It Grows With Boldness | Standing on Something… For Real

Good morning, Reach KC! Hey, let's get on our feet, let's worship this morning. I swore to love you, but it couldn't fill me. A message of grace, a treasure of faith, a never-enough. Then you came along and put me back together. In every desire, now I'm satisfied here in your love. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. I'm not afraid to show you my weakness. But my failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all. And you still call me friend. Because the God of the mountain is the God of the valley. And there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. Oh. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens.

You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways.

You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. Thank you. I could see your name for all I can see. I want to love you each time. Jesus, be the name of her heart and my lips. It's sweeter every time that I call your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. You have been a friend. You never left. I won't forget your faithfulness. Jesus, be the name of her heart and my lips. I won't forget. It's sweeter every time that I call your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy.

There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh, you're worthy God. You're worthy. Jesus, your name is like the morning light. The one who taught us faith tonight. The resurrection and the life. Jesus. Jesus, your name is every day we hear. Your name can make the storms clear. You never fail. You never will. Jesus. Jesus, the bread of life from heaven arose. The one who was and ever will be. One of the first, the last, and the sinner of all. Jesus. Jesus, the King to all who will, we pray. The Lord who will forever reign. The name of heaven, heaven, heaven. Jesus, Jesus your name. Jesus, your name. Jesus, your name.

Against all adversity. Jesus, your name. Jesus, your name. Jesus, your name. Against all adversity. ♪ Heellllllllllll! ♪ ♪ Ohhh, ohhh ♪ ♪ Jesus! ♪ ♪ Ohhh, Ohhh! Zeus be the king! ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! That gives all the glory! Yeah! ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! That gives all the glory! Yeah! ♪ ♪ Jesus! Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! That gives all the glory! Yeah! ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! That gives all the glory! Yeah! ♪ ♪ There's healing in Your name! There's healing in Your name, Jesus! Healing in Your name! It makes me happy! ♪ ♪ There's freedom in Your name! There's freedom in Your name! There's freedom in Your name! It makes me happy! ♪ ♪ There's salvation in Your name! Salvation in Your name! Salvation in Your name! It makes me proud! So Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! Jesus be the name! ♪ ♪ That gives all the glory! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ♪ ♪ It's you, Jesus, the only one I know. I just want you and nothing else. Nothing else. ♪ ♪ Nothing else will do. I just want you and nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. ♪ ♪ I'm caught up in your presence. I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment. I never want to leave. ♪ ♪ No, I'm not here for blessings. Jesus, you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do. I just want you. ♪ ♪ I'm caught up in your presence. I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment. I never want to leave. ♪ In this holy moment, I never want to leave. I'm not here for blessings. Jesus, you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do, I just want you. I'm sorry. And I've just gone through the motions. I'm sorry. And I just sing another song.

Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you. I'm sorry when I've come with my agenda. I'm sorry when I forgot the agenda. Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you. I'm caught up in your business. I'm caught up in your business. I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment. I never want to leave. I'm not here for blessings. Jesus, you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do, I just want you. I just want you. And nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. I just want you. And nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. God, I need your blessings. I just want to sit here at your feet. God, I need this holy place. I never want to leave.

I'm not here for blessings. Jesus, you don't owe me anything, more than anything that you can do. I just want you. God, I need your blessings. I just want to sit here at your feet. God, I need this holy moment. I never want to leave. I'm not here for blessings. God, we're not here for blessings. We're here for just you this morning, Lord. God, may we receive you this morning. May you reach down from heaven and just touch the hearts of your children this morning in this room, and may your presence captivate us this morning. May we lay it all down in this room today, God, as we have come for nothing else. And maybe we did come for something else, but God, let us realize this morning that there is nothing else more important than your presence in this room, that there is nothing else more important than your presence in our hearts and in our spirit. So God, meet with us this morning. Have your way. In Jesus' name, amen. Come on, can we give a shout of praise to the Lord this morning? Hey, if you are in here, turn to one of your neighbors, give them a fist bump or a high five. Just say, hey, it is so good to see you this morning. I am glad that you are in the house of the Lord. Now turn to your second neighbor, your second option. Say man, it's good to see you too. Some of you don't have one. You're looking on the aisle.

You're like, I don't have a neighbor there. You know, amen. How many of us came for church this morning? You know, it's honestly a blessing to be able to be a part of what we do. And, you know, I can remember when we started this thing, I remember looking out one day after we had started and I don't know, maybe we was two or three weeks old as a church, maybe four, probably four, because that was when it really started to grow by subtraction. And I remember looking out one time and there was maybe 50 people in the room. I thought, God, did I miss it? Is this really what you wanted me to do? Because I'm struggling right now to believe that this is it. And sometimes I think that we can look at our situations by our circumstances and measure them by things that God is not using as metric systems in heaven. And you know, this last week, I was able to have lunch with somebody that don't come to our church, but they believe in what we do. And as we were sitting there talking, you know, I've been sharing a couple of things. I don't share much on social media, but I've shared a photo and a couple of videos of just raising funds for our new building. And I went to lunch with this guy and he said, he said, so where are you guys at on raising that hundred grand? I was like, well, we've got about 81,000 so far saved back and he was like, well, me and my wife want to close that gap. So they're sending us a check for almost $20,000 so that we can have that 200 grand. And so I've messaged the AVL guy, the audio video lighting guy and told him, hey, we were ready to move forward. Like we want to start getting this stuff going. And so we're moving on that. And I'm just reminded that if I would have judged this entire church off of that one moment, we would have missed a lot. We would have missed a lot of lives that are in the room today because there's probably

triple that number today. And we're going to do this again at noon. And so you can't, you can't dictate God's faithfulness off of the lack of your current circumstance. It's the faithfulness that matters. It's the consistency that matters in life. And over. time, you begin to see the rewards. I remember we was about a year, my wife and I wanted to quit ministry and we was about a year after, this was after, right after COVID happened and we, we was just tired. I mean, you know, people suck, sheep bite, you know, and you know, we was just, we had had it. I mean, we was just hurt and we wanted to quit ministry and I remember we went to dinner with another family and this was right around Christmas time and I remember it vividly. We were sitting in their living room and they said, Hey, hold on a minute. And they went into their bedroom and they came out with an envelope and said, We want to pay your guys' building off. This building, $260,000. And I remember we got in the car, me and my wife were crying and we looked at each other and we said, baby, we would have missed this if we would have quit. We would have missed it. And so again, you can't judge your current circumstances off of the lack of what you think is God not showing up because maybe, just maybe there's something at the end of what you're going through that God is going to use to bless not only your life, but the kingdom of God too. But you don't even know it yet. And it's not just monetary stuff. Those are just easy to brag about because we broke down. We pull people and when somebody hands you $100,000, you're like, praise God. But you know, what's cool is that somebody from the streets like me, people can trust to put $100,000 in their hand. So if we can get some ushers to come forward, we're going to keep believing. We ain't going to stop yet. You want to know why? Because we still got 12,000 square foot of building after this that we've got to renovate, and it's going to take about $300,000 more. And I'm just going to let you know. The family that said that they were giving us $100,000 matching funds, they said, you guys killed that. I think we might make this a ritual. And I said, shut up. I can't have a kosher condom in Jesus name. Sorry. I just felt the Lord right there. I was like, yes, Lord. Every three months. So I

don't know. We'll see if they really do it. And if they do, you're going to hear me talking about it again. Hey, I just want to let you know. They told us you can't have a church in the hood. Ain't no money there. They was not lying. There is no money in the hood. But when I was meeting with that gentleman for dinner or lunch the other day, he said, how did you guys raise $81,000? I said, the two mites. He said, seriously? I said, yes. Four or 500 people just said, hey, yes, I'm going to give. I'm going to do this. I'm going to believe. And so, hey, with the faithfulness of God, he has showed up. And so we are doing it and we are just an anomaly. And so I just want to, one, thank everybody and just believe that God has more in store for every single one of us. And the best is yet to come in Jesus name. So God, we thank you, Lord. We bless your name. Lord, we know that your faithfulness rings true in our life. We know that your faithfulness is where it is at God. And so we believe that you will not just continue to show up like this, but that you will show up in our families, in our lives, in our finances, in our homes. And God, we just give you praise today for everything that you have done in and through our lives, God. And we just, God, we just lift you up. We just give you praise and may we be. Faithful to continue to do what you have called us to do even in our giving and our above and beyond giving to kingdom builders And build 900 God. We just thank you for all that you have done in Jesus name Amen Welcome home where we believe that you are actually home and for you to believe that you are actually home That means that you were to believe that you belong and my name is Tucker and I'm a part of the tribe here We are bringing you some wonderful news as a believer and follower of Christ a passionate follower of Jesus I believe that we are to share generously that generosity Shows the heartbeat of the Father within us and as a believer I am always looking for an opportunity to showcase that generosity The great news is we have a men and women's retreat that is coming up here in the next couple of weeks And you may be excited to go or unable to go in either one. You can still be generous and going We have opportunities available to sponsor men and to sponsor women so that they can experience a weekend away from the world a weekend away from the busyness of life a weekend together in Fellowship as a church body if you're interested and feel led to give to that you could reach out to Diane boots After-service and we can get you connected with being able to send somebody on their way. Now, let's get into the message

Let's remove the distractions. Let's focus our mind on what God has want us to do. All of us have traveled No, no one knows exactly what it is that you've been through to get here in church today But don't squander your opportunity by not acknowledging why God got you into his house today Open up your heart open up your Bible open up your notepad Remove the distractions if the distraction is sitting next to you give them a nudge Because it's time to focus on what God has in store for you today. May you be blessed by the message in Jesus name Amen in Jesus name We're gonna see some elbows going today. Anyway, amen Hey, we are just so glad that you are here and and you know, we've been in this series It grows with boldness and we've been going through the book of Acts and honestly, I I'm having a great time doing this It's been fun to just go in and and really dig into it and you kind of get the background and just everything that's happening And and so today I want to I want to title my message today if you are taking notes standing on something for real Standing on something for real There's a sound I think about this frequently Especially with me going to prison as often as I go to prison Nowadays, and I used to go to prison all the time before in my life, too but it's just different circumstances now I get out the same night I go this time and but There is a sound that you never Forget when you have been incarcerated and it's the sound of that steel door Shutting and the lock latching it's And you just never forget about it and in that moment the message is very clear And it's that you are not going anywhere Do not pass go do not collect $200 literally that door determines where you can walk Those walls determine what you can see with that foggy glass as well Amen the the guards determine when you can move and and where you can go and literally for seven years of my Life, I knew what it was like to have someone else control where I could go but I've also discovered something else that while I was incarcerated a

Locked door may determine my location But it cannot determine my purpose It may determine my location But it does not determine my purpose In fact, it was behind those same locked doors that God began to call me into pastoral ministry 15 years ago and when God places his word inside somebody listen There is no prison strong enough to keep that word from actually coming out Amen, and here's the fact is that some of you may have never been inside of a physical prison But you still know what it's like to be held hostage You still know what it feels like to be held hostage. You've been held by what somebody has said about you You you've been held hostage by the memories of what's happened to you You've been held by Rejection or maybe even fear some of us have been held by the embarrassment of your past decisions and the physical door may already be open but something inside of you still feels incarcerated and the greatest prison is not the one that locks you in, sometimes it's the one that follows you out. See and when we look at Acts 5 the church is growing and miracles are happening and people are being healed and the gospel is spreading at full capacity and because the religious leaders cannot control what God is doing they decide to arrest the people through whom he is doing it and the prison could determine where the Apostles were located but it could not determine what they were standing on. See they were standing on something stronger than just public opinion. See they were standing on something stronger than religious opposition or even prison walls, they were standing on something for real. Like they were standing on something for real for real. They were standing on the Word of God. Amen and sometimes we just need a word from God to sustain us through something and so today I want to show you three decisions that we must make when the pressure tests what we're standing on. I almost call this the pressure test just because sometimes pressure can test what we're standing on but the first decision that we must make when the pressure starts testing what we're standing on is

don't let opposition hold you. Don't let opposition hold you. See in Acts 5 17 the high priest remember the things were just were just happening people was getting healed and things were happening but the high priest and his officials who were Sadducees which is just a group of Jewish people that had different beliefs than the Pharisees a little bit they didn't believe in resurrection and and some other stuff but the high priest and his officials who were Sadducees were filled with jealousy and they arrested the Apostles and put them in public jail. Now you have to remember what's been happening right the church is growing and miracles are happening people are getting healed in the streets I mean Peter's walking around and with the disciples and people are just getting healed and the Apostles were starting to gain influence throughout the community broken people were being restored and this should have honestly been a moment of celebration and revival I mean the religious leaders should have looked at what was happening and said man God is moving here how can we get behind this move of God how can we get behind and actually help support this of what is happening but instead of being filled with wonder Luke says that they were filled with jealousy now they weren't upset because people were being hurt they were upset because people were being healed and they were no longer the ones receiving the credit for it which exposes something very dangerous to me about religious pride and that's that religious pride would rather stop a move of God then support a move of God that it cannot control see the Apostles were not arrested because they committed a crime they were arrested because their obedience had become a threat to the religious leaders influence see the Apostles were actually gaining respect and the Sadducees could feel their control slipping away and sometimes people will oppose what God is doing through you not because you're doing something wrong but because what God is doing through you confront something within them see like your obedience may expose their complacency see your freedom may actually expose their bondage and your growth may make them feel uncomfortable in their situation because of their lackadaisical approach to actually growing in the things of

God your willingness to move forward may expose all the reasons that they have chosen to remain stuck see sometimes it's not always bad see and that doesn't also mean that criticism that every time criticism is also jealousy like we always got to remain teachable Church we've got to remain humble we've got to be able to receive correction but it does not mean that it's always a bad thing sometimes it means the opposition is not always evidence that you have missed God. Think about that. Sometimes opposition comes because you obeyed God. See one commentary points out that the word translated in this passage, public jail, actually carries the idea that this was done openly and publicly. See the religious leaders were trying to make a statement. They were simply trying to restrain. They didn't want to restrain them privately. They wanted to humiliate them publicly. They wanted everyone to witness the miracles that witnessed it. They wanted them to now witness the arrest of those people that it was happening. It was an intimidation tactic. Like look what happens when you challenge our authority. Look what happens when when you continue to preach this name that you have preached. Look what happens when you refuse to stay quiet when we told you not to continue to talk about the name of Jesus. See the prison was not only intended to restrain their bodies, the prison was intended to silence their voices. Because intimidation is never only about what happened to you, it's about convincing you to never do what you did again. See the enemy wants to make the pain of your last step of obedience so severe that you become afraid to take the next step that God has instructed you to take. See he wants you to remember the criticism of the people. He wants you to remember the rejection that has happened and the embarrassment that you have had to deal with. He wants you to remember the cost of it the last time you stepped out and then when God tells you to move again the memory of what happened before becomes the prison that keeps you from obeying again. See the physical prison only held the apostles overnight but there are people who have been held for years by the prison of

what somebody has said about you. So you're still replaying the accusations in your mind that was made against you. You're still trying to prove that those haters and those liars were wrong. You're still explaining your intentions to people who have forgot about the situation. You're still constructing imaginary conversations in your head in which you can finally say the perfect thing and make everybody understand your side. But while you're trying to win an argument with people you may still be losing focus on your assignment from God. See you cannot claim, you cannot allow the claims of people to become the chains that continue to hold you hostage. See this actually connects very closely with what we saw in last week's message where the Apostles had established this consistent witness. Their lives matched their message, right? Their character actually supported their calling and and the accusations against them did not outweigh the evidence of what God was doing through them. This is why consistency matters. Hear me church, you do not have to respond to every accusation against you. You don't have to correct every rumor that people have made. You don't even have to chase down every person who misunderstood you so you can explain your side and for heaven's sake please do not use your platform to defend your pride. Sometimes the strongest response that you could have is just to remain faithful. Your consistency should carry more weight than people's claims ever do about you anyways. Time has a way of revealing what arguments cannot. Eventually your fruit speaks. See the Apostles didn't turn their platform into a place of defense. They used it to proclaim the name of Jesus. See there's a difference between defending the gospel and defending your ego. See sometimes we say we are taking a stand for truth when really we're just trying to protect our reputation. See the pulpit though was never intended to protect our pride. The pulpit is intended to preach Jesus. Any platform that you have is intended to preach Jesus. It's not about all of the great things that we have done. The Apostles weren't consumed with making everyone believe that they were good men. That's not what we read. They were consumed with making everyone believe that Jesus is Lord. They understood that

Imitation is in God's hands, but the gospel has been placed in mine And somebody somebody needs to hear this because you have been questioning whether you missed God Simply because obeying him has become difficult See you thought that if you was called that it would be easier See you thought that if God opened the door everybody should celebrate you See you thought that if your heart was right that nobody was ever gonna question your motives But the Apostles were exactly where God wanted them to be Doing exactly what God wanted them to do and guess what they still ended up in jail See the opposition didn't mean that God had abandoned him It meant that their witness had become so powerful that it threatened the darkness around them See sometimes the greatest resistance comes when your obedience begins producing results Don't allow opposition to rewrite what God has already spoken Like don't allow criticism to make you actually surrender your calling haters come Mourners come things happen. Don't become so consumed with clearing your name That you stop proclaiming his Guess what? People are gonna misunderstand you Guess what people are gonna misunderstand you Guess what they're gonna clip what you say and make it something you didn't say People are gonna hate on you people are gonna criticize you Guess what people may even try to publicly humiliate you and embarrass you on some bonk social media platform Because that's all they can get is a social media ministry because ain't nobody giving them nothing because they ain't doing nothing They ain't talking about nothing. They aligning they teachable They ain't allowing themselves to be corrected by the Lord let alone by leadership What people try to use to restrain you cannot cancel what God has placed in you It's just not possible Which leads me to my second Decision when the pressure test what we're standing on when the pressure is testing you Don't don't let the pressure move you Don't don't let the pressure move you

Because see in Acts 5 19 it says but an angel of the Lord came at night So they've been sitting in jail all day thinking about what you did Wishing the bondsman would answer the phone come on somebody Wishing their mama would post bond like they've done for 19 times previously And mama said tough luck you're sitting in there this time Adam Amen Ain't that right mom It says but an angel of the Lord came at night opened the gates of the jail and brought them out And then he told them go to the temple and give the people this message of life See the religious leaders had closed the door But God opened it See they placed guards around the prison they they secured the gates they believed that they had honestly silenced the apostles They they thought that they had stopped the issue but no human authority can close a door that God has determined to open See the religious leaders had influence They had position like they was the elite they could literally sit in somebody to death without going to the government Like they had that much power they had institutional power but they did not have the final word So hear me church your circumstances do not get to dictate the final answer when God has already spoken Notice when the angel came It says that an angel of the Lord came at night see God didn't keep the apostles from being arrested I love this point by the way this is actually my favorite point of the message Because God didn't keep the apostles from being arrested He actually kept the apostles from being arrested actually met them after they had been placed inside the prison. And see is what happens is we often want God to stop the night from coming. We want him to prevent the opposition. We want him to prevent the pain. We want him to prevent the betrayal and the betrayer and we want him to prevent that door from closing.

But sometimes God doesn't keep us from the night because he intends on revealing himself in the middle of it. See sometimes he wants to show up in the middle of what you're going through. See the apostles went into the prison without ever knowing they were ever getting out. But while they were sitting in the dark, God was already arranging their deliverance. He was already working. See somebody might be in a night season in your life right now. Like you cannot see what God is doing in your situation. You cannot understand why he's allowed that door to close in your life. You can't figure out how this situation could possibly ever change. But darkness does not mean that God has stopped working. Listen, when you cannot see the hand of God, you have to still stand on the word of God. Come on, come on. Hallelujah. Because guess what? The same God who allowed them to enter the prison knew exactly where to find them. Imagine that. Like he didn't lose them. Their location did not limit his access. The gates, the gates that were locked didn't intimidate him.

The guards, guess what, did not delay him. God didn't have to request permission from the Sanhedrin to open the gates of the prison. And whatever has you surrounded today has not backed God in a corner either. I promise you, God opened the gates and brought the apostles out. But get this, he didn't release them so that they could just run and hide and avoid from any future trouble. No, the angel told him, go back to the temple. Go back to the place where you were arrested at. Go back to the people who watched them take you away. Go back into the pressure of life that happened. Go back and do the very thing that created the opposition in the first place. Go back and continue preaching the word that got all them haters hating on you anyways. Go back and do the very thing that God has called you to do and don't stop. See, the deliverance wasn't simply about removing them from something. It was about returning them to something. See, God did not bring them out merely to make them comfortable. He brought them out so they could continue their calling. Let's see, we want saved. We want saved from something because God, we just want to be comfortable. I thought we was called to Christianity

so that you would take all my pain away and you would do all these things and you would make my life. Where does it say that in scripture? Only I think I see is Jesus said, oh, you think it's tough? It's all right, it was tough when I was there too. But don't trip because I've overcame the world. He said, you gonna deal with problems. You gonna deal with stuff. See, sometimes we want deliverance so the pressure will stop. But maybe God may be saying, hey, when I bring you out, I'm sending you right back into your assignments. I'm sending you right back to the very thing because deliverance without direction is really just wasted freedom. It's just wasted freedom. Yeah, you've been delivered from something, but now what? God did not open that door so that they could retreat. He opened the door so they could return. See, maybe God did not bring you through that season just so you could feel better. Maybe he brought you through it so that you could help somebody else survive it. Amen? Maybe he restored your marriage so you could help another couple out. Maybe he delivered you from addiction so that you could walk back into places

carrying the message of freedom, that there is hope. Maybe he brought you out of incarceration so you could reach people to believe that the worst decision that has disqualified them, or they think has disqualified them from their future, really hasn't because God is doing something in your life. God doesn't waste. Deliverance. When God brings you out of something, he will often send you back carrying a message for the people who are still bound. The angel told the apostles, go back to the temple and speak. Go back and speak that word, speak. It carries the same sense of taking their stand and continuing to speak. This wasn't a suggestion. It was a command. And he said go back and stand on something for real Go back and stand on the Word of God and I want you to keep speaking See God was telling them do not surrender the territory that your obedience has already gained in your life Don't surrender it just because there's been a little bit of opposition Don't surrender your walk with the Lord just because things have gotten tough Don't surrender the position that God has given you don't surrender the things in your family Just because things have gotten tough. See the opposition didn't change their assignment The prison didn't change their their message. The angel of the Lord told them keep on Speaking and I wonder if there's anybody here that the Lord may be saying keep on today Maybe you need to keep fighting for your marriage. Maybe you need to keep fighting over that addiction Maybe you need to keep praying for your child or serving in that position or working towards the vision that he has placed in Maybe you need to keep on loving people who don't understand you

Maybe you need to keep standing on Christian values even when those values have brought opposition. I Wonder if I got anyone in here willing to keep on keeping on in their life Listen do not allow One difficult season to make you abandon what God has spent years developing inside of you Don't allow one difficult season To make you abandon what God has spent years developing inside of you Do not surrender your position just because standing there became uncomfortable See if God told you where to stand Opposition don't get to move you See the angel did not merely tell him to return to the temple. He told them what to say He said I want you to go back to the temple and I want you to speak and I want you to give them this Message of life see they weren't sent back to talk about the unfairness of their arrest They weren't sent back to expose the religious leaders that hurt them They weren't even sent back to tell everybody about how badly that they had been treated They were sent back to talk about Jesus Think about it. This would have been the perfect opportunity to make this entire moment about themselves Like you will not believe what they did to us You won't believe what they did at the Baptist Church down the street You will not believe They arrested us even though we were innocent. They asked me to step down from serving Because of see you won't even believe that they let us tell you how corrupt these leaders really are But see God did not release them to preach about their pain Church He released them to preach the message of life your pain may be part of your testimony But Jesus must remain the center of your message See there's a difference between using your story to reveal Jesus and using Jesus as an opportunity to tell your side of the story I love you But the Apostles suffering mattered it did you know it did but it was not the gospel Their arrest was significant

But it was not the message The message was that Jesus Christ had been crucified and which whom you killed Is what he told him and God raised him from the dead and now eternal life was in available Through his name one commentary comments this message of life with Peters words Is that it related with John 6 when it says that then Jesus turned to the 12 and asked are you going to leave? see the message of Jesus had just gotten difficult and a bunch of disciples had walked away and now Jesus turns to the 12 and he said hey, are you gonna leave too and Then Simon Peter Simon Peter replied warm to whom would we go? You have the words that give Eternal life. It's that same connotation as the message of life See Peter had already settled this within himself. He had watched other disciples walk away when things got tough He had watched Other followers of Jesus walk away when their situations told them something that looked different than what Jesus was actually trying to declare to them. And Jesus was the ones telling them, hey, don't let your circumstances dictate the situation. I'm telling you, there is hope on the other side of this. And they couldn't bear the pain. And so they walked away. He had literally heard people call Jesus's teaching too difficult. But when Jesus asked whether the 12 would leave, Peter answered, Lord, to whom would we go? And now Peter, here he is standing in another moment when following Jesus was difficult again. And the pressure is actually even greater this time. The consequences are more severe this time. He has been publicly arrested. He's been thrown into jail with his comrades. But the answer from Peter had not changed. Lord, to whom would we go? Where else would we go? See, Peter understood something now that he couldn't fully understand then, and that a word from the Lord outweighs every circumstance we face. See, your circumstances may say that it's over. Your opposition may have said that you lost. See, your prison may say that there is no way forward. But when God has spoken, your circumstances do not get the final word. See, there are people who have started questioning the choices that they made in obedience to God simply because those same choices brought opposition that they never expected. See, you honored God, but it cost you a relationship. You stood for truth, but people still misunderstood you. You obeyed God with your finances, but you still broke as a joke in Jesus' name.

Your hustle just sucked. No, I'm just kidding. You have begun wondering, if this was really God, if this was really Him, why has it been so hard for you to move forward? But hear me, difficult situations, difficulty doesn't invalidate what God has spoken. Do not allow temporary opposition to make you abandon an eternal word. Stand on something. Stand on what He said, even when you can't understand what you see. Stand on something. Stand on His character when you can't see His hand. Stand on His promises when your surroundings seem against them, and keep on speaking. Keep on preaching. Keep on praying. Keep sharing the gospel. Keep standing on biblical truth. Why? Because watered-down Christianity gains no ground in a washed-up world. Watch this. God had opened the prison door, but the apostles still had to walk through it. See, sometimes we are asking God to speak again when He's waiting on us to act on what He's already said. God, I just need another sign, Lord. Lord, would you show me what to do, God? I just need a confirmation, God. And God may be saying, I already told you to go forgive. I already told you to serve the church. I already told you to go. I already told you to stand. I already told you to keep speaking. And I say this out of love, folks. You don't need a new word when you haven't obeyed the last one. See, the apostles could have chose safety. They could have stayed in jail. They could have hunkered down. They would have been good. They could have even escaped the city when they left, even though God just set them free. They could have said, well, I'm moving to a new city because I'm trying to get sober. Dog, there's dope there too. It ain't the city. It's your heart. It's your mindset. You've got to get away from addiction. Leave the people alone that keep getting high around you. It's your environment. It's not the city. God has called you somewhere. Quit doing that stuff. They could have hidden until the pressure settled down. I'm just going to lay low key until this all kind of just This goes away. How'd that work for you? But instead, they walked back toward the temple, carrying the message of life, because they understood if God opened the door, he could also sustain them on the other side of it. Which leads me to my third point.

Is let your obedience speak for you. See, that's that catch a spirit of shut up. Quit trying to explain yourself. Let your obedience speak for you, Acts 5.21. So at daybreak, the apostles entered the temple, as they were told, come on somebody, and immediately began teaching. And when the high priest and the officials arrived, they convened, I love this. They convened with the high council, the full assembly of elders of Israel. They had all the powerful people here. This was not typical, they said. But they had all of the powerful people. And then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial. See, they wasn't even aware yet that God had delivered them. But when the temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported, the jail, it was securely locked. And when the guards, they were standing outside, but when they opened the gates, nobody was there. And when the captain of the temple guard and the leading priest heard this, they were perplexed. When is it all gonna stop? When is this ministry just gonna keep making moves? When are they gonna stop doing stuff? When is this?

Then someone arrived with startling news. The men, the ones that you put in jail, they're standing in the temple, teaching to people. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna? See, the apostles didn't merely just hear what God said. They did what God said. See, that's the difference. See, they didn't spend several days deciding whether we should return to the temple and if it was wise. See, they didn't wait for the opposition to settle down. No, at daybreak, as soon as the lights turned on from the sun, literally the earliest opportunity they had, they returned to the temple and began teaching. They responded immediately, why? Because mature faith doesn't merely celebrate what God has spoken. Mature faith obeys what God has spoken. It is absolutely possible, hear me church, it is absolutely possible to hear a powerful word from God, agree with it, write it down in your journal, tell everybody about it and how God has spoken to you and still never obey it. But agreement is not obedience. Good intentions are not obedience. An emotional response here in three minutes is not obedience. See, God did not open the prison door so the apostles could stand outside

discussing what the next move was. He said, go and they went immediately. The apostles had every natural reason to delay. I mean, they had just been publicly arrested in front of everybody. They had spent the night in jail. They knew the religious leaders would be very angry, even to the possible point of death. They knew that returning to the temple could lead literally to another arrest, but they also knew what God had said. And once God has spoken, the risk of returning to the temple was smaller than the risk of disobeying God. See, faith does not wait until obedience becomes convenient. See, when God's instruction is clear, delayed obedience is still disobedience. Now. Now, this doesn't mean that every difficult season in your life is caused by disobedience. See, the apostles were imprisoned precisely because they had obeyed God. But it should make us willing to ask, Lord, is there any areas of my life where I know what you said and I still haven't responded? See, sometimes what we call waiting on God is really God waiting on us. See, think about this moment and how this must have looked. The night before, the people watched the apostles being publicly arrested and taken away.

They watched the religious authorities make a spectacle out of them. Some people probably assumed that this was going to be what finally took them out and shut them up. But when the sound came up, there the apostles was again, standing in the temple in the same place they got arrested. See, what the enemy intended to use as evidence of their defeat, God transformed into evidence of his faithfulness. See, their presence in the temple announced something. Before they ever opened their mouths, it announced that God is still with us, the prison could not hold us, and the opposition will not silence us. See, sometimes your greatest testimony is not that you never went through anything, it's that after everything you've went through, you showed up again. Come on. You worshiped again. Yes, Lord. You trusted again. You opened your heart again. You walked back into your assignment and refused to let the pain have the final word. See, the enemy expected the pain to silence you, but your perseverance actually became your sermon. See, the miracle was not that the prison door opened, the miracle was that the apostles went back. See, many people want the miracle of deliverance

without the responsibility of returning to their assignment afterwards. See, we want God to bring us out, but we don't wanna face what's intimidated us. We want him to heal us, but we're afraid to love again. We want him to restore us, even to a child, to restore us, even to a church, but we're afraid to serve again. See, freedom is not just walking out of the prison, freedom is walking back into your purpose. The people had not seen the angel. They hadn't been inside the prison when the gates opened. They hadn't heard the command that God gave the apostles, but they could see the apostles standing there again. That is how our lives become a testimony. People may not have seen the night where God met you. They may not have heard every prayer that you prayed, every tear that you've cried. They may not have understand everything that he has spoke to you, but they can see that you're still standing. They see that you have experienced loss, but you still worship. They see that you were betrayed, but you still love people well. They see that you faced pressure, but you still believe that God can do it. They see that life tried to break you, but after all that you've been through, you still show up serving Jesus.

See, the absence of problems is not the greatest proof that God is real. Sometimes the greatest proof is your perseverance through the problems. Anybody can praise when the doors are open. Anybody can praise at the top of the mountain, but what's it look like when you're worshiping when you're in the valley? What's it look like when you've been locked up in prison? What's it look like when you've been locked up? Somebody begins wondering what kind of God can sustain a person like that. See, your perseverance may become somebody else's proof that God is faithful. I wonder if I have any in the house today that would be willing to praise God even if the door looks closed in their life right now. That would praise even when your situation looks like it's defeat. That would praise even when your kids are far from the Lord. That would praise even when you relapsed last night. That would praise even when you gave yourself away to somebody that you didn't want to give yourself away to. But you believe that God would deliver you yet again today. And you would return back to the place that he told you to go. Come on, if you believe the word of the Lord, I want you to stand to your feet in the room. I want you to believe that God is going to do something in your life. I want you to believe that God is going to deliver you from something that you've been hanging on to, that you didn't even know, that you didn't even think that you could be delivered from. Because guess what? Your situation don't get to dictate the faithfulness of God.

The faithfulness of God is the faithfulness of God, whether your situation says that it is or not. So maybe you're in here, before anybody leaves, maybe you're in here and you've never given your life to Jesus. Maybe this is the very first time. You say, I don't even know what that means, Pastor. Great, you're in a great position. You're in a great position for the Lord to move in your life. Maybe you say, man, Pastor, I have served the Lord and I've walked away from Him and I have not been serving Him for many, many, many years and I want to make that decision today. Hey, if you are in here and you've never given your life to the Lord or you have given it to Him a long time ago, but you have not been walking in a relationship with Jesus and you want to do that today, I want you to just slip up your hand real high. Right, real high, come on. I see hands, I see those hands. Come on. Hey, if that's you, could I just ask something bold from you, a personal favor? Could I ask you to just step out of your seat for just a moment? Hey, we just want to pray with you. It isn't anything weird. We're not going to do like some hoax or anything. Hey, if that's you, if you raise your hand, come on, let's celebrate. Can we celebrate for a moment? Hey, if that's you, can you just step out? We just want to bring you right down here. Come on, let's celebrate. Come on, let's celebrate. Kings and queens are being added to the kingdom in Jesus' name. Come on, we believe you, Lord.

We believe you, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Come on. Can we just worship for a moment, church? Maybe you need to step out. Maybe you need to say, hey, I need to surrender some things. Come down to the altar for just a minute. Let's spend the next two minutes just worshiping Jesus. Come on. Come on, church. Jesus. Jesus. The bread of life will get through us. The wounded and the worldly ones. He first, and last, and still, has come. Jesus. Jesus. The King who overwhelms and reigns. The Lord who wills and never fails. The name above all other names. Jesus. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise. Jesus we praise. Against all the glory. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise.

Jesus, we praise. Against all the glory. Against all the glory. Jesus!