no place. I want everybody in this room to lift up your hands. We're gonna respond to the Lord in worship. If you're watching online, I dare you. If you're in a room, as long as you're not driving a car, lift up your hands. And the Lord has something for us. Let's respond to him in worship. And then I'll come back and lead us in prayer. ♪ Oh for you are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Oh for you are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ I save you all along ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪

♪ My soul will live to say ♪ oh, how I love you. Jesus, I love you. Oh, how I love you. How we love you, Jesus. Oh, how I love you. Jesus, I love you. And my whole life, for your glory, my whole world, for your only everything, for the honor of your name. And in my days, tell a story that is being of your only everything, for the honor. Come on, declare it loud today, my whole life, my whole life, for your glory, my whole world, for your only everything, for the honor of your name. And in my days, tell a story that is being of your only everything, for the honor of your name. And in my days, tell a story that is being of your only everything, for the honor of your name. And in my days, tell a story that is being of your only everything, for the honor of your name. How we love you, oh, how I love you. Jesus, how we love you, oh, how I love you. And in my days, tell a story that is being of your only everything, for the honor of your name. Let it be, for your only everything, hey. Come on one more time, my whole life, hey. Everything, for the honor of your name. If my days, tell a story, hey. Everything, for the honor of your name. Oh, how we love you, oh, how we love you. Hallelujah, Lord. Oh, how I love you. Jesus, hey. Oh, how I love you. Jesus, I love you. Come on everybody in this room, let's lift our hands up. I'm going to make two challenges. If you are in this room this morning and you know that you have not actively made an open confession of Jesus as your Lord. Let me challenge you, do not leave this place without making that confession of faith. I want to challenge you this morning. You do not have to figure it out and get yourself all fixed up first. Come to Jesus as you are and He will invite you into the greatest friendship, the greatest powerful testimony that you could ever experience. And if that's you today, I want to invite you. We have people in the back. There's someone raising their hand that will help you walk you through that prayer and get you started with some resources to actively following Jesus. And we celebrate you today. And for others, I want us to be honest today. you have become stagnant. I just want you to raise your hand this morning. Thank you for being honest. Thank you. We're all gonna pray together this morning 'cause I don't, listen, I don't care how long you've been walking with Jesus,

you can always grow. So we're all going to pray this morning. Let's lift our hands to him, father. Oh, father. We honor you this morning for who you are. You are the God who sees. You are the God who knows. And father, we thank you this morning for right standing with you through Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, we couldn't do it on our own. We couldn't earn it. We couldn't be good enough. But because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we are made right with God. And we thank you for that this morning. We rejoice in our right standing. God, we also recognize that it is not your will that we remain babies in our faith. It is not your will that we remain children in our faith but that we would grow to be strong and mature believers in the faith of Jesus Christ. And so father, we say again and again, have our heart. You can take our heart, have our habits. You can have our habits, our time, our energy, and our schedule. We say, take our hands, everything that you've placed inside of our lives, use it for your glory. And father, we pray and ask for your healing. Give us your perspective and help us to get up from every low place that has tried

to take our identity and to menish us as children of God. Father, we give it all over to you. We recommit our lives. And I ask Lord that there would be testimonies of transformation in your presence and in your word this week. Father, we love you, we magnify you, and we give you all the praise and all the glory. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen and amen. Hallelujah. Come on, let's give the Lord a round of applause. Hallelujah. Love you all so much. Have a wonderful Sunday. God bless you and I'll see you next time.