The Power is Real | Trip Lee

Four, three, well, what's up, Pando family? Thank you, out of all the places you could have been worshiping today, you decided to worship with us here at Southeast Christian Church. My name is Derek, I'm our online campus pastor, and this is Brian Seitz, who's our LaGrange campus pastor here at our LaGrange campus. Brian, how's it going? Going great, it's been a good morning and great to be with the church family, great to be with you. And I love that wherever you are, you are checking in with what, I think what God has for you through this sermon, through this experience together today. And we wanna hear from you too. Like really, we want to know how we can pray for you. And one of the easiest ways for you to do that is find our address in the description of this video and write into us. And we have a team of people who every week prays over every letter that comes in and prays for you by name. And so it'd be a privilege for us to do that. It would be a privilege. And not only that, is that we have a team full of people that write back. And so we would love to be able to do that for you over the course of this next week.

Y'all, but we would also encourage you to subscribe to our Southeast Christian Church channel on the Pando app, because when you do that, you're gonna get an opportunity to see our weekly worship services. We put out Bible studies for you to go through and podcasts every week that dive deeper into the messages that you hear during our worship services with the goal of helping you feel connected to us as a church, but ultimately helping you in your relationship with Jesus. Yeah, and that's gonna happen, I think, even today. I love this series that we're in. We're just in the second week of a series called The Kingdom is Real. And today you're gonna get to hear from our friend, somebody you've heard from before, if you've checked in on these videos, Trip Lee, and he's gonna be talking about the fact that the power is real. And I just think this is one of those series, no matter where you're watching from, that is gonna speak in a life-giving way to every one of us. Absolutely. Well, y'all, from Brian, to myself, to our folks behind the camera and all of our church, we're grateful that you're here, that you're watching, you're worshiping with us.

Y'all, so let's head in and go worship together. Let's sing this out. ♪ A world to know ♪ ♪ The only way to the Father ♪ ♪ Only one who redeems our soul ♪ ♪ Christ, the Son of God and Son of man ♪ ♪ Christ, there is a King, how great I am ♪ ♪ The only way to the Father ♪ ♪ The only one who can make us whole ♪ ♪ There is no other one who's holy, so holy ♪ ♪ No other one who's worthy, so worthy ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to His glory and power ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ Oh, He's everything, say Christ ♪ ♪ Christ, the solid rock, the cornerstone ♪ ♪ And Christ, forever seated on the throne ♪ ♪ He made a way for the spirit, made a way that we'd overcome ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one who's holy, so holy ♪ ♪ No other one who's worthy, so worthy ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to His glory and power ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ The scripture tells us He's the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, it is all for Him, because of Him. Let's declare that this morning. As we cross in resurrection, He's the fire and the wind He was there in the beginning and He'll be there in the end He's the first and last, the only one to never know defeat

He's the reigning King of heaven, the God of victory He's the cross and resurrection He's the fire and the wind He was there in the beginning and He'll be there in the end ♪ He's the first to last, the only one to never know defeat ♪ ♪ He's the reigning King of Heaven, the God of victory, oh ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ There is no other one who's holy, so holy ♪ ♪ No other one who's worthy, so worthy ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to His glorious power ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ He's in Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ♪ In Him, through Him, for Him, He's everything ♪ ... ♪ When I look above the heavens ♪ ♪ All the works Your hand has made ♪ ♪ Who am I that You would love me ♪ ♪ Let alone accept my praise ♪ ♪ Creation tells a story ♪ ♪ From the ashes back to grace ♪ ♪ Every breath is of Your giving ♪ ♪ So I'll return it back with praise ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪

♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Oh, no other name ♪ ♪ Every stronghold, every mountain ♪ ♪ It melts like wax before the King ♪ ♪ If the rocks shout Your dominion ♪ ♪ Then how could I not stand and say ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ He is faithful, holy, strong and mighty ♪ ♪ All creation shout, you sing, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Righteous, worthy, none more deserving ♪ ♪ All creation shout, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Faithful, holy, strong and mighty ♪ ♪ All creation shout, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Righteous, worthy, none more deserving ♪ ♪ All creation shout, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Faithful, holy, strong and mighty ♪ ♪ All creation shout, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Righteous, worthy, none more deserving ♪ ♪ All creation shout, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name, how great ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise, you say ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh, whoo ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name, how great, how great ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh, no other name deserves our praise, you say ♪

♪ No other danger serves our fate ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ No other name ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Behold the Lamb upon the cross ♪ ♪ Who takes away the sins of all ♪ ♪ Forgiveness flows from hands and feet ♪ ♪ As violence meets the Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ Behold the King... ♪ Won't you sing today? ♪ Lord of the world, Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ The Lion who rose, so mighty to save ♪ ♪ The fullness of God, Oh be captain of the race ♪ ♪ So darkness your hour is over ♪ ♪ Behold the Lamb, His dying plea ♪ ♪ Behold the grace of Calvary ♪ ♪ Not a rugged cross, soon to be ♪ ♪ The emblem of a risen King ♪ ♪ Behold the King, Lord of the world ♪ ♪ The Lamb that was slain, the Lion who rose ♪ ♪ So mighty to save, the fullness of God ♪ ♪ Oh be captain of the race ♪ ♪ So darkness your hour is over ♪ ♪ The Lion of the world, the Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ The Lion, the Lion who rose, so mighty to save ♪ ♪ The fullness of God, oh be captain of the race ♪

♪ So darkness your hour is over ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord my God ♪ ♪ Who can stand against you God ♪ ♪ No enemy will prevail in your name God ♪ ♪♪ ♪ No enemy can hold you down ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ One hand gets to wear the crown ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ No enemy can hold you down, oh no Lord, no Lord ♪ ♪ There's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ One hand gets to wear the crown ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ No enemy can hold you down ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ One hand gets to wear the crown ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ No enemy can hold you down ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ One hand gets to wear the crown ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ The light of the world ♪ ♪ The lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ The lion who rose ♪ ♪ So mighty to save ♪ ♪ The fullness of God ♪ ♪ Won't be captain of the rain ♪ ♪ The darkness forever is over ♪ ♪ The light of the world ♪ ♪ The lamb that was slain ♪

♪ The lion who rose ♪ ♪ So mighty to save ♪ ♪ The fullness of God ♪ ♪ Oh God, won't be caught in a grave ♪ ♪ So darkness, your hour is over ♪ ♪ And no enemy can hold you down ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ And one hand gets you in the ground ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ And no enemy can hold you down ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ And one hand gets you in the ground ♪ ♪ Cause there's nobody in the grave now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Who is the heart, you love? ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Amen, church. Can we give a shout of praise to our God today who is so worthy to be praised, amen. God, we worship you. Lord, we honor you. God, with whatever we have brought in here today, Lord, whatever our story is, God, you know every part of us. You know every detail, God. Lord, as we were singing those words just now, Lord, I am believing and declaring that chains will be broken in your name today, God, that there is freedom in your name today, Lord. Any bondage that is holding us, God,

it cannot stand in front of your name, Lord. God, we stand here today, hands open, for what you have for us, God. With whatever blessings you have for us, Lord, with whatever provision you have for us, God, we just want more of you. We just want more of who you are. Lord, we declare that no enemy can stand in your name, Lord. No enemy can hold us down with you alone, God. We love you, Lord. We worship you. We honor you. And everybody said, amen. Church, let's take a seat together today. Let's take a look at the screens. Let's take a look at the screens. Hey, church family. We are committed to unleashing the full force of the church to love people one at a time. And we have a full force serve opportunity that I'm excited to share with you. On one weekend, we'll come together across all of our Southeast campuses to make a tangible impact in our communities and around the world. So September 17th through the 19th, we're gonna pack, you ready for this? 2 million meals as a church family in partnership with Lifeline Christian Mission. Nearly 300,000 meals will stay right here

in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, while 1.7 million meals will help feed families in Liberia, Kenya, and Cuba. So we'll come together to love people around the world one at a time. It'll take more than 10,000 volunteers to make it happen. So whether you're looking for a first step into serving, or maybe you're just trying to find some other ways to live more intentionally, more missionally, I hope you'll come, and I hope you'll invite somebody to come with you. You can text FULLFORCE to 733-733, and you can register for that today. Well, this weekend, we get to hear from our friend, Trip Lee. We love having Trip here. He always brings a fresh perspective to the word of God, challenges us to see scripture in some new ways. So get ready to be encouraged and challenged and inspired by what Trip has for us today. Would you please welcome Trip Lee? Good morning, how's everybody doing? Good. Well, I'm so excited to get to be here this morning. If you've been in Southeast, then you have seen me before. So thank you for not complaining so that they invited me back again. I'm excited to get to be with you today, and thank you everybody for always being so warm and welcoming. And I'm gonna put your hospitality to the test

because I brought my wife with me this time. So my wife got to come hang with us. So if y'all could do me a favor. Yes. If you knew her, you would clap louder, you know. But my wife is back there. So if y'all would just say, hey, Jessica. Hey, Jessica. Okay, I think she feels welcome now. Thank you. I am going to pray, and we'll get into God's word. Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. There's nobody like you, God. There's nobody as good, as strong, as powerful, as gracious. Father, some of the comfort that we feel this morning is that we're in your hands. So Father, we pray that you would speak to us from your Word. You'd help us to hear from you, help us to respond to you, God. Please give me grace to only say what you've already said. Father, you know where everybody's at, what they need to hear. Father, we pray your Spirit would work, that this wouldn't just be time to hear my words, but that we would hear from you, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well I have the privilege this morning of continuing in the series that y'all just started about the Kingdom of God, and we're going to talk this morning about power. We're going to talk about power this morning, and I want to start by asking you to imagine a scenario, and imagine what you would do if you found yourself in this situation. What would you do if you were sitting at home one day doing whatever it is you like to do to pass the time? So maybe that's scrolling your phone. Maybe that's playing a game with your family, eating a meal with your friends, and your phone rings.

And you look down at your phone, and it's a number that you don't recognize. Now me, if I don't recognize a number, I do not answer that phone. Sometimes I recognize a number, and I still don't answer the phone. Let's say you make worse decisions than me, and so you see that, and you answer it. And you pick it up, and you hear a voice on the other end that you don't recognize either, and that voice says to you, I'm sorry for your loss. And you say, wait, wait, what loss are you talking about? And you find out that you have an unknown relative that passed away. They said, you know, you've lost your Uncle Ray, and you're like, I don't—I didn't know Uncle Ray. And this person on the other end is like, you're going to want to know Uncle Ray. They said, Uncle Ray left you a billion dollars. And you're like, oh, I think I remember Uncle Ray. Oh man, he was so nice. See, now I have a billion dollars. What do you do next with a billion dollars? It's almost too much to consider, because it changes everything, unless you're a billionaire already, which in fact, I'd love to meet you afterwards. But it changes everything for us. Some of us already know what we would do if we, you know, randomly got a whole bunch more money. We know what people we'd like to help. We know what kind of car we might want, or what kind of places we might want to go. But the reason that changes so many decisions is, as human beings, we make decisions based on what we have the means to do, right? Based on the resources that we have. But if you now have resources outside yourself, you calculate all those decisions way differently. You said no to things that you could say yes to now. You said yes to things that you don't have to say yes to anymore. There's a new way you're thinking about it.

You're not thinking, can I? You're thinking, should I? This is one of the realities of being a human being, is we are limited, and we have to make decisions based on what we actually have, and that's part of, you know, accepting what it means to be human in a broken world. There are so many areas of our lives where we are powerless, where we need some kind of influx of power to be able to do something, things we can't do that we would like to do. The good news is this. There is a king who reigns over everything, who has power over everything, and that king shares his power. A lot of people don't like the powerful, right? We started talking to people about those who are most powerful, and people's whole mood changes, because when people think about those who are powerful, they often use their power just to get more power at the expense of everybody else. I want you to know that the king of kings, who is all-powerful, even over those who seem the most powerful, does not use his power to take advantage of you. Instead, that king says, I'm powerful over all things, and he uses his power to benefit you. He doesn't try to siphon more power away from us. He shares his great power with us. There's a God in the heavens who sent his son Jesus, who came preaching the kingdom of God to wrestle back our world from evil, died and resurrected from the grave, and his name is Jesus. Now I don't know about you. I love a good sequel to something, whether that's, you know, a book or a movie. You know, like when you like something, and then you find out there's a sequel? I don't mean like Cars 5 or whatever Pixar is doing right now. I mean like a good sequel. You love the story, and now there's another one. There is an amazing sequel like that in God's word.

It is called the Book of Acts, so if you would open the Book of Acts with me. Luke, in the Gospel of Luke, of course, writes one of the Gospels that is the story of the life of Jesus. In the ministry of Jesus, and at the end of Luke, like in the other Gospels, Jesus resurrects from the grave, ascends into heaven. And in the book of Acts, we see the risen Jesus in chapter 1 tell His apostles, hey, I'm sending you out. Wait for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come give you power. You'll go out to be my witnesses. We're going to look at chapter 3. As you go through the book of Acts, you begin to see that Jesus, though He has ascended into heaven, His work on earth is not done. Jesus is continuing His work through His people. So we're going to look at Acts chapter 3, starting at verse 1. If you got it, say, I got it. If you need a second, say, hold on. All right, I'll give you a second. Acts chapter 3, starting at verse 1. If you've never read Acts, if you get to the New Testament, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, those are the four Gospels, and Acts is right after that. Acts chapter 3, starting at verse 1, this is what God's word says. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. Peter along with John looked straight at him and said, look at us. So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. But Peter said, I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have I give you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. Then taking him by the right hand, he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the beautiful gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him. This is God's word. If there's anybody in this room who is under the illusion that, oh, God is really powerful and He did a bunch of powerful stuff in the past, and I know He's going to come back in power and do amazing things in the future, and right now we're in the in-between, I want you to know that that is false. We don't just get to look back at God's power and look forward to God's power. God's power is real right now. The work of Jesus has not stopped, and it's not on pause. God is still at work in power. King Jesus shares His power, so we're going to talk about how He does that in three points, all right? The first one is this, that He sees our need. He sees our need. All of us are a lot more needy than I think we like to admit to ourselves or other people, and I'll give you one example. This week, as I was starting to work on this sermon, I was in my living room, and I saw like a light flicker, and then the power was out of my whole house. And you know, you don't really think about how much you rely on power until you don't have it. So, I was like, all right, I'll just see if it comes back really quick. I'm like, I'll just eat some lunch. I can't make lunch.

I don't have any power, and I'm like, all right, let me just get a drink of water from the fridge. No, nope. Power. Couldn't listen to music, couldn't answer an email. I was avoiding that anyway, so that was fine. I couldn't make coffee. I couldn't even see the book I was trying to read. I couldn't charge my phone. So, I was like, you know what? I'm going to just go work somewhere else. I got in my car, and I'm like, I can't even open the garage door. I had to like do the manual thing. You don't really think about how much you need power until you don't have it. You need power to accomplish anything, and of course, the electric company is sending us a little text because they know we're somewhere in desperation, and they're the only ones who can do something about it. Jesus, in His kindness, sees the neediness of this man. This man has been lame from birth, and we get to see the stage that God sets for those needs to be met. So, look with me at verse one again, because it gives us a setting a little bit. It says, now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. You know, just to give you a little bit of context, Jews would go to the temple in the morning to pray, and a second time in the afternoon, a few hours before sunset. So, the text says three o'clock. It literally says the ninth hour. So, they were going there, and of course, Peter and John are, you know, they're not a part of the Jewish community in the way that they had been. They're followers of Jesus.

So, as they go to the temple, it seems clear to me that... One of their intentions is to be witnesses of this Jesus, to say to these people, hey, this God you've come to this temple to pray to has already sent your Savior, and His name is Jesus. And God gives them an incredible stage for the power of Jesus to be shown. That's what it says in verse 2. It says, a man who was lame from birth was being carried there to the temple. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. We'll stop there for a moment. Now of course, lame isn't a word that we would use to refer to his condition now, but what Luke meant by that is that he was unable to walk. He was paralyzed. He couldn't use his legs and feet, and it's not just that he was paralyzed currently. It says he was lame from birth. Other translations say lame from his mother's womb. So this is not someone who just got injured in a car accident or developed a condition later in life. This man has never walked in his entire life. His legs and feet have never supported his weight one time. That means he can't get anywhere himself. That means he can't work. So what we're seeing is not an unusual day for him. It says they took him every day. The wheelchair hadn't been invented yet. He couldn't get surgery. He couldn't call an Uber. This was the only way he would be able to get there. He is needy.

He's helpless. He's dependent on other people, and he can't even go into the temple. He's prohibited from going into the temple because he's lame. And what's interesting to me is it's not that no one cares about him at all, because people are carrying him every single day to the temple to beg, but they are limited in the ways that they can help him. Have you ever found yourself wanting to be helpful to somebody, but you can sense your limitations? Luke, in the Gospel of Luke, he writes about this woman. Have y'all ever heard this story about the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment? She also had people who were limited in their ability to try to help her. It says that she had been bleeding for 12 years, that she had spent all her money on doctors who could not do anything to help her. They were limited. They were powerless, and yet, in this crowd as Jesus is going by, she touches the hem of his garment, and she is healed because the king shares his power. So, with all these people who want to help are limited, the power of Jesus is unlimited. One of the things I find interesting about this man being carried every day is that when you suffer in the same way, day after day after day like this man did, it's very lonely and isolated. You know, even people who understand, even people who know you're suffering and who see you every day, they don't fully understand because their lives go on. But this man, I imagine that he may have felt unseen, right? I imagine that he would have felt forgotten as he sat outside that temple gate and people went into a place he wasn't even allowed to go in day after day after day. One of the incredible things we see in Scripture is that there is none of us, no matter how unseen we feel by the people around us, God sees our need. You know, he may have thought, there's no way I'm ever going to be healed if God was going to heal me. He would have done that already.

Family, I want you to know this. If you're someone who feels like you've been suffering day after day, you have trials that have not left, the people who used to care is not at the front of their minds anymore. You don't get those, I'm praying for you texts anymore. If you feel unseen and forgotten, allow me to be the one to remind you that God sees you. God is aware. I want you to pray, but even before you do, God knows what you need. And God saw this man. The same God who knit us together in our mother's womb in Psalm 139 says He sees our unformed bodies in the womb when nobody else could see them. God saw that same God sees all of us. There's nobody who's so small or unimportant or insignificant that God doesn't see. The book of Acts is really important. There's all this incredible important stuff happening in the history of the church, and it's got us forming, and the Gospel is going to the Gentiles, and God sees this man's needs. God sees you and your needs. And even if you're here today and you're like, I don't know where I am with Jesus, I don't even know what I think about God. I want you to know even if you don't see God, God sees you. God sees you, and He loves you. And every breath you breathe, God has handed that breath to you, and He's sustaining you. And even now, He's trying to draw your attention. This is what it says in verse three. We saw Peter and John about to enter the temple. He asked for money. Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, look at us. So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. He makes the same ask to Peter and John that he makes to everybody every single day. Can you give me some money?

This is the only way that I can navigate this world. Can you give me something? And what happens here is something that happens to anybody who talks to God is sometimes we will ask for something, and God has something much better in mind for us. Number one, he sees our needs. Number two, how the king shares his power. Number two, he breaks through brokenness. He breaks through brokenness. Y'all still with me? All right. Just checking. Y'all kind of quiet, you know. Sometimes we imagine that God is bound and limited in the same ways that we are, by the same things we are. You know, for people, our work is only as good as the tools we use to do the work. Our meals are only as good as the ingredients. Some of y'all, you're going to go home for lunch, and you're just going to have to make something out of what's in the fridge. We call those struggle meals. And you're going to be like, you got some relish, some pepperonis, one English muffin for some reason, and you're going to have to make something that you should never tell anybody about, because this is what you have. You just got to, you know, make some out of what you got. There's a reason that the phrase is, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Not necessarily because that's just what you want, but it's like, this is the best thing I can make out of lemons. We imagine that God sometimes, in the ways that He wants to work, is bound by the circumstances that get handed to Him. I would love to remind you that one time life handed Jesus water, and He made wine. Jesus is not bound in the ways that we are.

Jesus can break through unideal circumstances, and He can break through brokenness, and we get an opportunity to see Him do that, because not only do we have the brokenness of this man, we have these imperfect vessels that He wants to use, Peter and John. It's not like He's like, how can I help this man, and how can I figure out how to do that through the powers that Peter and John already have. This is what happens in verse six, after He's asked Peter for money. He says, Peter said, I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. Oh my goodness, can you imagine what thoughts were going through this man's head? He asked for 75 cents, and he received healing. Can you imagine? Now, you know, Peter's saying, you know, I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. I don't want you to imagine that Peter had some cash on him, and he was like just pretending like, oh man, I left my wallet at the house. Peter and John were not on staff at a big church. They were not sought-after conference speakers. They were not Christian influencers. These were apostles. Peter did not have any money on him, and in a world where the highest values are silver and gold, I love seeing God in His kingdom say, I don't know, I don't have silver and gold, the thing that is your pathway to everything that you think you need. I actually have something better. It's so interesting that he says, but what I do have I give you. It's like how—it's very interesting how God works. I want you to remember what I talked about in Acts 1, that Jesus said, hey, the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you, and you're going to be able to go out as my witnesses. Even before that, Matthew 10, 1, it says this, summoning His 12 disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. Peter was not born with superpowers.

Peter was a regular dude, but Jesus, wanting to do His work and continue His work, said, I am going to give them authority, and I'm going to allow them to be used as tools of my power. So, Peter commands him to get up, and he does, which is crazy how the king shares his power. This doesn't work like this in any other way. Like if I built a close friendship with Mike Tyson, I can't just box all of a sudden. It's not like, oh, I'm friends with Mike Tyson, and I got his number on my phone, and I'm just acting real aggressive to people, like I dare somebody to make me swing. No, that doesn't help me. He can't just share his skills with me. But there is something unique about Jesus, that Jesus is uniquely willing and able to share His power, because that's how He's achieving His work. work in the world, and that is a blessing to me because I don't know about you, but I desperately need the power of God. I am deeply aware of my own brokenness, and limitations, and weakness. And if you are not aware of your own brokenness, and weakness, and limitations, it's not because you are not broken, and weak, and limited. And my prayer is that you would humble yourself before God has to forcefully humble you. We all desperately need the power of God. You may say, sure, why do I need the power of God? The stuff that God is calling me to do is regular. Some of the things we think of as regular are things that are outside of our own power. You know, you think about Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 says, I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith may not be based on human wisdom, but on God's power. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul is talking about every thought and intention that comes against God, and he says that we in the Gospel have divine power to destroy strongholds. You don't just need power for miraculous acts of healing.

We need power for everything that God has called us to do. You loving others requires God's power. You being patient requires God's power. You being consistent requires God's power. You training for godliness. You parenting, if you've got kids, you know you need God's power. My son is—my kids are in a new stage. My oldest is a freshman in high school. It sounds weird to say. I don't feel like I'm old enough for that. Don't tell nobody. But my oldest is a freshman in high school, and I'm like, I understand very clearly that I do not have within myself the power to form him into exactly the young man that I want him to be. I desperately need God's power. Being a good husband or wife requires God's power. I was talking to a friend one time who's just going through a really hard time, and I was trying to walk with him. We were on the phone for over an hour. He's saying, Tripp, I don't know what to do. And I said to him, bro, I don't know what to do either. I don't have all the answers, and I can't fix this on my own, but I just want to show up and be faithful, and my hope and my trust is that God, in His power, can do something that I can't. Family, I want to ask you, what God—I want to tell you, the work that God has called us to is work that we cannot do. We desperately need His power. Now I will remind you that in the book of Acts, we have a really unique situation, right? So, I don't want you to imagine like, oh, because God shares His power, I can just command things and everything's just going to work, because you have some people, you know, pulling

up their bank apps and commanding things over their bank accounts immediately. Just to be clear, there are specific kinds of authority He was giving the apostles. This was a really unique time in the history of the church, but of course the Bible does talk about spiritual gifts that are given. It does talk about gifts of healing. What I want to say is for whatever God has called us to and whatever ways that He has gifted us, we desperately need His power. And we want to orient ourselves in that way, to continue the work, the ministry that Jesus has done. Jesus was always healing the lame in the Gospels, and of course He's now doing it through His apostles. And I want to ask you, what kind of work that Jesus was doing in the Gospels as a part of His ministry is He calling you to continue in? Some of us, it's hard to think of an answer, because we don't often look at the work of Jesus. Family, I want you to keep looking at Jesus. Oh, I don't want anything more for you than to be like Jesus. There's nothing better for you than to be like Jesus. And what work has Jesus called you to? Who can you love that Jesus has called you to love? What is Southeast Christian church known for in this city? It should be continuing the work and ministry of Jesus. I love hearing about the food pack, two million meals, that's incredible. That's continuing the work of Jesus, and we need His power for that. My prayer is that God will make clear to you what that looks like in your life this week. If we look around the world, the power of Jesus is desperately needed. And we, weak, limited, broken little us, we get to be recipients of God's power, and we get to be conduits of God's power. I'm a big sports fan, and sometimes there'll be someone, and they'll talk about it, and they'll be like, blah, blah, and the NBA champion.

And I'm like, champion? I don't remember. And I'm like, oh, he didn't get to play, but he was a part of that team. He got to be a part of something incredible, which, to be clear, I'm not. The best team I was a part of was a horrible high school team, so shout out to them. God has said you get to be a part of the incredible, powerful work. The privilege that you get to be used as a conduit of God's power is greater than anything else you can imagine. The last thing I'll say here is this, there's another story I was reminded of. Do y'all remember the story where there was a paralytic man, and his friends were trying to take him to Jesus? It was so crowded they couldn't get him to Jesus, so they climbed on the roof. I don't think my friends would even trust me to carry him on the roof, nor should they. They climb up on the roof, and they lower him down through the roof, and he gets healed. They're like, we just got to get him to Jesus. This guy's friends who were taking him to the temple gate, they don't think they're taking him to Jesus. They're just taking him to the temple gate to beg, but God in His power and in His kindness heals this man through Peter and John. Still made a way for him to encounter the power of Jesus, and I'll say this, this means that anywhere can be someone where someone can be brought to Jesus if the people of Jesus are doing the work of Jesus. That a room like this full of the people of Jesus, somebody being brought here could be somebody being brought to Jesus because it's full of people who take it seriously that we are called to do the work of Jesus. Somebody new showing up at your job could be someone being brought to Jesus because someone who is a follower of Jesus is doing the work of Jesus. Family, we want to take the work of Jesus seriously, and ask God, will you please work powerfully through me? It's a privilege, and I'll say this, it's a privilege that I want us to take seriously.

I talked to a new friend recently who told me that she had had a chronic illness for a long time, a very long time, something that was the hardest parts of her life. She has a conversation with someone who says, hey, I don't do this normally, but let me pray for you that you will be healed. And soon after, she's healed. No pain. Now let me tell you, the gentleman who prayed for her said, I don't do this, he didn't try to sell himself to some huge healer. He said, well, I feel led to pray for you, and God, in His power, used an ordinary person to do powerful things. Family, do not let anybody convince you that God is done doing powerful things. Also, don't let anybody convince you that He can't use you to do powerful things. Here's what Peter says, if I want to remind you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. He doesn't say in my own power, it's in the name of Jesus. And we're not talking about just the syllables Jesus, we're talking about the authority of Jesus, the credibility of Jesus, the reputation of Jesus, the power of Jesus. He says get up and walk. You may say, but that's Peter, he's special. I'm just me. I just want to remind you that this is the same Peter who, at the end of the Gospels, Jesus said, hey, before the rooster crows, you're going to deny me three times. This is not someone who's especially worthy. And he says, Lord, I would never deny you. And someone says, after Jesus has been arrested, they say, hey, ain't you one of the dudes who was with Jesus? And Peter's like, Jesus, I don't even know who that is. And denies him three times, just as Jesus said. And yet, this same Peter, who didn't even want to be associated with the name of Jesus, is now healing people in the name of Jesus.

There is nothing that you have done that excludes you from being used by Jesus. If you trust Jesus and submit to Jesus, Jesus can use you to do powerful things. And you know, if there's someone that's like, no, he's talking about them, not me. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you. It's His power, not ours. I spent more time there than I meant to, so now I have to figure out what else I need to skip. Lord, help me. I'll just say this, what Peter and John did was show up and be faithful. They didn't say, you know, they didn't say a miraculous string of phrases. They showed up. They were faithful, and God's power showed up. I want you to think through, where in my life do I just need to show up and be faithful? There's some things we feel called to, but we're like, I don't know. I don't think I can do that well. I'll confess, I don't like to do stuff that I'm not great at. I like feeling like I did it. good, and I know I can do a good job. Sometimes God has called you to show up in weakness and be faithful and let Him work. If you're aware, no, no, no, I'm weak, then I want to say you are exactly in the right place, because God loves to do things in a way where it's clear that it's His power and not yours. Show up and be faithful, but I don't know what the next step is. No, no, no, you know what this step is. Show up and be faithful, and there's a God who loves to share His power and to use His power for His glory and for our good, amen. So look at how unremarkable what Peter does. So he said, can I have money? Holds his hand out. Peter, taking him by the right hand, he raised him up, and once his feet and ankles became strong. So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. He jumped up?

This man who's never walked—you know, think about most people's first steps. Most people's first steps can barely be called steps, if we're honest. It's kind of a drunken, falling slowly thing that you do in between two family members as a baby. This man is a grown man with grown legs and feet taking his first steps, and he's not stumbling. He's not dragging his feet. He jumps up, and he leaps, and he walks, and he praises God. A miraculous show of God's power, and he was giving God the glory for it. Some of us like to do the equivalent of the walking and leaping, but without the praising, where God has shown up in power, and we cry out to Him in desperation, God, please do this or that. And then when God shows up in power, we forget about the desperation altogether. I want to encourage you. This is how you respond to God showing up in power with praise. He sees our needs. He breaks through brokenness. Finally, number three, He shows His work. He shows His work. I love—I'm a creative. I love watching documentaries and shows which shows how people make things. I'll watch anything that shows how people make things, even if I don't care about what they made. One time I found myself watching a 60-second TikTok about artisanal pencil sharpening. I was like, man, Lord, forgive me. I should have done something different with that, but I just like to see people make anything. I shouldn't have said that. I'm going to lose credibility, but sometimes when I see something about how someone who made some art made it, I'm so impressed that I want to learn more about the artist. I want to go back and see everything that that person has done, because I'm like, if they can make this, I want to see what else they do. Jesus often will do things like this, like heal this man with the express purpose of piquing the interest of people who don't know about Him. The people would say, if Jesus can do that, I want to know what else He can do. And look at how they respond to this man walking and leaping in the temple. Verse nine, all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at

the beautiful gate of the temple. So, they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him. Somebody may have said, no, maybe you're mistaken. It's not him. And they're like, no, no, no. We know him. We saw him every day the same way the security guard I know who's outside my kid's school when I drop them off, who you better listen to him. He takes his job very seriously. When he say go, you better go. It's like me and him are friends. I've seen him and interacted with him so many times. I know him. They say, no, we know this man. He lays outside the temple. Now he is inside the temple walking and leaping and jumping and praising God. And they are in awe and astonished at the power. And Peter says, hey, why are you all so amazed imagining that it's us? He said, no, no, no. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who sent his son Jesus, he's the one who's displaying his power. You know, sometimes we don't always respond to God's power with awe and astonishment, but we should. Sometimes he's been... We get a little desensitized. We get used to it. Start to take it for granted. Kind of a silly example of this is, like I said, I'm a basketball fan, and LeBron James is objectively the second greatest basketball player of all time. So, I remember one time me and my wife was watching something and she's like, oh, LeBron's in the finals again. That's so boring. Let somebody else have a chance. Why don't you just retire? And I was appalled. I'd scooted over on the couch a little bit to add a little distance between us to represent physically what was happening internally. And I said, how dare you? He's been so good for so long, we're starting to take it for granted. When actually, instead of being less impressed because we've seen this before, we should be more impressed that he's still doing that like that after all this time. Here's where I'm going.

I'm not trying to get you into LeBron James. Sometimes we get so used to God being good and faithful and powerful that it starts to feel normal to us. When, instead, we should be blown away that not only was God this powerful 2,000 years ago, but He is right now. Not only in this time did every single day like clockwork His new mercies rise up with the sun—same thing today. Not only then did He hold the universe together by the word of His power—same thing today. And not only then was He sharing His power—same thing today. Do not let the consistency of God's power and goodness desensitize you to how amazing it is that He's so good and so powerful. If He was good but not powerful, then He couldn't really do much about that goodness. If He was powerful but not good, then we should be afraid because we never know what someone so powerful would do, but He's so good and so powerful. What a God. I'll say this, if you are here and you're not really sure where you are with God, and you're like, oh, I hear you talking about this power of God, this power of Jesus. I haven't experienced that. Well, I want you to know this. The Bible says part of what Jesus is doing with these, He's doing for you. You're unsure. Is He really who He said He is? Jesus is saying, well, let me show you this big display of my power. Let me draw your attention. And isn't that enough for you to consider this Jesus? Another way the Bible talks about the power, it says, Romans 116, it says, Paul said he's unashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. One of the most remarkable displays of God's power is the good news that Jesus laid His life down to raise us up. I said earlier, people don't really like the powerful, because they use their power to get more power and to make a bigger gap between them and the little people.

Jesus did the exact opposite. The King of Kings, who reigned from all eternity past, didn't distance Himself from us. Even as we spat in His face, He said, I'm going to become like you. He put on human flesh, and this Jesus lived a perfect life. Jesus as a kid never disrespected His parents. Jesus never looked on somebody with lust. Jesus never sought revenge. Absolutely perfect. And it's that same Jesus who then died for our sins, laid His life down. But you say, what, this one with all this power was killed by ordinary human beings? No, no, no. He took His life back up. For most people, their death is the end of their story. Not Jesus. He got up from the grave with all power. He got out of the grave victorious over death, victorious over evil, victorious over the devil. As the ultimate receipt, like I am the King that I said I was. And He says, now come after me. Be a citizen of this kingdom with the benevolent King who shares His power. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, Jesus invites you to forgiveness of sins, to becoming more like Him, to joy, to hope. Jesus calls you to come after Him, and He offers that to all of us. For those of us who do know Jesus, my prayer is that you would not live right now as if we're talking—this is not a memorial service. Last thing I'll say, we're not talking about a great man from the past who's no longer with us. We're not here just talking about Jesus. We came here today to meet with Him. He's present with us.

He's still working in us. His power is present with us. Now the only hope that I'm not wasting my time is the Spirit and power of God. I'm not wise enough to change your life at all, but the power of God is strong enough. My prayer is that we would go into our weeks not like we have hard things to do on our own, but that we would feel as those who are sent out by a King who empowers us by His grace. Amen. Amen. Father, we come before you again in the name of your Son, Jesus. Father, and we thank you for your power. We thank you for your power, God. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for loving us. God, I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room that we would trust in your power, and we would walk in that power. That we would walk like we know the King who reigns over all things, Lord. Help us to serve with courage and boldness, knowing that you're with us. Father, I pray for my friends here who don't really know where they are with you, God, that you would draw them to yourself, that you would show them the love of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, Lord, and that you would use them for your glory. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. What a great reminder. God's power wasn't something that just happened then, something that's going to happen someday, but it's right now. Here's what I know. The power of God is real, and the power of God is manifested in the midst of the presence of God. And in just a moment, we're going to take communion, and I just believe there's something

special that happens when we take communion together. There's something, there's just a special presence. And so, as we get ready to take communion, I just want us to be reminded just of, man, what God has done for us, just the body that was broken, what Jesus did on the cross. His body was broken for us, his blood was poured out for us. And as we remember that, let me just encourage you, man, just if there's something on your heart where you're just asking the Lord to move and power, just keep that in mind. Have a hopeful anticipation in this moment that God's going to meet with us. But before we get to communion, I just want to just invite you, if you want to respond to Trip's message, if there's something going on in your heart and you're like, man, I feel like that's me, like, you know, you came in here asking for something else, but maybe you found what you were actually looking for. Maybe it's not the silver and gold. Maybe it is what Trip offered, which is this right restoration to the Father, that we'd be made right with God. If that's you, then here's what I want to invite you to do. There's going to be people down at the front. Come and pray with somebody. We're going to have people that are ready to receive you in prayer and just have a moment with you. But if you want to take a next step of following Jesus or learning more about baptism, we also will have a next steps room over here to my right and to your left, where we would love to sit and talk with you about what it means to follow Jesus and not go on this faith journey by yourself. But in just a moment, we're going to take communion. And so I'm going to pray, and then we're going to worship. But let's just remember for a moment what Jesus has done for us. So Father, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your power. Father, we specifically thank you for your body that was broken for us, for the lashes

you took on your back, for the crown of thorns that was placed on your head, the nails driven through your hands and your feet. We thank you for your blood that was poured out on the cross so we could receive forgiveness of our sins. Father, we remember what you've done for us, and we thank you for your power. We thank you for your presence. We thank you for your love. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen. Let's take communion together. When did I start to forget all of the great things you did? When did I throw away faith for the impossible? How did I start to believe that you weren't sufficient for me? Why do I talk myself out of seeing miracles? ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ To deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ What He can do, yeah ♪ ♪ And I see all that I have ♪ ♪ Oh, I've got my confidence back ♪ ♪ I put my trust in the One who still does miracles ♪ ♪ You do miracles ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through ♪

♪ He's gonna move, yes, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, yes, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, yes, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, who am I to deny ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do, yeah ♪ Hey friends, thank you for worshiping with us today. I trust you were as encouraged as I have been listening to this message throughout the weekend. You know, I just needed the reminder today that Tripp brought to us that God sees us. He sees us and He sees you where you are and He shares His power with you right where you are. And so I just love the fact that God is not distant or disinterested or disconnected, but He wants you to do your kingdom assignment and me to do my kingdom assignment

with His power that's at work in us. And I trust you'll be praying that prayer. God, what do you want me to do this week? How do you want me to show your love and your power to the people that I interact with? And then just step with obedience into that, believing He's gonna do more than you could ask or imagine. And listen, if you want to dive a little deeper into this conversation that was started today, there's a little more content for you. If you'll watch. Thursday for the podcast to be dropped. It'll just be an ongoing conversation, kinda unpacking what we've talked about today. And again, I know you'll be really encouraged by that. Well, I'd love to pray for you as we close. And listen, you might grab a notebook and write down the words to this prayer so that you can use it as a prayer later this week. Maybe you just need to sit in stillness for the next moment and just receive this as a prayer over you. But let's close our time together with this prayer. Jesus, thank you for being a great redeemer. Even when life doesn't look the way I planned it, you are good. I trust your promises. I feel your provision. I love your word. Please protect me from temptation. Please restore what I've lost.

Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. I am not in control. I'm waiting on you. In chaos, I need your peace. In loss, I need your comfort. In confusion, I need your truth. I trust you with everything. I love you. In your name, amen. We love you. And we see you. Thank you for worshiping with us. Have a great week.