Get Up & Walk

So I want you to think about a lingering injury, a strained relationship, a situation maybe that you’ve been in for a long time that causes a quiet anxiety, this right beneath the surface, this boiling point, this thing that just is always there.

I was doing some research a few weeks ago for a different talk I was going to do, and

As I was reading this research, I found this study.

This was specifically for men.

And it was men who were my age and older.

Not old, not old, but my age and older.

And how for many men my age and older, that right beneath the surface is this constant state of anger.

And that a wrong conversation…

something happening at work, a relationship going sideways, a deal not closing, might be the boiling point where that underneath anger, anxiety, worry, strain, injury, relationship issue, the wrong thing happening at the wrong time, can cause that thing to come to the very surface.

And yet we live with these things.

We live with the constant lingering of something, especially in the physical.

And really what’s happening is that we have told ourselves this is the normal.

And I don’t even know if I know a normal outside of this.

A normal outside of that anger, that jealousy, that physical ailment, that brokenness in a relationship.

And so we then lower our expectations of others.

We lower our expectations of ourselves.

And if we’re not careful, we just kind of coast.

Because it’s how we cope.

It’s how we cope.

And yet, as we are in the book of Acts, this is not a group of people just coping.

This is a group of people who’ve encountered Jesus.

He’s gone up to heaven.

He’s ascended.

He said, I must go so that I can send another.

And now they’ve encountered Jesus, the Savior, and the Spirit of God who comes to them and empowers them.

And they can no longer be the same.

They can no longer just live with the lingering things.

God is with them.

God is now in them through his spirit.

And so what was normal, they now see through a different lens and say, no, that is actually not normal.

And they step into places maybe they would have not stepped into before.

This upside down kingdom called the kingdom of God is not temporary anymore.

It is not just here for a self-help.

It is restorative.

So Acts chapter 3 is a story.

Peter and John step into a space that was normal for someone else.

And they said, this is not good enough.

God has more in store.

So in verse 1, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

And so this is not a dramatic opening.

This is the normal thing they were doing.

It doesn’t start off with, and there was a big need in the city.

And it’s like, you know, not like a movie where there’s a narrator with a really cool voice.

If those of you grew up in the 80s and 90s, remember we had to call into a phone number to hear the previews?

You remember those days?

And it was always the same man with the same voice.

In a time where there was a lot of danger.

And every movie had the same guy doing it.

This chapter 3 doesn’t have a dramatic opening.

It is two dudes going to pray.

Two guys going to church, nothing dramatic.

They’re just on their way to prayer.

And that matters because God is with us everywhere we go.

In all of the mundane things of our life, his spirit is in us and calling us to go.

Now you might be here exploring faith and you’re like, whoa, what is going on?

And here’s what I want you to know.

We believe that when you come to Christ and you accept Christ, you not only get a new life in Christ, but his spirit comes along with you and empowers you to do all sorts of things.

Not like a superpower.

Not like, have you ever seen this guy on the internet, Oz Perlman?

This dude is amazing.

It’s like, is he a mind reader?

How does he know these things?

No, it’s not a supernatural power that’s based on us.

It’s God saying, I am with you.

It’s his way of saying, wherever you go, whatever you do, my spirit is with you.

And for Peter and John, what they were doing is they were walking to church to pray.

A very normal thing.

Ordinary faithfulness.

They were just ordinary guys doing things.

what they do and then verse two and a man lame from birth was being carried who was being carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple this is called the beautiful gate and this beautiful gate has all sorts of there’s people who describe it obviously we don’t see it today but it was it was filled with all sorts of decor they believe it was made of bronze

And the bronze was carried off from a far off place.

And it was right before the temple called the beautiful gate.

And so there’s a man who is lame, who his normal is physical ailment.

And people are carrying him because he cannot get there.

And he’s going to a place where people are going to walk by in their ordinary faithfulness.

And in their ordinary faithfulness, hopefully he will get some help every single day.

And so he has friends or family who love him enough to pick him up from where he lives, take him to the gate, and he is there.

He’s laying there, and there’s a dependence.

And yet he’s at the gate to worship, not included in worship.

There’s an exclusionary piece because he’s fighting for his life.

He’s laying there.

He needs people to help him, but he doesn’t go past the gate.

He doesn’t go into an auditorium like you’re in today.

He’s outside of it.

And he sees people going in.

He hears the prayers.

He hears the singing.

He hears the pomp and circumstance, and yet he’s stuck in his normal outside at the gate.

And then we get to verse 3, and seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he, the man laid there at the gate, asks to receive alms.

Now alms are, it’s a derivative of a Greek word, really has the meaning pity,

Or to really have mercy on somebody.

So the expectation in the culture would be that you would have alms.

It could be food or clothing or actual money.

But the spirit of the day was that I knew I am called as a basic human being to help other people.

And so everywhere you went, there would be people who were lame or who were poor.

And they would stick out their palm.

And there was an expectation that you would have pity on them.

You would have mercy on them.

So the man stuck out his palm, expecting mercy.

He’s expecting relief.

He’s expecting just to survive the day because that is his normal.

I just got to get through today.

Ever been there?

How many of you are there today?

I just need to get through today.

You ever been through a season where you just say, this is a season?

And the season just keeps going.

Like your Christmas tree is still up in March.

I just love Christmas.

No, you’re just too lazy to put it away.

Right?

It’s just a season.

This guy is just trying to survive.

He’s not looking for restoration.

He’s not looking for a situation to actually change.

He just needs help in the moment.

And then something happens because he is expecting something.

But he gets something he’s not expecting.

Verse 4.

And Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said, look at us.

What a human moment.

What a human moment.

That everybody’s walking by this guy at the beautiful gate.

And maybe they are giving an alms.

And maybe they are taking pity on him.

And maybe they’ve given him clothing or water or some money to buy some food.

And maybe people are taking pity.

But

Peter says something different.

He says, look at me.

He treated him with a humanity as a created being by God.

He said, look at me, a very deeply human, deeply spiritual.

Peter didn’t rush past.

He didn’t toss a coin without eye contact.

He stops.

He looks.

He dignifies.

A few weeks ago, my family and I went out to a dinner.

My oldest son moved to Seattle.

My second daughter is getting married.

She’s moving to Georgia.

So they’re like moving to opposite sides of the country.

My third kid’s off to college.

So everybody was in town, so we had the last supper.

Before we add our eighth family member, Mitch, this summer.

Mitch, we love you.

Don’t take no hard feelings.

We love you.

We’re glad you’re part of the family, but we need to celebrate the real part of the family.

You grew up in a family like that?

You know what I’m talking about?

Where your mom takes the family picture and doesn’t include everybody else because they’re not part of the real family?

I didn’t mean to cause an argument.

I know some of you are going to argue about this.

And

We’re at this dinner, the Last Supper, and I’m just, as a dad, and Libby and I just want to have this moment.

We bought a gift for every one of our kids, and we’re having this special moment.

And all of a sudden, our oldest daughter had this human moment.

The person serving us, we were very kind and having conversation.

And it was supposed to be about us.

The seven of us.

The original crew.

And you know what Bella does?

She pulls in our server and she says, do you want to sit down with us?

Can we pray for you about something?

And the pastor said, why are you doing this?

She’s not part of the seven.

I didn’t say that.

I said, yeah, is there anything we can pray for you for?

So I can get back to my seven?

Don’t we do this?

And the woman stood there and said, no, I’m fine, I’m great.

She stepped into a human moment with us that my daughter created and asked for prayer for her kids and shared what was going on.

My heart melted.

My family just got around her and we prayed for her.

I wish I could say I started it.

I didn’t.

Bella did.

I was the one walking past the beautiful gate, giving the alms, giving a good tip.

Bella was the one who said, can you just look at me?

Are you okay?

A very human moment.

You see, listen to this.

Healing in the kingdom of God is a beautiful algorithm of power mixed with presence.

The power is not ours.

The power is from God through his Holy Spirit,

and yet God uses you and I to bring presence into the world.

I don’t exactly know the exact algorithm.

I just know it’s some mixture of God’s power, God’s sovereignty, God’s ability to do whatever he wants to do, and yet us stepping in to moments to bring presence.

So the man responds,

And he fixed his attention on them.

He looked up, expecting to receive something from them.

So he expected what?

The alms.

He expected what everybody else gave, which was money or some food or some clothing.

So he did look up, expecting what everybody else gave.

But Peter said, I have no silver or gold.

But what I do have, I give to you.

And this is actually really important because Peter’s actually acknowledging where he is.

He is saying, I don’t have anything.

I have nothing really that’s going to make your life any better.

I have no silver.

I have no gold.

But I do have something.

And what I have, I’m going to give it to you.

And all he has in that moment is the greatest thing in the world.

Good news of Jesus.

The power that comes from knowing Jesus.

I know, I love stories, don’t you, of people who change the world, who raise money and the galas to make a difference.

I love that.

We have people in our church who have great non-profits who are doing amazing things.

Those are beautiful things.

Peter in that moment was saying, I have no resources for you.

I have no resource, but I have the source.

I have no resource.

I have nothing that’s going to change your circumstance, your situation, but I have the source, the one who created you.

He knew what he was carrying, so I ask us our first question of the day.

Do we know what we carry?

Do we know what we carry?

Do we default to the alms?

Do we default to giving the things that we can give away?

Do we

But do we ever default to the gift, the greatest gift you have, which is the good news of who Jesus is?

That was Peter.

So he continues, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

It’s not a vague hope.

It’s not a tentative suggestion.

He’s like declaring through the authority of Jesus, get up and walk.

And you’re like, well, who is this guy?

Who does he think he is?

Who does he think?

He can just heal people?

I don’t know.

Maybe he was the guy in chapter two who was in a room praying and the Holy Spirit gave them power and they preached the gospel.

And in one day, thousands of people came to know Christ.

He spoke in a language he didn’t understand and people understood him.

He was just experiencing something that was not him, a power that was not his own.

He was on a high, people.

He was on a high.

He was like, wow.

This is not me.

This must be God.

And so he stepped you in place knowing it wasn’t him.

Knowing he had no silver or gold.

Knowing he had nothing in and of himself.

But he had the gift of the giver.

The gift of God.

And so he gave it.

And so verse 7.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up.

Get up and walk.

And then he gave him some assistance.

Sometimes it just takes a little bit of presence.

Remember I said it’s the algorithm of God’s power and authority and us having a physical presence.

I told a story a couple years ago.

I hurt my right shoulder actually when I was in high school.

So I was a basketball player, kind of tweaked it.

I played tennis, really hurt it.

And so as I got older, I didn’t play as much sports and so it kind of healed on its own a little bit.

Tweaked it on a trip.

I was traveling with my wife and I was grabbing those dumb suitcases out of the top because I’m too cheap to check them into the airplane.

So I’m carrying suitcases and I kind of tweaked it and it hurt and I didn’t tell anybody.

Finally, after about three or four days, I told my wife, this is really hurting.

I think I may have to go to the doctor.

She goes, okay, we’ll just lay off of it for a couple days.

It was like a Friday.

On Sunday, I went to our South Campus.

And I was at our South Campus just minding my own business.

Just saying hi to people, loving people.

I wasn’t even speaking that day.

And a leader at our South Campus came up to me and she said, Pastor Carlos, can I ask you a question?

I said, sure.

She says, did you hurt your shoulder recently?

I said, no.

I was like, voodoo?

I hadn’t told anybody.

And I said, why, yes, I did.

She goes, well, I thought God told me in a dream, and so I feel like I’m supposed to pray for you today.

I said, okay, have at it.

And then she was talking to me by herself, and all of a sudden a whole group of people came out from behind her.

And all of them surrounded by people.

I’m like, what’s going to happen?

And these people got around me, and they all laid hands on me, and they prayed.

And she said, can you just lift up your shoulder real quick?

I was like, it’s not going to work.

I’m such a man of faith, right?

I can do it for others, but what about myself?

I raise up my shoulder.

I don’t feel any pain.

My brain says, it’ll come back later.

It’s been two years.

No pain.

Nothing happened.

You want, see, it’s the mix of God’s power and authority and a sister in Christ who was willing to come up to her pastor and have a physical presence.

And something happened.

Verse 7, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

Wow.

They were made strong.

Verse 8, and leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them.

Walking and leaping and praising God.

How amazing is that?

He didn’t even go home first.

He went to church.

He got healed and he went right into the synagogue, into the temple, into the place he could not go.

That was the first thing he did.

And we toss a coin if we’re going to go to church on Sunday morning.

This man said, I can walk.

I’m not going to the beach.

I’m not going to go take a shower.

I’m going to go praise God.

I’m going to have you do something with me, and you’re not going to like it, but it’s going to be awesome.

If you’re able to, I want you to stand.

Come on, make it quick.

I know some of you are a little older.

Come on, a little faster.

And don’t make the sound effects that I make.

We’re going to sing a song together.

You don’t know it.

Some of you might know it.

But you’re going to do some hand motions with me and it’s clapping.

We’re going to clap on rhythm.

I said on rhythm.

And it’s really quick.

So we’re going to practice.

It’s going to sound like this.

Wait, wait, wait.

So just hold it.

I’m going to lead us.

And now you do it with me.

One, two, three.

That was good.

All right.

So I’m going to sing a song and during the gaps of the lines, just watch me and we’ll do it together.

Okay, ready?

Ready?

Here we go.

It’s a song I learned when I was a kid.

Peter and John went to pray.

They met a lame man on the way.

He stuck out his palm and he asked for an alms.

And this is what Peter did say.

Silver and gold have I none.

But such as I have give I thee.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

He went walking and leaping and praising God.

Walking and leaping and praising God.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

That was awesome.

You guys did great.

Have a seat.

You guys are like, wow, we did it.

But that’s not what the man did.

Some of us are like, oh, that’s my activity for the day.

This man went walking and leaping and praising God.

What would it look like if God healed the ailment you have right now?

How would you respond?

What would happen if God restored the thing that’s broken?

If God healed that thing that’s underlying that you’re just living within your normal, how would you respond?

This man went, he didn’t go, whoo, that’s cool.

Let’s go to church.

No, this dude, this dude went, you know what it is to walk and leap?

I’m going to take out my pack because this is going to break and fall out.

I’m going to make a fool of myself.

He went walking and leaping and praising God.

Walking and leaping and praising God.

And you’re like, well, that’s because you grew up Pentecostal.

No, it’s because his life was changed forever.

Brothers and sisters, how would you react if your marriage was changed forever?

How would you react if that kid came home forever?

How would you react if you didn’t need that cane ever again?

How would you react if you could breathe without the medication?

How would you react if that lump went away?

And how we respond to that tells us where our faith is in this moment.

This man expected an alms and he got restoration.

So he’d been walking and leaping.

Now listen to, look at the layers of his restoration.

Look at this.

He had physical restoration.

His feet and ankles are made strong.

He had social restoration.

He gets to enter the temple.

He’s no longer on the outside.

His healing changes his interactions with people.

He has spiritual restoration.

He is now not just outside of the presence of God.

He gets to enter in the temple.

He gets to be in with God.

He begins to praise God.

And restoration for many of us happens at multiple levels.

Because right now you just think, I got to pay the rent.

Right now you just think, hey, I need this to happen.

But there are layers to our restoration in God.

Do we understand that God, when he does something, he does it right, he does it well, and he does it to the fullest.

But do we really desire that?

And this is the kind of healing that God’s spirit brings.

Holistic.

And listen to the people’s response as he’s acting like a fool.

This is the guy they see at the gate.

This is the guy who just wants to get by for the day.

And now they see him restored with the people.

They see him walking.

And they see him praising God.

Look at this.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement.

Who doesn’t like a good miracle?

Wow!

But it’s really easy for us to fixate on the miracle.

Really easy.

Want to know why?

Because unfortunately, there have been people of faith.

There have been pastors.

There have been churches.

There have been ministries.

There have been pastors who have monetized the work of God.

And have said, if you do this, you’ll get this.

If you send this amount of money in, God’s going to heal you.

If you’ll do this, I’ll give you a piece of paper that I bought back from this country.

And when you put it in your house, you’re going to be healed.

Listen, your faith is where it is, but God has not called us to monetize it.

God has called us to enjoy it and to give it away.

And Peter won’t allow the spectacle.

He hears the people grumbling, oh my gosh, how?

And he doesn’t allow it.

Look at what he does.

Look at what he says in verse 12.

Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

Why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

We didn’t do it.

He immediately deflects attention away from himself.

I don’t know how many of you maybe grew up in church, but I grew up in a church where people were awesome.

They really were.

And most of them were poor or, you know, just really trying to make life happen.

A church was a place to congregate.

Church was a place to be in community.

Church was a place to have food like we’re going to have here at North Campus after the services.

I mean, that’s what church was about.

But every once in a while, we’d have a brother or sister who loved to draw attention to themselves.

We called them the peacocks.

because the Holy Ghost would move, a service would get really good, and all of a sudden it’s like, whoop!

And they would prance around the church.

Remember Mad TV, Stewart?

Look at me!

Look at me!

And Peter’s like, yeah, we did a miracle, but don’t look at us.

It is not by our own power.

It is not by our own might.

He was understanding our human nature to look to another human to celebrate.

It is in our nature to put our hopes in another person.

It is in our nature to take the glory from God and give it to someone else.

And we do this all the time.

We do it with our athletes.

We do it with our politicians.

We do it with our pastors.

We do it with our bosses.

We do it with people.

We love to celebrate people.

But the glory and the power belongs to God.

And even though Peter just performed a miracle, he says, I am deflecting the attention away from me.

Instead, he says, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob glorified his servant, Jesus.

That this has been a long time coming.

That this story of God was before us.

It will be here after us.

It is God who works and wills to do these things.

We just step into the places where God wants to do these things.

It is God.

And do you know, brothers and sisters, that it’s not us who does this?

I didn’t start this church.

And even though John Burke established Gateway Church, he didn’t start the church.

The church started with Jesus.

We’re all just part of a big story.

Do we step in to be characters in the story?

To participate in the story of God?

Because Peter and John are.

They’re stepping in and they look at a man who has nothing and doesn’t want restoration.

He just wants to survive.

And they give him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a brand new life.

Look what Peter does.

He does something that’s very jarring.

He not only connects it to Jesus, he connects the miracle to the cross of Christ.

Look at verse 13 through 15.

This Jesus whom you delivered over and denied.

He’s like, yay, miracle.

Yeah, Jesus.

Remember him?

You killed him.

And you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead.

It’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Isn’t Peter just ruining the moment?

Like, this dude just had life change.

And Peter’s like, Debbie Downer, he’s putting that wet blanket on somebody like, yeah, it’s cool, but don’t forget Jesus.

You killed him.

What Peter’s actually doing is not trying to rob them of the moment.

He’s helping them understand that the healing power of Christ is not actually the superlative.

It’s the blood of Christ and the work of Christ on the cross which reigns supreme.

Tim Keller said this.

He says, you cannot understand the power of the kingdom.

The power of the kingdom is like the miracles, things we don’t understand, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of healing.

You can’t understand the power of the kingdom without understanding the paradox of the cross.

It’s the same Jesus who came to heal, to restore.

That same Jesus was rejected.

Rejected.

The same Jesus who had disciples is the same Jesus who was put on the cross and his body destroyed for us.

So Peter continues in verse 16, and his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong.

This paradox of the cross.

See, it’s really easy for us to wear a crucifix.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing a crucifix if you understand the power behind it.

There’s a paradox.

There’s a tension that comes with the cross.

The power is not in Peter.

The power comes from Jesus in the name of Jesus.

The person, the authority, and the presence of Christ when he came to earth.

God with us.

And then Jesus said this in John chapter 12.

He says, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.

He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

And many times, if you’ve heard that verse before, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.

Many churches have used that as a way of saying, if we lift up the name of Jesus, if we sing about Jesus, and if we teach Jesus, he’s going to draw all men to himself.

And there is truth to that.

So don’t get me wrong, there is truth to that.

But contextually, what Jesus is saying is,

When I be lifted up.

When Jesus is on the cross on the ground and they put him down and they nail him to the cross, they lifted up the cross.

He says, when I be lifted up in death.

When I be lifted up and destroyed.

When I be lifted up to be scorned.

When I be lifted up and the sign says, King of the Jews.

When I be lifted up, right?

See the paradox now?

We serve a risen Savior.

One who can do miracles and yet he was lifted up to be the shame of the world.

And yet, he says, when I be lifted up in what the world calls shame, the paradox is I will then draw all men and women to myself.

Peter’s wanting them to understand the paradox.

Because if not, they’ll celebrate just the miracle.

See, faith is the means by which the power is received.

Faith is the means by which the power is received.

And let me tell you something.

Faith is not a technique.

Faith is not an algorithm.

I do so many prayers, and I have so many readings, and I go to so many groups, and I do these things, and we put together this formula.

That is not faith.

Although those things are not bad, it’s how we grow.

That’s how we grow in Christ.

But faith…

It’s not that.

It’s the power we receive.

And it’s in its simplest form.

It’s not something we can have in and of ourselves.

It’s that we have faith in God.

Why?

Think of it this way.

Healing, think of healing as a sign, not the destination.

Healing as a sign, not the destination.

Many of us need healing.

Many of us need miracles.

But

Would your life in Christ grow if you were healed?

And what I mean by that is, if God healed you, would that exponentially grow your faith, or do we get what we want to go back to the life we want?

See, the healing power points to something different.

So the verse 19, Peter then shifts again.

He says, repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.

The invitation.

It’s the title of our series, The Invitation.

He’s not trying to come against them.

He’s saying, do you understand where you are, people?

Repent, turn, turn back that your sins may be blotted out.

The healing is just a sign.

The true miracle is to actually turn to Christ.

The greatest miracle.

Peter goes on.

Do all this that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

This is the language of restoration.

He’s inviting them to restoration.

He’s invited the man at the gate to be restored.

Not isolated moments of relief.

A life that is transformed.

And ultimately, listen to this, verse 20.

Here’s the picture.

The healing is just a preview.

The healing is a preview of what to come.

What’s to come?

The healing, the miracles of God are not the end result.

And I love that as humans, we love the miracles.

We love the supernatural, the life, the NDEs and the miracles and raising people up.

And that is God at work in our world.

And that is true.

But they point to something bigger.

They point to a God who exists, who created the world, and still is with us in our suffering.

There’s a bigger picture.

And in a world where brokenness is normalized, healing becomes a radical act of defiance.

It’s God saying, not on my watch.

We’re going to do something about that.

It’s a radical act of stepping in and believing in healing.

A holistic idea.

And for those of us who follow Jesus, it’s us saying, I believe in the idea that God is bigger than my circumstance and what I consider normal.

This addiction doesn’t have the final word.

This division, this pain.

Because what we carry is meant to be given away.

What we carry is meant to be given away.

I don’t even have enough time to teach all this.

There’s so much.

We’re trying to give the big picture, but I want us to understand a few things and ask ourselves a couple of questions.

What do we actually have?

Whether you’re exploring faith or you’ve followed Jesus for a long time, what do you know that you know?

What do you have to actually give away to someone else?

And it comes down to two kinds of people in the room, two kinds of people in the earth.

People who need healing.

Right?

Where do you need healing?

And people who maybe are in a good place financially, physically, or spiritually.

And the other question for you might be, well, where can you bring healing?

See, we’re humans.

I hope we know that.

We’re finite.

We are either in need of healing or in need of being used by God to bring healing and many times both at the same time.

Where are you today?

Who is at the gate of your life that you need to look at and say, yeah, I can give you an alms, but I actually have a bigger, better gift than just pity and mercy.

I know the God of the universe.

And that’s what we’re going to see today at baptism.

It’s people saying, I met the God of the universe.

And through his son Jesus, my life is forever changed.

See, baptism is a visible get up and walk moment.

And we’re going to celebrate with him.

It’s a healing of a soul coming to know Christ.

It’s accepting of an invitation.

Acts chapter 3, God having raised up his servants, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

That’s what these people getting baptized have experienced.

I am turning.

I have accepted the invitation.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

When we see their stories, when we see them being baptized, and some of you are family here to celebrate, we celebrate these people at the beautiful gate who now can walk in Christ.

But before we do any of that, I really felt compelled this week along with our campus pastors to have a time of prayer in our service.

So I’m going to ask you a real question.

No closing your eyes, just a faith moment.

How many of the room would be honest and say, man, I need a miracle.

I’m at the beautiful gate of life and I’m sticking my hand out and I need some help and, and, and

I’m just wanting help, but I’m kind of just living in this moment, and yet I need something bigger than me.

I need God to intervene in my situation today.

Just raise your hand.

You’ve got, yeah, a pretty big miracle.

And here’s what I want you to do.

If you would do this, because we want to pray together, would you stand?

If you raise your hand, just stand where you are.

Just stand where you are.

Come on, just stand as an act of faith, an act of just, I’m standing up against this thing.

I’m sick of this thing that lingers.

Okay?

Yeah, a lot of people.

It’s okay.

If you’re standing, it’s okay.

You’re not really standing.

You’re kind of laying at a gate for whatever thing you’re facing.

And if you’re sitting in the salutatorium, today you’re going to be part of the prayer team.

So look around you real quick if you’re sitting, and I want you to find somebody who’s standing next to you.

If you don’t know them, it’s okay.

Ask them their name if you do know them.

But I want you to put your hand on their shoulder.

So everybody kind of move right now.

I want everybody in the room moving towards somebody who’s standing up.

And we’re going to pray in this room.

It’s okay.

We’re going to all pray together.

Find somebody.

Find somebody.

And if you’re kind of far from somebody, just kind of stand where you are.

Just maybe extend your hand.

And we’re going to lift our voices together and pray together.

Okay?

So no quiet prayers.

If you don’t know their name, ask them their name.

And let’s begin to pray right across the room.

Go ahead.

Just start where you’re at.

Just begin to pray right there where you are.

If you’re watching online, if you’ll just put in that chat what you’re praying for, if you’re able to.

We have people who want to pray with you.

As you’re praying around in little pods across the auditorium, I’m going to pray and kind of lead us out.

Then we’ll move forward to celebrate baptisms.

God, I thank you for your goodness.

I thank you that there are people who stood up in faith today who are facing some situations.

Maybe it’s financial.

Maybe it’s physical.

But they need a move of you.

They need a supernatural, beyond themselves moment.

So God, right across this room, across all of our campuses and online, Holy Spirit, would you move?

That it’s not our power, it is not our might, it’s not our words, it is by your Spirit.

It’s by your spirit.

And we step into this space in this algorithm of your power and your might and our presence.

We lay hands on the shoulder of somebody and we say, God, would you move in their body?

Would you move in the miracle that they need today?

Would you embody?

Would you show up physically for them today?

That we would be able to celebrate what you’re doing.

Would you empower them?

Would you come alongside?

In Jesus’ name.

Amen and amen.

So as people stood up in faith saying, hey, I’m going to humble myself.

I need God to move.

Just stay standing where you are.

We’re going to stand in faith and celebrate those who have said, I’ve left the beautiful gate and I’ve entered the temple and I’m going from death to life.

Give it up for all those people who are getting baptized today.