Transcription
Amen. What is up, Rise Church? Can we make some noise for Jesus in the building? Can we make some noise for the men's home graduation? Come on, gradu. That look in their eyes is amazing. That's why we do what we do. Amen. That's life change right there. Thank you, Lord. Come on.
How many of y'all are excited to be in the house of God today, man? Big, big Sunday today. Next Sunday is going to be big. But today, this, this last week, as I was working on, uh, the sermon, I was just thinking to myself, this is the very last chapter in the last, uh, portion of scripture in the entire book of Acts. Kind of got a little sentimental there. I was like, man, this is the only thing we've been preaching is the book of Acts, verse by verse, all year long. And today is the last passage, the last sermon in the book of Acts. Can we just make some noise real quick for you guys being here in a church that is going through the word of God verse by verse, whatever is there, we wrestle through it, we preach it, we teach it, we don't avoid any of those passages. It is one of the most challenging things, one of the most fun things, and also sometimes very stressful as well, because you don't just get to pick any fun topic, you just got to preach. But how many people know that there is power in the word of God? Amen. There is power, especially with this next generation coming up. We have to teach them to dissect this word, uh, for themselves, because, come on, how many people know that's the only way you're going to be free, right? Is the spirit of the living God and the word of God in your lives.
And so, I just want to remind you, today is the last, uh, uh, uh, Sunday on the book of Acts. And next Sunday, Pastor Juan is going to give a, a little recap on it, but he has a huge announcement. Come on, can we just make some noise real quick? Some excitement about the future and the direction of our church. You got to be there next Sunday. It is going to be amazing. Uh, man, I think we got probably more work done in the last three months, probably the last, uh, three weeks, pretty much. Stuff that's going on in the last three years. The infrastructure, I think we got almost, I know for sure, we got every sermon built for 2026, um, outlined, and we know, you know, the direction we're going. And also, we got some big announcements on things that we're going to be doing in 2026 as well. Amen. God is faithful. And, um, yes, you're, you're, you're at the right church at the right time. God knows where you're supposed to be. Amen.
And so, a reminder that Kieran is going to be with us. This is no small guy, man. That dude's amazing. Whenever we had our conference, he came to me, and, uh, the, uh, the breakout of the spirit at our conference was so big that, um, one of, out of nowhere, on the last day, one of his friends showed up on the last day. We didn't even know where he came from. Man, he was going in, and, uh, I said, "How did this guy get here?" Kieran said that he had to message his friend from Houston and said, "Bro, get on a plane and fly to Abilene." He goes, "I ain't seen this. He goes, "What's happening? You got to get here." And so, he helped close out the conference. And that day, he told me, he's like, "Pastor Ray, you're my brother. He goes, "If you ever need me," he goes, "Just hit me up. I got you." And the last time we asked him to come, I did not check his calendar. I asked him if he could come on a day and he said yes. And then I went back and looked at his calendar and realized that he was already scheduled with a huge artist in LA. And he already canceled that so he could be here on a Sunday with us. And then I asked him if he could be here on the 14th and he was like, "You already know I got you." And he's like, "I might have to move some things around, but I got you." So he has an event Saturday, and then he's got an event Sunday night in Houston. So he's coming here to lead worship Sunday morning. And this dude's got millions of views on his, uh, YouTube channel and his songs, and he's all over the place. He's going to do worship with us just to be with us, and he's shooting straight to Houston so he can lead, uh, at another event because he wants to be here with us. So, let's honor him. And we're going to be there, uh, next week on Sunday. I told Karen, because they're both from Houston, he's from Houston as well. I said, "Karen, I said, 'Do you happen to know who Pastor Juan is?'" And, uh, it's like one of those moments where you almost spit out your water. He goes, "Do I know Pastor Juan?" He's like, "Of course I know Pastor Juan." And he goes, he goes, "You may not know this, but Pastor Juan was the first person to book me whenever I really went all into ministry. He goes, "Pastor Juan's church was the first church I ever ministered at and actually took a booking." Many years ago, like 10 years ago. Yeah. What are the odds of that? And now 10 years later, they're going to be on the same stage in Abilene, Texas again. Man, that's just some God stuff. Praise God. Amen. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you, God, for the word of God. Thank you for, uh, who you are and, and, and what you are doing in our lives. And God, we want to give you glory. We want to give you honor. We praise you right now, God. And I thank you for overcoming every demonic attack, every assignment of the enemy. Satan has no power in this place. The only spirit is the spirit of the living God, King Jesus. We welcome you in this place. I pray for a fresh anointing that challenges hearts and changes hearts, because we know without your anointing, we can do nothing. So, Holy Spirit, come and break every chain, every yoke of oppression, addiction, suicidal thoughts, anxiety. Whatever it is, that these people would leave free like your word says, because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus name. And everybody said, "Amen." Let's give God one more shout of praise. Thank you, Lord.
I remember like when I first got out the, the men's home, close like 15 years ago, or 14 years ago, over 14 years ago, um, somebody asked, they were at the church we were at, and they said, if we wanted to go minister at a prison, and I was like, "Yeah, I'll go." And so, uh, you have to do like some classes beforehand, you know, to get like, uh, certified or whatever. And, uh, we're sitting in there, and, and, and they're teaching us all the little code things that you have to know, and, and if pepper spray or whatever ever goes out and you have it on you, not to do certain things. And on the ride home, to to crack one window in the front and crack one window on the back to create a little ventilation system so it doesn't stay in there and mess up your lungs. And I'm like, man, I just wanted to preach over here. I didn't know I got to go through all this stuff. And so, we, we go through all the rules, and the time comes where we go minister, and, uh, or when I go, and I show up, and, uh, when I go, they put us in this little room, and there's like groups of people, and we're just waiting, and they're talking about where they come from, what town they're from. They're from another ministry, and I said where I'm from, and, you know, we're all there for the same thing, to bring the gospel to the captives. Amen. Come on. How many people know that Jesus said that that he's going to preach the gospel to the captives? They're just in a different situation. But how many people know they still need the word of God? Amen. They need, they need the word of God. They have it in there. It's just that we need to go deliver it as well.
And so, I'm there, and the guy comes in, the one of the guards or correction officers, he comes in. He's like, "All right, I got dorm so and so. Who wants that one?" Instantly, somebody raised their hand. So this group goes that way. He goes, "Then I got this group, uh, this dorm or whatever." And then the other group says like, "We'll take that one." And he was like, "All right, fella. That leaves, uh, you with 18 and 19." And he was like, "Where's your crew at?" And I'm like, "What crew? Am I supposed to have a crew?" He was like, "Well, most of the time when people come to prison, like these other groups, they, they have like a group for support." I'm like, "I didn't know I needed support to go preach." Now, I'm like a little nervous. I'm like, "What do you, like, what do you know that I don't know?" And he's like, "We're going to 18 and 19. That's a seg." So, it's a segregated, uh, aggravated side in the back. We're, it's already maximum security. And then now I'm going to a seg unit, uh, 18 and 19. He goes, "Oh, there's a lot of people over here, too." And I'm like, "Well, I'm all good. It's all right." You know, and I got two big old, you know, correctional officers on the left and on the right of me. They open up the door, and man, there's a gym filled with inmates all over the place. And I'll be honest with you, it's not very intimidating to see people locked up in jail because I've, you know, seen it before. [Laughter] Experiences in life, but you're not wearing the same uniform this time. It's kind of awkward. You know what I mean? Got my shirt tucked in, trying to look the part. Don't look anything like them. And they're all just, you know, having fun or whatever. And so, but I'm like, with two correctional officers, so it's not that big of a deal. We open up the door, and there's a lady standing there, and we start talking to her, and then she was like, "Okay, so you're the one bringing the word today." And I said, "Yes, ma'am, I am." And then the two correctional officers that were with me, they were like, "Have a good service, sir." And they [Laughter] walk out.
And so now I'm with this lady. It's, no, nothing wrong with the woman prison guard. I'm just saying, there's like 200 inmates over there. If something were to pop off, I don't know what she's going to do to protect me, you know? And then she was like, I said my name, and then she was like, "I think your wife does my lashes." And I'm like, "Oh god, you're going to be fighting to keep your lashes on, not, not to protect me." And then she opens up the gate, closes the gate behind me, locks it. So I'm in there, and then she walks around behind like this bulletproof glass thing. All right. So I was like, well, if I die, I die preaching the gospel. Amen. Thank you, Lord. And, you know, and they kind of, they size you up to think of like, what, what, who are you, where you from, you know? Like, it's all good though. And, uh, they brought me like an armor bearer. It was crazy. And, uh, and he was like, "Hey, I'm going to be with you today." And he's like, "Would you like some water?" And I was like, "Uh, yeah." Gave me, gave me a styrofoam thing of water. I was like, [Laughter] "Sip is like hot water." I'm like, "Oh god." Right. And then he asked me this question, "Do you want to preach from a handheld or from a headset?" I'm in prison. There's a wood speaker right here. Like, that's all we got, and a little organ. And he was like, "Do you want to preach in a headset?" I'm like, "What?" I said, "Let me see it." This dude pulls out one of those like pilot things that you put on an airplane. I would have been like, and the word of the Lord reads, [Laughter] like, there's no way I'm going to die with that thing on. If I were to go, go on with the handheld. So, I, I get the handheld. And they, they do their praise and worship, you know, they got to hit the top of the, the piano to make some drums, and the dude's going in on the organ, and everybody's getting, and I was like, man, they're in there worshiping hard. And then, and then, uh, of course, they're, they're wondering, I don't look, I got like dress shoes on. They're shiny. My shirt's tucked in. You know, I'm not wearing a tie because my dad always taught me, if you get into a fight, you don't want to be wearing a tie because they could choke you with it. So, I went in tieless, right? Trying to protect myself. And so, I, I grabbed the microphone, and it took all about 10 to 12 seconds for there to be a divine connection in the room, because there's some things that humans can do on their own, and there's some things that only the anointing and the spirit of God can do. In that moment, I was able to see past their jumpsuit that they were wearing, and they were able to see past my shiny shoes and my my polo that I had on. And instantly, there was a connection. And man, we went, I preached for, I don't know, 40, 45 minutes. They were laughing. They were crying. They were standing up. They were sitting back down. They were angry about things of sin and, and, you know, the mistakes they've made. There was conviction in the room. There was, uh, uh, toes getting stepped on, back to laughing, back to, we, it was a holy roller coaster. Amen. And, and it was a good service. I did the altar call at the end, and there was a line of inmates all the way to the other side, and I was praying for them one by one. I remember this man went up to me. He was like, he said, "Can you pray for me?" And I was like, "Yeah." He's like, he goes, "I got an 18-year sentence for stabbing somebody." And he put his arm around me. I'm like, "Bro, that's probably what they look like right before you stabbed them. I said, "I'm going to pray for you, but don't, don't stab me, brother." Right? And praying for them one by one by one, and hearing all of their needs and the things that they have gone through. And after that, I was getting ready and getting my stuff and, and, and I was walking out, and they were having another worship service already. And I'm watching them all just crying out to God there. Some of them were on their knees. Some of them had their hands up in the air, and they were crying out to God. And something in my heart just broke. And I'm like, "How are people in prison more free than a lot of people in church? How is it that some people who are actually chained up in prison are more spiritually free than a lot of people who are free to worship, but they're imprisoned in their own mind, prison bondage mentally and emotionally?" And it was that day I realized that it does not matter your situation, that you could still praise God no matter what your life looks like in any circumstance, any stage of your life, there is freedom.
And that's, that's Paul in the book of Acts, in in chapter 28. Whenever we're getting to the end, the book ends not with Paul as, as a free man, but he's under house arrest. He's physically locked down, but he's spiritually free to continue his assignment for God. And if I could sum up this whole last message, um, of, of this sermon in the book of Acts, I would tell you this, and I, I declare this over your life today: Chains can hold your hands, but they can never hold your hope. Chains may be able to hold your hands down, but they will never be able to hold your hope that God has for you in your life. I titled this message, the final message in the book of Acts, "Chained But Changed." Can we make some noise real quick? You may have some chains in your life, but there is a change in your life as well.
We're in the book of Acts, chapter 28, last subsection, starting at verse 11. And the word of the Lord reads, "It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead." I want you to remember that right there. The twin gods. Verse 12. "Our first stop was Syracuse, uh, where we stayed for three days. From there, we sailed on to Rhegium. Uh, a day later, a south wind began blowing. So, following, uh, or the following day, we set sail up to the coast of Puteoli. There we found some believers who invited us to spend the week with them. And, and, and so we came to Rome. The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard that we were coming." If you remember, Paul has been appealing to Rome. He's been on different courts, going from, from one court to another, and now he's finally made it. We shipwrecked. Awesome messages the last three weeks, uh, leading up to this point. And so now they're, they're arriving in, in Rome. And it says that they're 14. I'm going to go back real quick there. "We found some believers who invited us to spend, uh, a week with them. And so we came to Rome." 15. "The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard that we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum of Appius. Others joined us at the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, check this out. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God." Can you imagine whenever you've been shipwrecked for 14 days, you were going through a storm, man. Whenever you were preaching that, I heard like 14 straight days. Can you imagine the ship just going crazy for 14? It's already scary being on a boat as it is. Let alone just like a little bit of wave. Little fish jump out. I'm like, let alone 14 straight days. Shipwrecked. The whole ship is, is wrecked. And now you get to another Malta. Now you're on this island. You get there, finally trying to warm yourself up, and here comes a snake trying to bite you. Right? Soon as you get comfortable, here comes the devil trying, trying to stop you. And now he's finally gets to Rome.
I just want to just take a second. Paul is bold. Can we all agree? But Paul is still a human. Can we all agree? Can you imagine the weight and the pressure that the Apostle Paul was feeling? Like he's about to go up against the kings, the emperor, everybody, the highest, highest courts. He's just, he's going on and on and on. It feels like there's so much betrayal. So many people are leaving his side. He's appealing. He's been going through it. There's physical storms, or spiritual storms. You know that there's mental and emotional storms that the Apostle Paul is feeling. Now, you get there, you're walking up on the shore, and now you see some believers coming your way because I heard you're coming, and I'm coming to meet you. I'm coming to, I'm, I'm here to encourage you. So, whenever it says that that when Paul saw them, he was encouraged and he thanked God. That's Luke writing. That's his partner on the side. He made it. I could just imagine him just be like, "Thank God. Thank God there's somebody who still has my back." Man, it's been getting hard. Hey, one of the best feelings is when somebody has your back. Amen. But you'll never know what it feels like for somebody to have your back until you have somebody stab you in the back. You, you don't even know what it is for someone to have your back until people have left your side. He's had people leave his side. He's had people stab him in the back. And now he's at the most critical point in his whole entire life and his ministry. And here comes some people saying, "We're going to rock with you." Right? We'll go to war with you. I'm coming to your side and I'm not leaving. He leans back and he thanks God. He's encouraged.
So I just stop real quick. I'm going to say this. I'm going to go back up to the ship. Just a little teaching moment right here for you. I'm ready to come step on some people's toes. Are you guys ready? If you got steel toes, take them off 'cause I'm going to get them. If not, I'm coming for your kneecaps. You're like, "Well, I'll kick you if you touch my kneecap." The ship bore idols. You heard the twin gods, right? Went back a little bit further. I'm like, "What is twin gods?" I've read the book of Acts probably 20 times cover to cover. Never really, uh, caught that. It was idols of Castor and Pollux. Yeah. Did not know this. And they would put it in the front of these ships as gods to protect them on, on their voyage when they're going from point A to point B. They would put these gods out there and, and hopefully it would give them some protection, some superstition. Um, but Paul, superstitious ways, but the Apostle Paul, I believe that Luke put it in there, um, because he could have just had a ship, but he said that they were there because they may have thought that those gods protected them. But Luke and Paul know it was the one true God who got them out of that shipwreck, got them out of those 14 days, who got them there. He goes, "You can try to give glory to that God, but there's only one God who got us here, and I give praise to that God." That is it.
Now, so I was thinking, I was looking up some things. I was like, "How many of those things from like thousands of years ago are still in our lives?" Because they, they did the same thing. Like, they, they put gods on there and they believed. But 2,000 years later, I still believe the word of God is alive and active in our lives. We believe in God, right? Uh, but I believe that there's still demonic forces that are trying to, to collude and trying to get in and and manipulate and steal God's glory. So, I was thinking about what are some things that we still do today. I want to say this. Uh, horoscopes and zodiac signs. I already knew that they're no good, but didn't really know that they came from ancient Babylon sorcery, absolute witchcraft, where priests used the stars to practice divination and to predict destinies and people's future. It came from witchcraft. And the word of God condemns it and says that not to practice or mess with anybody who messes with divination, witchcraft, or astrology. Now, I want to tell you how much of a slap in the face it is to God whenever you say, "Well, I'm just a Virgo or a Leo or, or whoever you are. I don't even know. I don't know any more of them." Whenever you say, "I am like this because I'm this." When the word of God says that before you were formed in your mother's womb, He knew you. Before the stars were aligned in a certain way, He already knew who you were. Bible says He has a plan and a purpose for your life. Think about this. There's a gifting and a calling over your life. The God who created the stars in Genesis, and now somehow because of the way that they have aligned can now predict and prophesy your future. That's not just heretical, that's like blasphemy. First time it's ignorance. Second time it's direct rebellion to God. So now you know, right? You got away with it until now. I'm coming for your head. Get rid of those. You know, another one. You better knock on wood. Have y'all ever done that before? Bunch of wood knockers. Y'all are crazy. I can't believe y'all, y'all even. What is all that about? Nasty. It comes from ancient Celtic spirit worship where trees were believed to house protective spirits that could be invoked. So what you are doing when you need protection from something, what you're saying is, "I'm going to knock on wood so I can summon this demon to come protect me to get out of this situation." The only one you need to be knocking on is the door for Jesus. Amen. Jesus is knocking on that door for your heart. Crystals come from ancient shamanism and Egyptian mysticism where stones were believed to carry spiritual power and healing spirits. Grab your stones and throw them away. If they're diamonds, donate them to the church. I'm just playing. All you need to get rid of this. [Laughter] Take it to the thrift store. Uh, man, check this out. Rabbit's feet. And Lucky Charms. Y'all been eating the wrong cereal, guys. I was like, "Don't take my cereal from me." Rabbit feet. You remember you used to put 25 cents and buy a rabbit foot? Y'all remember that? What in the, what kind of witchcraft Ouija board is that? You can buy a pink or a green rabbit foot, and you know it's real 'cause you can feel the little sharp nails on it. What is that? Think about that. A little kid can buy a rabbit's foot. Do you know where it came from? Pagan fetish magic where objects were believed to trap spiritual power for protection and fortune. Mind-blowing. And I also got one more just so we can just mess with everybody. Uh, good vibes. Eastern mysticism. Uh, energy language that comes from Eastern mysticism, which teaches an impersonal life force instead of a personal, holy God. "I am going to send you positive thoughts." "Sending positive energy your way." Ain't nothing positive about you. Sending negative energy, right? You won't have the ability to send positive energy, girl. [Laughter] Sending gossip vibes your way. Yeah. Yeah. You don't send positive energy. You send a prayer up to God, and God sends the power of the Holy Ghost to go handle up for you. I could go on manifesting, new age occult practices. Stay away from it all. We pray to God, and we believe in the word of God. But I tell you, the first time it's ignorance. The second time it's rebellion to the things of God. Now God can hold you accountable. You're welcome.
So they may have put the head of a god on that ship, but Paul knows it was only the hand of that God, the one true God, that delivered them. So they could put that up there. But Luke is saying, "We know, we know that it was really God." So when, now that they finally reached Italy, the Bible says that the believers came to meet him. And what this shows is that even Paul, the, the fearless Apostle Paul, needed and took courage. So I want to tell you, I don't think anybody is as crazy and bold as the Apostle Paul. And if he needed and took courage, then we should be praying because we need and should take courage when people are away on, on our side. I believe this. I believe this. This is what I believe from this. Sometimes, um, you don't need to be rescued. You just need to be reminded. Sometimes you don't need to be rescued. God rescued him. God rescued him from that ship. God rescued him whenever he got bit by that, that viper, or that, that snake. God rescued him. But sometimes you don't need somebody to come rescue you. Sometimes you need somebody to come by your side and remind you that you have a calling on your life. Remind you that you're a woman of God. To remind you that you are a man of God. Sometimes you don't need to be rescued. You need to be reminded that you got it. If you could do the home, you could do anything. So whenever you're down, you just remember, you look at your ring and you look at that certificate with all the hate and all the people coming against you. If you can get through that, you can get through anything. That is God reminding you.
There was a time when, uh, when, when Elijah was ready to give up. I think he's an Old Testament Apostle Paul, right? There was a time when, when he tells the king Ahab, the king of Israel, that there's going to be a drought for three years. That's a pretty bold move to say that all of Israel is going to suffer with a drought. And then years go on, it's coming to the end of the three years, and God tells, uh, Elijah to go tell Ahab, "Hey, it's about to rain again." But he goes, "This is what I want you to do." He goes, "I want you to get all of y'all's prophets of Baal because all of Israel at this time has turned from the one true God, from Yahweh. And they have put their faith in Baal, Asher, and other gods." And he's saying, "I want y'all to meet me for a showdown." Right? And so, we're going to pray, and we're going to see what God can really answer. And so, they're in the middle of a drought. He asked for water to put it around a little moat, a, a ditch. And they pray and they pray and they pray. They're going crazy. They're cutting themselves. They're asking their god Baal to wake up and come strike down with fire, and they don't. The Apostle Paul, he, he asked for more water just to show that this is not a fluke. My God is in control. He prays out to God just one time, and the Bible says that God consumes the whole entire sacrifice by fire and licks up all the water. Yeah. Amen. That's the God that we serve. Then Elijah, in his boldness, he's feeling himself now. He's like, "Bam." He goes, "Kill them all." Right. Kill them all. Kill all the prophets. And so he kills all the 450 prophets of Baal, the prophets of Asher. And Ahab is throwing a fit. And Elijah is feeling himself, right? He's like, "Man, we just, we just went in. God, thank you, Lord, for showing up. You had a drought for three years." And, and, and, and now you said it's about to rain, and you've come through and you showed everybody. And he goes, "No, now you go tell Ahab it's about to rain. He better get out of here." Yeah. 'Cause it's about to rain, and he's not going to be able to get home. And so, it, it's starting to form. He gets home and he tells Jezebel, his wife. Jezebel. So Ahab is throwing a fit. He's like, "Man, he killed all our prophets." He's crying about it, and she's like, "You let him? Are you not the, the king of Israel?" Right? That's Jezebel trying to command her husband, control her husband. Are you not? And she says, she goes, "Let it be on my head if this man Elijah is alive by tomorrow. I'll die if he's, if he doesn't die by tomorrow." They send word to Elijah, and Elijah hears word that that Jezebel is mad, and that she's after him. And now he takes off running. Just think about this. The man who called fire down from heaven in the middle of a drought with water on it and kills 450 prophets like nothing, is now one running from one crazy woman. Sounds about right. Right. [Laughter] Sounds about right. You're like, "Ah, right. She's coming." Right? [Laughter] And he takes off running.
But I want you to remember this. You can write it down if you want. I don't sign in the notes. There's three things that Jezebel will always do. There's three things. There's, there's probably a lot more. I've heard a lot, a lot more. But there's three things for sure. And that is to manipulate. That's the first one. She will also intimidate you. And she will try to isolate you. Those are the three things that she will always do to try to intimidate you and make you afraid, to try to get you afraid, to keep your mouth shut, because he was prophesying. He was opening his mouth, right? He was saying, "This is what God is about to do." So the, the, the spirit, the, this Jezebel, demonic power, this force is trying to intimidate him. Shut your mouth, Elijah. Quit talking about God. Right? And then she tries to manipulate to control him on what he wants to do. And so he stops doing it. And the Bible says that he starts running, and he starts running, and he's running. He's got his assistant, and he's just running for his life. And the Bible says that he stops at a certain city, and he tells his assistant, "Stay here." He goes, "Man, just, just chill right here, and then I'm going to keep going." So he goes on to another city, and the Bible says that he was weary. He was ready to give up and ready to die. And he tells God, he goes, "Can you just please take my life?" Instead of killing himself and committing suicide, he's asking God, "Will you do it for me?" Right? Will you do it for me? This is spiritual suicide. But he was asking God to legit kill him. He wanted to die. He was so weak. He was so weary. He was ready to give up. The man who called down fire. And God listened to him. Kills 450 people that are opposing God. A righteous man is doing the things of God. And now he's ready to die. This is what I want to tell you. People who go all out for God, and people who are doing the things of God, it does not mean that you are not going to be at a place where the enemy can't hit you. And I also want to say that Jezebel did not hit him while he was fasting. Did not hit him while he was ready to go. She did not hit him before he called down the fire. She waited till he was exhausted, and he poured out everything that he had, and then she hit him. Which means the enemy is going to wait until you are finished going all out for God. You did your night out for Jesus. You got baptized. You went to life group. You signed up. You served. You got early. You did all those things, right? Oh, we're clapping. Yes. Thank you, Lord. I was trying to scare you. No, I was playing. No, you should, you shouldn't be scared. But I'm telling you, the enemy will wait until you finally make that decision and then try to hit you. Hey, you've been, you've been praying. You've been on the phone. You've been ministering to somebody. Have you ever got done, finished ministering to somebody, and you're like, "I don't even know where I got those words from." You're like, "Man, right?" Like, that's how you know God is using you when you teach, and they're like, "Man, I was just talking about that. It was God." That's one of the most greatest feelings in the world is to know that you're being used by God. But you better believe the devil's like, "I lost this one, but I'm waiting. I'mma wait till you're exhausted. I'mma wait till you're fatigued. I'mma wait till you're trying to make a decision if you should tithe or not. And the moment that you do, and you have nothing left, then I'm going to hit you. I'm going to hit you when you have nothing left." That's when the enemy hit Elijah. And guess what he does? Isolate the last one. He tells his assistant, "Stay here." You know what? You know really why? I don't want accountability right now. Yes, sir. Because I want to kill myself, and you would hold me accountable and pull me out of my head and not let me kill myself. So, you stay here, please, so I can go compromise. That's really what he's doing. Isolate. Why does Jezebel want to isolate the people of God? So the enemy can full, take full advantage of you. Why? Stay here. Stay over here so I can go do this over there. That is the work of the enemy. And some people are under a Jezebel attack right now, and you don't even know it. You're intimidated, right? You're manipulated. The enemy is trying to isolate you, trying to get you away from your church, try to get you away from your accountability, the hearing the things of God around the people of God. That's a demonic work. Somebody who would want to take you out of your own church to isolate you to hopefully to get you to a place of fatigue where the enemy could take you out. It's like if you don't take, if somebody else don't take you out, you're going to take yourself out. That's what the enemy would always want.
But in the middle of all that, guess what? He's running. He's tired. He's exhausted. I don't have anything left. God, just take my life. Just end it all for me. And the Bible says an angel goes up to, to Elijah after he's taken a nap. He wakes up. He goes, "Get up, Elijah." He goes, "Get up and eat." And he wakes up. And the Bible says that there is a hot rock and some bread cooking on top of that hot rock and a jar filled with water. And he goes, "Get up and eat." He goes, "There's still an assignment for you. It's not over." I want to tell some of y'all, it's time to get up. It's not over. It's not over. You may have thought that you were going to die. The enemy was going to take you out. No matter how the enemy may have slandered and dragged you through the mud, I'm telling you, it's not over. Amen. You may think it's over, but God doesn't think it's over. The angel tells him to, to get up. I think it's Jesus that woke him up. Well, it, there was a rock. Who is the rock? Right. Who is the bread? Jesus. The bread of life. Who is the living water? Jesus. It was all of them. In the wilderness, whenever Moses was taking the Israelites out of Egypt, and they were in the wilderness, how did God provide? With water from a, right? And so you see water, rock, and bread. They also gave him manna, right? Whenever Jesus was on the cross, He is the bread of life, right? They poked his side. He was also the rock of ages. They poked his side, and before blood came out, what came out? It was Jesus in the Old Testament, right here in the wilderness, and in the future. It was Jesus in your wilderness season all along. Because sometimes, sometimes you don't need to be rescued. You need to be reminded that God's got you. Jesus will show up when nobody else does. Jesus will show up in the middle. Whenever you are exhausted and you're ready to give up, God's like, "Good, so I can step in and take over."
Thank you, Lord. This is where the Apostle Paul is. He's at the end. He may not be ready to give up like that, but you could, you better believe that he was going to accept this encouragement. Thank God they encouraged him. He says, "Thank God they're here. They got my back." Verse 16. "When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier." The Apostle Paul was on house arrest. The first apostle to have an ankle monitor. Some of y'all like, "That's my apostle." You're all so. If Paul was alive today, he'd come to Rise Church. Verse 17. "Three days after Paul's arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, 'Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government. And even though I had nothing to do, uh, done nothing against our people or our customs or our ancestors, the Romans tried me and they wanted to release me because they found no cause for the death sentence. But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt necessary to appeal to Caesar. Even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people, I don't want to go to court. I was trying to get out of this. But since you're trying to press me, I have to appeal to Caesar. I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe in the hope of Israel. The Messiah has already come.'" He's telling them Jesus, that we all learned about, he, the Messiah that we all learned about has already come, and his name is Jesus. He's, he's locked up. He's in, he's in house arrest. He's appealed. He's waiting for, for some time for his trial. He shows him a chain that he had. But he says, "This chain is because of my hope in Jesus."
And this is what I get from this: Paul doesn't allow his circumstance to determine his calling. He does not allow his circumstance to determine his calling. I want to tell you the same thing. Whatever you're going through is what you're going through. It does not determine what God has called you to do in your life. You may not see it in this season of your life, but I promise you, God already knows the way out. He already knows the next season, the next year, and the next 10 years of your life. Paul holds his chains and he says, "You know what? This is my platform. This is the, my, my chain is also my microphone so I can tell people about Jesus, the reason why I am locked up." He reframes this injustice as hope on display. He reframes it. He's like, "I'm not down and out. I'm locked up for the cause of Christ. You better believe it." And now he's preaching. He's like, "I'm on house arrest." Instead of boohooing, sipping this coffee in the corner crying, he's like, "I want everybody to come. Everybody's going to learn about Jesus now. I can finally settle down and not be shipwrecked, and people are coming." Check this out. That's what I want to teach you. Tell you right now, there's two ways to look at opposition. Merely as a stumbling block meant to keep you down, or as a stepping stone that could lift you up. Whenever you are hit with opposition, hear me out. When you are hit with a season or, or a circumstance in your life, you have two ways to look at it. Whenever the enemy is opposing you, you can say, "This is a stumbling block, and it, every time I hit this, this stumbling block, I, it holds me back and it holds me down." Or you can look at what you're going through and say, "I don't know how, but God is going to use this for, and He's going to get glory out of it." So instead of hitting my foot all the time on it, how about you recognize what it is and use it as a stepping stone to get forward and move up in the things of God? It is no longer a stumbling block, but a stepping stone.
And I want to tell you, just real quick, one thing real quick. A victim mentality will always cause you to see all opposition as a stumbling block. That's good. That's true. Man. If there's one thing that you got to break out of right now is a victim mentality. I want everybody to break out of that because if you're a victim, everything you go through is a stumbling block. Every, "Oh, they, they did this to me. Oh, they did that to me. Oh, that they." I want to tell you, there's, until you realize that you're no longer a victim, you're always going to stay down. But when you realize that you are a victor, and you're not fighting for victory, you're fighting from victory. Sometimes we hear that so much it just becomes cliche. I don't think you really realize that when you say you're fighting from victory, you already have the victory. You already have the spirit of the living God inside of you. What weapon formed could prosper whenever God already says there is no weapon formed that can prosper in your life? It, it was Elijah's most down and out moment that God, or, or it was Elijah's most down and out moment that God prepared him for his greatest victories. It's when he was ready to give up. I, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm ready to give up. And God comes in there, and He feeds him. He goes, "Get up, Elijah, and eat." He was depressed and he was suicidal. He was depressed and suicidal. I want to tell you, the great
Prophet can match your depression and your suicidal thoughts. You know what some of the the the greatest remedy for depression is? Is to get up and eat something. It's to get up and eat when you feel like you can't even eat anything. He's like, "Get up and eat and drink some water." Like, get up out of that bed. Get up. Open up the blinds because the enemy wants to keep you in darkness. It is time to get up. It's time to wake up. It's time to get out of the funk that you have been in. The depression that that has moved from just a mental thing to a physical thing. It is robbing you of your energy. You don't have no drive anymore. But but but he didn't need to be rescued only. He needed to be reminded. And I'm here to remind you that God would not have brought you this far to only bring you this far. >> Amen.
Ladies and gentlemen, he did not You did not COME ALL THE WAY in life this far for God to say, "I can't figure the rest out. I don't know what else to do for you. I'm going to go work on these people over here." There's no way. There's no way. If God did it before, he'll do it again. If he bring you to it, he'll bring it through it. All those little catchy taglines are catchy taglines because it's the character of God. We see it time and time again. Get up, Elijah. It's time. He goes, "Eat something and drink something. It's time. This is what you're going to go do. You're going to anoint a new prophet. You're going to anoint a a new king. And you're going to anoint uh uh uh somebody else. I don't even know who else he anointed. You got to go. You got you got work to do. Get up. It's time to go."
So, he eats some bread and he drinks some water. And the Bible says that he ran 40 days and 40 nights to get to the location where he was at. I want to know what was in that bread and what was in that water because I'm putting it in my daily regimen. He takes off with off of one meal. That's a that's 40 days, too. Come on, Jesus. In this wilderness, just one touch of Jesus can take you through your wilderness season. Get you out of that. Get you up and out of that what you've been in. You got to let him do it. That bread and the living water is what I'm giving you today. That's why we have decided to give you the unadulterated, unwatered down word of God. This is why I was like, man, should I talk about all this fortune cookie stuff up there, horoscopes and zodiac? Like, no, you need to know >> because if I was accidentally offending God, I would want to know. >> He's like, you're over here giving this credit when I have a plan for your life. Why would you say you're just that because of a star that I created in the Bible? Did you not read it? Well, how could you study this and not study the word? And maybe that's why you end up in the same.
>> He says, "Get up. It's time to go, Elijah. It's time to go." And so he does. And so he anoints the prophets. He does all that. And he goes, now he goes back to Ahab and back to Jezebel, the same one he was running from. You know what? At some point you're going to go have to face the giants that have been intimidating you, have been trying to manipulate you. He ran back up and he prophesied, "This is the way you're going to die. This is the way you're going to die." He told him both different times. And do you know what Revelation teaches us? How do you get rid of the Jezebel spirit? It says, "Don't tolerate her. Don't tolerate her." When someone tries to manipulate you, when someone tries to intimidate you or tell you what you can and can't do or try to isolate you from, you don't tolerate it. miss me with all that. You tell the devil that you don't tolerate it. That's all he had to do. So instead of staying down in the wilderness, he goes, "You know what? I'm going straight back up to the thing I was intimidated by." And he goes, "God's going to take both of y'all's lives. I'm not saying you can go do that. You're going to catch a charge if you do that, right? Don't tell them I sent you." Right? But he went and both of them, God takes both of their lives just the way the Elijah said it. Just the way he said God backs Elijah and he overcomes that. What a beautiful thing. God restores him. It was in the hardest times which means when he was down and out was his circumstance but he was saying I want to die. I want to die. I bet he didn't want that part in his story. I bet there's some stuff in your life in my life that we don't want in our story. He just wants the 450 prophets murdered and fire falling down from heaven and skip over this part and then go back to whenever they both died. But it's a part of his story because it is his humanity. It is the weakness of a human being that could still do something great for God. Which means in your weakness, he is still strong. It's in your weakness that his strength is made perfect. His grace is sufficient. The apostle Paul was saying that I got to see God in the third heaven. And to keep me from coming proud, he put a thorn in my flesh. But my grace is sufficient. The Lord says each and every time. Elijah was threat threatened, but he's still confronting. Now Paul is chained, but he's still preaching. The persecution didn't stop either. It set the stage for their victory.
Verse 23, word of the Lord reads, "So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul's lodging. He explained and testified about the kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the scripture using the law of Moses and the books of the prophet. He spoke to them from morning until evening. This boy was preaching all day long. Some were persuaded by the things he said and but others did not believe. And after they have argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul. The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, "Go and say to this people, when you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For their hearts of this people are hardened and their ears cannot hear. For they have closed their eyes. So their eyes cannot see and their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. So I want you to know that this salvation from God has been offered to the Gentiles and they'll accept it. It's the prophets Isaiah in the past. You guys are it. That's what he's telling them. You will not listen to me. And he goes, "Your eyes are shut. Your heart is hard. Your ears are closed. You're closed off from the one God that you should be turning to." And he goes, "Guess what? But God's still going to move." So Paul preaches all day some the the same truth, the same scripture, the same sermon, but but only some believe. Some were open and some hearts were hardened to what Paul has to say. He quotes Isaiah. And in that original uh in in the original Hebrew there, it means that these hearts were made heavy for whatever reason. whatever they went through, their heart was heavy and it caused their ears and their eyes to shut. But in the in the Greek, it means heavy, weighed down, or unresponsive. It's like an unresponsive heart. When the word of God comes forth and you don't respond, you don't even feel anything anymore. Have you ever been there? [music] Maybe you're there right now. It is your heart is so heavy for so long it's unresponsive. It's like a battery that doesn't work anymore. It's just not working anymore. The radio, no more signal. It's unresponsive. [music] If the walkie-talkie or the radio isn't working, it means it's gone too far. Like what Pastor Clint was saying, it's time to turn around and start walking back to God. And what I want to say is that some of us may have angry hearts. Others are just tired. That's why you're unresponsive. Some might have rebellious hearts. You hear what I say about the Virgo and the rabbit feet and all that. You're like, "Whatever. It's not that big of a deal. Just pure rebellious." Others are just wounded. They're afraid that God won't protect them in a time of need. But whatever reason, what I have learned is that sometimes it's not sin that hardens our heart. It's the battles of life. It's disappointment. It's betrayal. It's prayers that felt unanswered. It's loss that never healed. It's waiting that went too long. God, I'm still waiting on this one thing. When are you going to bring my husband or my wife or this or that? You feel like you've been waiting forever and now you don't even hear God. Your heart is hardened to God. And instead of turning to God, we we quietly turn from [music] God. And what I have learned from this, the most dangerous heart is not a sinful heart. It's a heart that's shut off from God. Why? Because the only thing that can heal you is the very thing you're pushing away. There is nothing else. If you feel like you can't hear God and you're mad at God or whatever and your heart's hard to God, whatever, I promise you, there is nothing in this world that is going to heal you until you turn from him. Repent. I'm sorry for blaming you, God. I'm sorry for allowing my hard heart to you. I'm sorry for being unresponsive. I don't know how my life strayed to where I just don't even care about the word anymore. I have allowed these other things in my life, but here I am again. I turn to the only God who can heal me. This is what the Apostle Paul is telling them. Come back to the living God that can change you.
In verse 30, word of the Lord reads, "For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God. This is the last sentence of the book of Acts. Boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him. My God, they're like, "Let that dude do it." You can't stop a man who's willing to die for the cause of Christ. You can't stop a move of God. You could try everything in your power to stop Paul or to stop a move of God. You will exhaust yourself and die before you'll ever get God's people to stop. >> And he goes on and on and on. The Greek word means unhindered freely. He was locked up, but he was be able to preach to anybody. You know what's crazy is the Acts doesn't end with Paul's death or Paul's freedom. It ends with the gospel alive and unhindered. It's a comma, not a period. This is why I want to tell final point of this entire sermon series. Acts doesn't end with Paul. It continues with us. It does not end with Paul. That's the reason why it ended the way that it ended. It's because if you were to flip one more chapter, it would be your story. Because the church is still going. It's like that con to be continued at the end of a movie. And if there was a baton that the Apostle Paul said, "I'm about to behead be beheaded. I'm gonna go on trial, but for the next two years, he's just preaching the gospel." If somebody were to hear that word, he's saying, "I'm going to hand you the baton. It's time to live out everything that I told you." He's handing them a baton. 2,000 years later, over 2,000 years later, the Apostle Paul and his boldness and the fact that he did not give up allows somebody like me to not give up, to preach a word to you, to tell you not to give up. So, I pass that baton to you so you can go home and pass it to your family. That's the God we serve. That's the word of God. Like God told Elijah, "Don't give up. Get up. Get up. It's time to eat. It's time to drink from God. Whatever you've been putting your focus and your hope in, turn from it and come back to God.
Would you stand up to your feet as we pray? Father, I thank you for your word. We're going to do a we're not going to do a regular altar call. We're going to just do a prayer after church so you can get ready. The host can get ready. Father, I thank you, Lord, for the a move of God today, an obvious anointing in the building that only you could get the credit and glory for. And I thank you, God, for this journey we've been on in the book of Acts, for everybody who's been with us some of the time or the whole time. But I pray that baton today, it's passed to us and we don't put it back down again, that we take it in stride and we run with it. [music] We thank for the legends who went before us like the Apostle Paul and the people who were faithful all throughout church history to get us to a point to where we are today. We're an end time church where a church in the wilderness may not fit in. Looks different, but that was John the Baptist. That was the disciples. So, it's an honor to have the baton. And I pray God, whatever Jezebel assignment over the church's life, whatever intimidation, whatever fear, whatever isolation, I rebuke that spirit of suicide over anybody who's listening under the sound of my voice. Satan, you will not win. You will not die. You will live. We command healing in people's minds and bodies right now. Sickness to be dried up and bodies to be healed right now. [music] And I thank you for freedom that only you could provide. Spirit of the living God, break out in this place. We don't just need revival. We need reformation, Lord, to reform us back to the things of God. Not culture, not what society says, but what you say. So I stand in the gap and I ask for forgiveness of everybody in this church. If there's anything that we've done that has offended you, any lifestyle, any sin, any known or unknown thing that we've involved ourselves with, I pray that [music] it would be broken. And by the blood of Jesus that speaks a better word, we come under this new covenant and ask for forgiveness and a fresh infilling of your spirit so we can glorify you the way that you deserve in Jesus name. Amen.
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