Skip to content Wk 2: Placed On Purpose Jan 20 · 50 min ...more
Wk 2: Placed On Purpose
January 20, 2013 · 50 min
God has placed you on purpose so that you may “Open your mouth tell about the good news about Jesus”. Acts 8:26-40
Series The Church of Eleven22 January 20, 2013 · 50 min · The Church of Eleven22
God has placed you on purpose so that you may “Open your mouth tell about the good news about Jesus”. Acts 8:26-40 ...more Show the full description Show less God has placed you on purpose so that you may “Open your mouth tell about the good news about Jesus”. Acts 8:26-40
Series The Church of Eleven22 Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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Joby Martin is the founder and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida. Since launching the church in 2012, he has led a movement for all
62.7K followers
0:28 Well, good evening. 7 22. If you've got your Bibles, please grab em. We're gonna be in Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. We're walking through the book of Acts for a long time. And we are in the final week of this series0:38 called Wrecked and and that really is my my hope and my prayer for you that the gospel would just wreck you in the best possible way that your life regardless of the direction it's on would be totally and completely0:49 interrupted by the gospel and that god would just just deconstruct you and then put you back together just the way he wants to and so that's that's what we've been talking about. 1 little announcement before I dig in1:00 here. If you showed up to to the Brazil meeting, right? To go on a mission trip to Brazil and you're thinking, oh no, I might not be able to go to Brazil because 100 people came. We are working very hard1:12 on our end of it to make sure that every person that that feels called to go to Brazil will have an opportunity to go to Brazil. It it might it might we're going to do multiple trips, maybe over multiple weeks to maybe a1:23 few different locations but just as the church of 11 22, when god moves in you to respond, then, we don't want to be the ones that keep you from responding. Make sense? So,1:36 just know we're working on that to make sure everybody gets an to go to Brazil or whatever mission trip that you feel called to go on. Alright. It's kind of the the story of our church right now, right? We build a place1:47 and we fill it up in 18 weeks. So, welcome to 11 22, alright? Here we go. We're going to dig in. Acts chapter 9. We're going to do 2 miracles in 1 point and we're going to1:59 cruise by the 1st miracle pretty quick. Verse 32 is where we're to start. Now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived in Luda. Now,2:11 I don't know if you realize this but the saints are not just an NFL team nor are they just a bunch of old dead guys that some group of people voted on them to be super Christians, alright? Did2:22 you realize, this is going be a news flash that that if you were a follower of Jesus that you are a saint. I thought I'd get an amen or somebody feel better, right? Somebody, I told you, baby. I told you I was a saint.2:33 Alright. So, the good news is is that you are a saint. If you're a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus, then you're actually a saint. That's what the Bible refers to you as. I know your spouse doesn't but the2:45 Bible calls you a saint. You were a sinner, Alright? You were a sinner, but your identity, the core of who you are, if you've surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, is no longer a sinner. Now you are a wretched, black2:57 hearted sinner. Alright? Don't get me wrong. I don't want you to feel too good about yourself, but your current state is sainthood because the old is dead and you have been resurrected with Christ and you are a new3:08 creation and so, when god looks at you, the if you're a Christian, the reason he's not disappointed is because he sees the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ. He doesn't see your mistakes and3:19 your failings. He sees the perfect life lived out by Christ. It's a part of what the Bible means. I quote it almost every week. For god made him who was without sin to be sin for us so that we3:31 could become his righteousness that when if you're a Christian, whether you just became 1 tonight or or you've been 1, you know, you're in Sunday school with Moses and you've been walking with Jesus for a long, long time3:41 that you, regardless of your past or even your current struggles, you and I, if you're a follower of Jesus, is a saint. That should make you feel better about yourself. Now, as Peter went here and there, among3:53 them all, he came down also to the saints who lived in at, I know it's L Y but it's pronounced Luda. There he found a man named Anias bedridden for 8 years who was paralyzed4:05 and Peter said to him, now notice this, Peter just initiates this That that Anas doesn't even ask for this but he just initiates it and he says, Anas, Jesus Christ heals you.4:17 This is important. That Peter takes 0 credit for the healing. He just says, Jesus Christ heals you. He he doesn't, Peter don't even saying, you know what? It's kind of a big4:29 deal that he's working through me, ain't it? I don't know if you've heard about me but I am a big deal. My nickname is The Rock. The whole church is going to built be built upon me, right? None of that. None of that.4:39 There's no ego involved but it's it's Jesus that heals him. And here's what he says. So, he says, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed and all the mama said,4:51 amen. See, it's in the Bible, right? There you go. If you want to quote a verbal, memorize a verse, you ought to memorize that 1. Literally, in the Greek, what this means is rise and take care of your mat. That's what it5:03 means. So, it was customary for paralyzed folks to lay on these mats to just kinda hang out on these on these mats. So, you know, help prevent bed sores and those kind of things and if they were and often times, if if5:14 you were paralytic, then they would kinda place you in different places around town. You'd beg for money, that kind of stuff and so they would place you on these mats and 1 of the things that I've always found just kind5:25 of interesting, weird, seems like you don't really need to do this is in the gospels, Jesus heals this paralyzed guy and he says, rise and take up your mat and I5:37 would think, why in the world would you want to take that nasty thing with you, okay? Because think about it. You're not, especially if you're paralyzed, everything you do all day is happening on the mat. You you track5:46 it with me? Everybody there? Do I need to illustrate this any further? This is nasty math, right? And you would think that after you were healed and after you were whole and after you've been healed in the5:58 name of Jesus and and Peter says, Jesus heals him, alright? So, after you're healed by Jesus, it seems like you would just want to leave all of that behind you and so, Jesus commands the guy6:10 in the gospels to take up your mat and now, Peter following exactly what his rabbi told him to do. He says, make your bed, take care of your mat, you take your mat with you. Why? Why?6:22 Remember last week, we said that that we should we should neither deny nor be defined by our past. This is a part of it. Do you realize that that when Christ heals6:34 you and and you are a new creation in him that your past doesn't disappear but it just does not, it no longer determines your future and the dirtier the mat, the6:46 more glory that goes to god and that's why you should not be ashamed of the things that you used to do because you're not the person that you've used to be and so for those of you that6:57 were that were saved out of just I I mean, just some really really bad circumstances, okay? Then, you do not hang your head in the kingdom of god and7:09 regardless of how good you think you were, we were all paralyzed and crippled and laying on a mat and so in the kingdom of god, no 1 walks with a swagger or a7:21 limp. There's no place for either of those. Nobody walks in this boastfulness as if you got up off the mat on your own and yet, no 1 should hang their head in condemnation because7:33 in Christ, there is no condemnation and now, I can tell you what too. 1 of the ways that you can check on church people to see if they possess the heart of god or the heart of a7:44 Pharisee is you let a bunch of paralyzed people start hopping up off of their mats, okay? And then you see the response of the church people. Because you will either focus on the7:56 mat or you'll focus on the miracle, okay? And if you find yourself focusing on the mat, what used to be and the filth and crud that used to be, then I've I've got really bad news for8:08 you. You you're on the wrong team. You're not on god's side when it comes to people coming to know him. Now, nobody ever realizes that they're there, okay? It's a hard 18:20 but it's what it's what makes a Pharisee a Pharisee. You see, every time in the New Testament, when people would get saved, the religious people would get aggravated. Okay? Every time life change8:32 happens in the name of Jesus, religious people gets get aggravated. That means when those people are sitting in your seat, you get aggravated. That means when those people start infiltrating8:43 your church, you get aggravated. Can I just tell you it's the 1 time I've ever told somebody they're not welcome in the church I pastor? I've done it 1 time, alright? This couple comes in and they were very concerned8:55 about my preaching and which I don't blame em. I mean, come on. You know, who can blame em for that? But what they were concerned with is they said I was watering down the gospel to which I went, who the hell? Are you9:05 talking to me? Alright? And I got offended. I mean, yelling mad. I'm in my office going, how dare you? I mean, I'm screaming. They're like, why are so emotional? I was like, the only thing you could accuse me of that9:16 would be worse, it'd be like accusing me of adultery, okay? I would be mad because I, this isn't just my job. This is who I am. I mean, I do my best to point people to the cross every single week. So, how dare you? And9:27 then, their hearts begin to be revealed a little bit because I said, if I'm not preaching the gospel, then, explain to me how how many hundred people got saved over this past month and then, they went to, yeah, but how9:38 do you really know they got saved? To which I went, 0, 0, 0, 0, you see the map, not the miracle. I I see where this is going and then shortly after that, in the conversation, they9:50 said, and we really have a problem with all these new people coming in because we think they are gonna pollute our church. I said, hold on. If you see people as10:01 pollutants, then there's the problem. Get out. Yeah, I'm the shepherd. I take care of the sheep, Alright? That means you feed the sheep. It also means you protect the sheep. Alright? You've got a rod and10:13 a staff. For some, you reach out and you hook the sheep and you say, come on sheep. And then with the rod, when the wolf comes, you wham him in the head as hard as you can. K? And so that's what I try to do in the name10:24 of Jesus. Alright? Amen. Yeah. And that's for you. That's for you. K? Now and and so what we as a church need to do because we can all10:36 slip towards that person's here and you know, right? And it's progressive sanctification. So, when you come up out of this water, it ain't like just everything's perfect from then on. There could be some slips10:48 and some falls and all that and we as a church have to stay focused on the miracle and not on the mat, alright? And when we find ourselves church slipping towards that kind of heart where we where where11:00 we don't see people as the object of god's grace, you know, he he saw people and loved them and died for them and we begin to see them as pollutants to our church. Then, we check each other and you go, hey, look, man. I11:12 know you love Jesus. So, come here. Hey, are you are you focusing on the miracle or the mat? And so, Peter, actually, Jesus, Peter says, Jesus Christ heals11:23 you. Now, let me tell you something else though as you get up and take care of your mat. You are never to lay back down on that thing. That that would just be dumb. Would that not be dumb? Can you imagine walking up and11:34 be like, oh, I'm so sorry for you. How long have you been crippled? And he got up off there. He's like, no, I'm good. You'd be like, dude, alright? Why would you lay in that? Right? You you don't have to lay in that mat11:46 anymore. Now, listen to me. Some of you that are not walking in a lifestyle worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't have to walk11:58 in that mat and you don't have to lay down in that anymore. Christ has has said, get up and walk. So, walk with him. Will you stumble and fall and stomp your toe? Yes and amen12:10 and by his grace, he'll pick you up every single time but how dare you lay back down in the filth that he rescued you from? Look, you you you mean more to him than that. He's given you the power of the holy12:21 spirit. Quit white knuckling the thing and just abide in him. Abide in him and he'll abide in you. That that's a Bible word for stay close. Stay close to him. He'll stay close to you and then the fruit just kind of12:33 starts popping out, okay? And so, if if you've if if he's healed you, if you're if you're a Christian and you've and you and you look around and you're just still in the filth,12:45 then get up. Don't deny nor be defined by that mat but you towed it with you and the dirtier the mat, the greater the sin and the greater the glory goes to12:57 him. Now, it says, and immediately, he rose and all the residents of Luda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the lord.13:09 So, once again, in Acts, we see that god uses the the the life or the testimony, the changed life of people to draw men and women unto himself.13:21 He's like the master of making miracles out of messes and he does it. He does it once again. Now, I tell you about that part 32 through 35. Really just to set up what's coming next. So, Peter13:33 heals this guy or Jesus heals him according to Peter but but Peter was there. So, he kind of gets some of the credit for it and so word begins to spread about Peter and these amazing things and these miracles that he's13:43 doing and so word spreads all over that region which sets us up for the next miracle and where I want to spend the large majority of our time. Verse 36. Now, there was in Joppa, a disciple named Tabitha13:54 which translated means Dorcas which is a beautiful name. Okay? Dorcas. In fact, I would really encourage you dads. If you're looking for a biblical name for your daughter for you14:06 expecting dads, I would encourage you to go with Dorcas, okay? I mean, it really is it means gazelle, which is pretty. The good news14:18 if you name your daughter Dorcas is she won't date until she's 30, so that could be in your favor. So, Tabitha is Aramaic and Dorcas is Greek and so14:30 Luke wanted everybody in Aramaic and Greek to be able to understand. So, Dorcas, what a pretty name. So, she was full of good works and acts of charity.14:44 You know, we're all full of something? She was full of good works and acts of charity and in those days, she became ill and died and when they had washed14:56 her, they laid her in an upper room and since Luda was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent 2 men to him, urging him, please come to us without15:08 delay. I don't know if you've have walked through this but there's so many times where where god will use tragedy to draw people unto himself. You you15:20 heard it in Amber's testimony. That god can use some of the toughest times to draw men and women unto himself because a lot of times what tragedy does in our lives is it just it just it just15:32 moves away the things that are not that important and so the people that were close to Tabitha, we're just going to call her Tabitha. The people that are close to her when she dies and then they hear that15:44 this rock star, Peter, Rocky, I mean, you know, like the 1st pope, he's just 1 town over. It's about 17 miles away, I think. He's just 1 town over and he's healing people in the name of Jesus, then,15:56 we've got to go get him and they go and they urge him and they urge him to come in verse 39 and so Peter rose and he went with them and when he arrived, they took him to the16:08 upper room. Now, here, this next line is where I want to spend some time on. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other16:20 garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. All the widows, all of them, all of the widows, this lady, Tabitha or16:31 Dorcas, has such an impact in her community that when she dies, it's not your average funeral, okay? Why? Because she's full of good works and charity and what did she do? Was she a16:43 miracle worker? Mm-mm. Was she a pastor or a preacher? Not, was she was she an evangelist? No. You know what she did? She was a seamstress.16:55 That's it. She just, you know, she would sew garments for who? For whoever needed them in town. And and I'm sure while she's doing this in her community, she's probably thinking, you17:06 know, this is really not that big a deal. Okay, I'm no Peter. I'm no John. I'm not healing people. I'm not getting lame guys to walk. I'm not proclaiming the gospel around the world. I'm not really doing anything super17:18 significant in this world, okay? Because my because really Tabitha would say, my talents are pretty minimal. Alright, I I just I know some people in my community that have some needs and so, I don't know how to preach17:29 and I don't know how to sing and I can't do a miracle but you know what I can do? I can make a tunic and so she would just, you know, and you don't make 1 at a time, I'm sure and so she would just make 1 and hand it out17:41 and then find out somebody else needed 1 and she go, okay, well, I can do that and she would make a tunic. She would hand it out and so, she had that kind of impact in her community over such a long period of17:53 time that on the day of her death, what happens? The entire community surrounds the place. I mean, they all show up and when Peter, the miracle18:04 worker, when he shows up to town, there's there's weeping and they're like, look what she did for me and none of the stories are miraculous. You get that? This is what this is what I18:16 love up to this point about her and the impact that she had in her community. She didn't do anything that that just any ordinary average person could've done. But it has18:28 this incredible impact. And so on the day of her death, all of these people show up kind of in her name and just weeping. I mean, it it has a18:40 big deal in their lives. It means something. She meant something big in her life. I don't know if you've ever read the book. I I'm sure you have. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People18:52 by Stephen Covey. I got a hold of that book really late. I became the executive pastor at Beach. I don't know maybe 5 or 6 years ago and when I became the executive pastor there, I thought, I19:04 should probably read grown up books because before that, I was a youth pastor, right? And so, you read youth pastor books like, what do you do? If somebody toots during Bible study, right? And you're like, oh, it's a19:13 whole chapter and you read on that or wanna cast out a demon? Send the 7th grader home from camp. You know, that kinda chatters on that. So, so when I grab that19:25 book, the 2nd chapter of that book, the 2nd principle of highly effective people is begin with the end in mind and so Stephen Covey, he he walks you through this this exercise19:36 and as I read this passage, that's that's 1 of the 1st things I thought about. The exercise in the book is imagine that you are at your own funeral. I mean, imagine, you know, you get all19:48 dressed up and you and you go down to the church or to the chapel or wherever you you're going to get married and and there's everybody's, you know, dressed up and there's flowers and and you walk up to the casket and19:57 it's you and then you get to be a witness at your own funeral. Well, what do you want people to say about you? Because you you realize that20:09 the the the death rate in America right now is hovering right around 100 percent. I don't know if you guys are on to that, right? Right about 100 percent and so, there will come a day whenever unless20:20 Jesus comes back to get us where you and I were going to die and and they're going to dig a hole and put us in a box and put us in it and shovel dirt in our face and everybody's going go back to church and eat potato20:32 salad, alright? And and somebody's going to have to say some stuff about you on that day. Well, what do you want folks to say about you? I20:44 mean, if you had 4 or 5 people that were going to speak at your funeral, well, what would they say? And in fact, even a better question is, what would you hope that they say?20:56 I mean, would you hope they they would stand up there and go, hey, I just want to tell you about my good friend here. I I'm just, he was so fit. I mean,21:08 his abs, seriously y'all, his they were unbelievable, Or I mean, my my friend, she had21:19 accessories. I mean, the way her earrings and bracelets would match her socks that nobody could, it was to die for. Right? Think think about21:31 it. Well, they, let me tell you about about my my dad. My dad was so busy. Oh, man. You've never met someone as busy as my dad. Think about it.21:43 What do you hope they say about you? If you want homework at church, why don't you do this? Why don't tonight when you get home? Why don't you spend a little time And say, but here's what I hope folks would say21:55 about me because guess what the reality is? The reality is that you know what they're going to say then? They're going to say then the script that you're writing right now. That's what they're going to say.22:07 They are going to say then the script that you are writing right now. You know what they said about Tabitha?22:19 Hey, she was full of charity. She was full of good works. Look what the widows, the widows would have been like the least of these in the 1st century. They didn't have anybody to take care of em and so the least22:31 of these in that community would have all shown up and they would have said, look, look what she did for me. So, what about you? What's the script that's going to be read in your life?22:43 Wow, he was successful. I mean, he was so successful. His car was so fast. Have you ever been to 1 of those kind of funerals? It's a real22:55 shame, isn't it? Ain't it a real shame when you've been to 1 of those kind of funerals and everything is superficial and everything is temporary and everything is worldly and you just sit back and go, oh no. That's the23:06 best that they could come up with. Oh, no. Well, what are they going to say about you at at yours? In a few weeks, I'm going to give you my whole23:18 spiel on what I hope they say at mine, alright? When we get to, when we get to Acts chapter 11. But I'll give you a couple of hints for me. I I I don't care if anybody gets up and said, that dude23:30 built a mega church. Do you know it's not even on like my top 20 list? Not even close. Today, what I was doing right before this service started is I23:42 was coaching rookie baseball, okay? You know why? Because I was dumb enough to pray for patience at 1 time in my life and the lord went, okay, coach rookie baseball, alright? Oh my goodness.23:54 So, that's why I don't give a coach a bat. You know, get back at your. So, that was going on but you know, a part of the reason? It's because I want people to talk about me as a dad before they ever mention me24:06 as a pastor. That's part of the script I want to write. It's part of the script that I want to write. What about you? What's the script that you are writing?24:19 Gretchen and I got married in in 2000, which is awesome because I can always remember how long we've been married just based on the year. So,24:31 I would suggest it if you had the opportunity. So, Gretchen's granddad was was 1 of the officiants in our in our wedding and Gretchen's granddad, her24:42 mom's dad, was a church planter. Ain't that cool? And and so he and I kind of had a bit of a connection, know, because he's a pastor and and I'm a pastor and we would talk and and I really24:54 looked up to him a ton and and and it's really cool because he was a pastor for, I mean, just for a long, long time and he planted churches and the church that Gretchen grew up in, her granddaddy25:06 planted and when he finished, when he retired from full time vocational ministry, then, he didn't retire because I don't know if you're aware of this but the25:18 idea of retiring is is not in the Bible. You get that? Like, there's like you don't when the lord is your boss, you don't retire. You just change jobs but you, you know, your25:29 employer may change but the idea of I'm going to work a ton now and save up a bunch of money and just play golf forever. That that's cool. It's just not biblical and so, what he did after he planted all these churches25:39 and served and served and served and he and he was no longer the plant or lead pastor of his church or senior pastor of his church. He and his wife became house parents at this boy's25:51 home in Virginia and so, they spent really the majority, the rest of their life just discipling these young men from around Virginia that had26:03 nowhere to live and no parents and those kinds of things, alright? Just pouring into these young men, pouring into em for years and years and years and then just a few months after after Gretchen and I got26:15 married, her grandfather got sick, went in the hospital, and everybody thought he was going crazy. They came to me and said, you need to talk to him. He's going crazy and I went in there and talked to him and he said,26:26 I'm not coming out of here and so, they, you know, the family saying, oh, he's paranoid and he's losing it and I went and talked to him and came out and I said, I think he just knows the lord and he has a spirit of26:36 discernment and he just kind of knows what's going on and so he got his house in order and got everybody ready and he did not come out of the hospital. He passed away and so just a few months after marrying his26:47 granddaughter, I had the opportunity and privilege of burying him. And I mean, you don't talk about intimidating, right? It's pretty intimidating.27:00 Until you begin to hear the story of his life. I mean, what a phenomenal man. Now, I met him, you know, just in the last few months and years of his life and when I met him, he was 1 of those. 1 of the27:11 reasons I want to be an old preacher is because when you get to be an old preacher, you can say whatever you want to say. I mean, you think I say some stuff now and I'm kind of throttled back because I I want to have a27:22 while to do this but that dude would just say whatever he wanted to say. 1 time, we were at Easter dinner. You know, we're going to church with him, heard him preaching and then we go to Gretchen's parent's27:34 house for Easter and the whole family comes over and Gretchen had this cousin at that time. She was late teens, early twenties and she was all pierced up and and she had her her hair which is all these different kind of27:44 colors and I'll never forget when she comes walking in and he just went, well, the Easter egg's here and I just thought, oh, I love you. I love you are my hero. I love you. So awesome. See, we just say stuff like that27:56 all the time. So so he here's what I'll I'll never forget at his funeral and quite honestly,28:09 it's an easy funeral to do because of the script that he wrote. I mean, we could still be there just talking about how he served the Lord in his time and then went to sleep28:20 and he did. He was a faithful husband. He was a good dad and he was an incredible pastor in this great church planter but 1 of the most significant things 1 of the28:32 biggest takeaways I had is when we went to the graveside and there was there was all of these dads like maybe in their 30s with all these little kids and all these kids were at the funeral and I didn't I28:44 didn't recognize any of the kids and so I'm leaning over to Gretchen and I'm like is that your cousins? Who are these all these little kids? And she she kinda leans over and goes, no, no, no, you remember remember28:54 granddaddy was a he was 1 of the house parents at the boys home and so all of these boys that he had poured into for all of those years when they were 5, 6, 7, up into29:06 their teenage years. They had moved off to all over the country and then at his funeral, they showed back up and it wasn't just them anymore. They had their kids29:18 and and I'll never forget there's this little red headed kid. It's curly, little, red headed boy and his daddy was leaning down all over him going, this is who taught me about Jesus.29:31 Come on, man. Did you know that Gretchen's granddad never, at least the church that she grew up in, it's not a huge church, I mean it's not really big, that big at29:42 all, okay? It it might be, there's there's probably more people in your section on a Thursday night than are at their church maybe in the whole thing. So, it wasn't about making a big church but that29:54 dude made an an eternal impact on that community and and not just on that community but for generations to come, the life, the the30:06 script that he wrote. I mean, it was it was a significant impact. And I appreciate it so much. I appreciate that that my30:18 kids are part of his heritage. So, what about you? What about you? If you were like Tabitha, I mean, if the day was30:30 your last day, and we had a funeral for you and somebody stood around and somebody's going to say something. What would you, what would they say right now? And how does that compare to30:42 what you would hope that they would say? Well, listen, you write the script that determines what they will say. And so the script of Tabitha30:54 is that she had a tremendous impact on her community. And what I want you to hear is this, and she wasn't a pastor, and she wasn't a church planner, and she wasn't a miracle worker, and she wasn't a superstar, and she31:06 didn't have any kind of extraordinary gifting. She was just simply full of good works and acts of charity. Verse 40, but Peter,31:21 but Peter put them all outside and he knelt down and he prayed and turned into the body. He said, Tabitha, notice he didn't call her Dorcas, right? He went with Tabitha and he says, Tabitha,31:32 arise. Now, this is a resuscitation, not a resurrection because she's going to die again sometime later but she's, you know, god decided, we're not quite done with you. So, come on back. So, she came on back31:44 and she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up and then calling the saints and the widows, he presented her alive.31:56 Ta the. And then what happens? And it became known throughout all of Joppa and many believed in the lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with32:08 1 Simon, a tanner. And get this, he presents her alive and many believed in the lord. You know why many believed in the lord? Because she had such an incredible32:20 impact on those many. Do you do you know what? Do you know what you don't know about the rest of your life? You have no idea what hangs in the balance for32:32 the rest of your life. You have no idea the kind of eternal impact that god won't might want to have through you and you may never have some kind of big32:44 ministry and big church and it really is irrelevant but you have no idea what hangs in the balance. So, I want to ask you this question.32:57 Will you spend your time making a name for yourself or making a difference because 1 of the things I love about this description of Tabitha is it says, all the widows stood beside him33:08 weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. That she had a limited amount of time and what did she do? She was not very interested in making a name for herself and33:20 some of us, especially, listen, the American dream is to do what? Is to make a name for yourself. It is the pursuit of happiness. Oh, god save us when that becomes an idol in our life.33:32 When we spend the majority of our time trying to make much of us. Do you realize that's actually the exact opposite of what it means to be a disciple of Christ? And so for the rest of these days, you have a choice to33:44 make. You can spend the rest of your days trying to make a name for yourself or make a difference. I don't know if you've been to a greyhound race. Obviously, you33:56 wouldn't admit it because we're here in church but when I've years and years and years ago, when pastor Ryan 1st moved to town, I said, come on, get in the car. We're going to the greyhound race. Alright, I'm going to34:06 see what this is all about and so we we found out we're running the Greyhound tracks was and we went and it was kind of an unbelievable place, right? I mean, it was crazy and and34:18 we go into the place and and see all the the betting and the gambling going on and my my biggest takeaway from that is it doesn't look like these folks have the extra income to be gambling on the dog34:30 race but that was just an observation, alright? And then so, we go out to the to the track to watch the dogs and actually, we we were so out of the loop on Greyhound races. We didn't even know there weren't even live34:41 Greyhounds at the 1 that we were at. So, we were just watching em in like Jersey or something. I don't know where they were running but they were running somewhere. And if you've ever been there, you know, you know what34:50 a greyhound looks like, right? It's ugly. It's dog alive. That's why. After they quit, right? And I know, Imma get an Email but I love greyhounds. Okay. God bless you. Alright? Your dog's ugly. Get over it. So, But when35:01 you look at them, they look like they're running even when they're standing still, doesn't it? It's like a supermodel dog all sucked in. When they run, they look awesome. When they're standing there, they look like, you35:11 think they're gonna tip over. Okay? You gotta get moving. It's like a bicycle with no rider. It's just kinda and and and so when you get to the Greyhound race and and they're putting the dogs in the kennel, man, I35:23 mean, the dogs are just going bonkers. Why? Because they were built to run. I mean, god made em to run and to race but they race each other all the time. So, you know, they know each other. They're like, what's up,35:33 Ralph? Hey, Ted. Like, I'm going to smoke you today. You're like, whatever, bro. Watch this. Boom. You know, they're to go and they line em up in that thing and and the announcer comes over the thing and and and he, you35:44 know, when that that rabbit, fake rabbit thing comes out and they go, here's Rusty and I don't know why they call it Rusty. I'm not I'm not that into it. I just want that 1 time but when Rusty pops out, the dogs go35:55 crazy. I mean, they are like, oh my, there he is again. There he is. He was here yesterday and he's fast. He is fast but I'm feeling it today. Okay? I switched to a36:07 Purina and I've got, you know, stretched out the hammies and boom, I'm on it. And so they're all jumping around and barking and going crazy and you know, they got the little muzzle things on and and and it's it's intense36:18 and then, boom. You know, Rusty comes down and then they they take off. You ever seen them running? I mean, they don't run like regular dogs. It's just reach and pull, reach and pull, you know, and they're running and36:29 they're going around that thing and going around that thing and then, I mean, with everything they're made of, you know, and they're kinda elbowing each other in the turn and and then right when they get to the end, the36:38 rusty, the rabbit just boop, he just disappears and they all get to that hole and they're like, wait, I he was here. Where is he? Where is he? Dude, he's fast. You know, they're freaking out. And when you stand as36:50 a person, you go, what a stupid greyhound. How dumb do you have to be to continuously chase after something that's not even real? What a dumb greyhound.37:03 So guess what's gonna happen tomorrow morning when you wake up? You think you hear the alarm, but you know what the alarm is? Here's Rusty. And you're like, here we go again. Here we go again.37:15 Whoo. And you get all fired up about whatever it is. Whatever it is. It could be your career. It could, I mean, whatever it is. And you can spend the rest of your days37:28 chasing after something. It's not even real. And and competing with other people chasing after a fake rabbit and because you were disappointed37:40 1st, you think you won. Now, what the guys at the track told me because they're experts. They said, you know, I mean, Rusty is just this mechanical rabbit. So, sometimes Rusty breaks down, right?37:52 I mean, it happens. Rough day for Rusty. And what will typically happen is, you know, I mean, they're running and running and running and they're thinking, he pulled up blame and they'll go, bye and they'll tear their38:03 muzzle off and they'll rip the little fake pillow, bunny rabbit, rusty, they'll rip it apart. And you know those dogs won't run anymore. They won't run anymore.38:15 Why? Because they think, man, here it is. Finally, my 1 goal that I've been trying to pursue my entire life and when they go to sink their teeth in it, they go, I've been had.38:27 He's not. You've got to be kidding me. Right? Could've just been chilling at somebody's house, you know, just eating purina and hanging out and I've been chasing after this rabbit and and38:39 I bit it and it wasn't filling at all. There was not even real. And so, quite honestly and and the guys at the track were telling me, I mean, you know, it's so38:51 sad because the dogs have like lost their purpose and I go, well, I don't know what's more sad. Is it more sad to chase after something your entire life that's not even real and never attain it? Or to actually grab39:02 on to it and realize you've been fooled. So, some of you set all these kind of goals, right? And and you've been living in this, youShow more
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Will You Trust God Enough to Step Out of the Boat? - Deepen with Pastory Joby Martin: Matthew S8E3 Joby Martin
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