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0:00 His name is Elvis Presley and he used to just had this little taken care of business necklace and we thought that was cool and so over the last 3 weeks or this is the 3rd week of this series, taking care of business.0:09 Week 1, we talk about taking care of people around the world and right here at home and that was our compassion week. Most churches do a compassion Sunday. We now do a compassion week where we really just try to expose0:21 our church to the needs around the world and the needs right here in our own congregation. So, we launched our needs board back here in the corner. So, at any time before or after services, what we do is is we've got0:32 people in our own church family that have some needs and so they just write them down and put their name and information on that board back here and then we encourage everybody else to go by and check the needs board to0:42 see if there are some needs in our church family that we can meet. I think it was Jim Elliot that said that the light that shines farthest shines brightest at home. So, for us, it's not either either or. It's yes, we0:52 want to meet the needs around the world and yes, we want to meet needs right here at our very own church and our own city. That's what this thing that you're sitting on is all about. If you wanna get plugged into a1:01 ministry to serve during Christmas time, just pick 1 and go for it. You don't need my permission or maybe you do. God bless you. There you go. You've got permission. Go and serve. Now, I want to talk to you real quick1:10 about compassion and what happened. I haven't updated you yet and I feel a little bit like a proud papa because this isn't like a competition except we won. So, that's the only thing about that. So,
1:22 the goal was that we would sponsor 3 500 kids on Compassion Sunday. We sponsored 8 0 3, alright? Amen? That's cool. The Compassion Mobile Experience that was
1:34 parked in our parking lot all all week last week. Couple of things happened there. 1st, there was a new record of number of people that went through it. There was 2158 and we shattered the
1:46 previous record of people that had experienced that and the previous record was held by a church called Brook Hills who has a has a pretty famous pastor in in regards to not real famous. There's like real famous and then
1:57 there's Christian famous, okay? So, his name is David Platt. He wrote the book Radical and Radical 2 and You Better Be Radical and Radical Some More. You know, all those radical books. He wrote all of those. And in his
2:08 church, they had they had about about 1400 people go through the experience and we shattered his record. And again, not that it's a competition, but I can't wait to meet him and let him know that, oh, I got the title.
2:20 Okay. That's how that works. So and we we also set the record for the number of children sponsored at the experience. We beat Brookhills His Church too. And this is the
2:32 1st time that the Compassion Mobile experience has been fully staffed by volunteers from the church. That means you volunteered for every volunteer opening that they had
2:43 available and we extended the hours. We decided last minute to stay open later and you filled all the spots and even maybe even more important to this. I'm stoked about this. I got a really long letter from Compassionate
2:55 International this week saying, way to go on the number of sponsorships because because you as a church, church of 11 22, we sponsor more kids per capita than any other church in the history of Compassion International.
3:06 That's neat. But also, they just said, they've never been treated so well as they were treated last week by our church family. Just by the love and the grace that that you poured out to them. So, way to go.
3:18 Way to go. So that was week 1. We took care of business around the world. I mean, we really did. And then last week, we talked about really taking care of church church business. And I preached 7 22
3:30 and then pastor Ryan preached 11 22 because I was in New York City all week last week with my wife and that was quite an experience. I mean, there's 8000000 people, not 1 smile in the whole place. Alright? And you you
3:42 wanna freak out a New Yorker? Just looking right in the eye at at the little checkout aisle and just say, Merry Christmas and their their head blows up. Alright? They don't know what to do with that. Like, it's happy
3:51 holidays. Okay. Imma focus in on the 1 Christmas. Alright. So, I I told merry Christmas to everybody I could but last week, pastor Ryan spoke on Sunday and I did on Thursday about taking care of church business, about
4:01 supporting the the operating budget of our church and you are taking care of business. Way to go. If you're new to our church, you know, we don't pass a plate. That's not how we roll. At the end of the service, we
4:12 respond to the gospel by singing. We respond by praying and we respond by bringing to god what's already his in our tithe and offering boxes here or you can go to the giving kiosk in the back and and again, you guys are
4:24 doing a a great job there and then this week, this week, I wanna talk about taking care of your own business. Taking care of you. I'm entitled to this dream job and and I don't want you to think it's about you having
4:35 your dream job but are you living out god's dream for you? Are you maximizing god's potential in your life? Because here's what I know because I've had enough lunches
4:47 and coffees and and read the prayer request of some of you some of you just feel stuck, you feel bored, you're praying to God that this isn't it. I mean, you're
4:59 hoping, you believe, you know deep in here, there is more to life than the life that you're living. You feel like you need to be rescued from this ordinary life, That you get up tomorrow and you're gonna have the same
5:09 breakfast you always have and you're gonna go clock in to wherever you clock in and it just kinda feels like blah. And then you get home and and you just watch some lame TV and some of you are thinking, what am I gonna
5:19 do when football season's over? Right? And and that's just kinda the life that you're that you're living and you're thinking, there must be more to life than this. My college professors told me once I got to this place
5:30 in my life, everything would click. I mean, it's called the American dream and your dream is like, uh-oh, it's kind of like a nightmare because nothing is really happening and you know that god did not create you to
5:42 live an average, ordinary, mundane, boring kind of life but he came that you might have life and have it abundantly and so this morning, what we're going to talk about, we're going to walk through the scriptures. We're
5:53 in Acts chapter 5 verse 17 and we're going to talk to you about living god's god's potential for you but not for you but for the glory of
6:05 his name. So Acts chapter 5 verse 17, if you hadn't been with us during this series, you know that Peter and John who are apostles, they just go around town in Jerusalem and they preach the
6:17 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every opportunity they have. They just preach the the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and about every other chapter, they get arrested and something happens. So, here we are again.
6:27 We're going to find out they get arrested again. That's where we pick up the story in Acts 5 17. Says, but the high priest rose up and all who were with them, that is the party of the Sadducees and filled
6:39 with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and they put them in public prison. Now, notice this, that the religious leaders are filled with jealousy. We've learned in the 1st 4 chapters of the book of Acts that the that
6:51 the followers of Jesus were filled with the holy spirit. This isn't even the point. This is just free. Did you know you cannot simultaneously be filled with jealousy and the holy spirit Because the holy spirit is full of
7:01 love. The holy spirit is full of freedom. The holy spirit is not focused on on on what others have but is focused on glorifying Jesus and so, you can either be full of jealousy or you
7:13 can be filled with the holy spirit but you can't be full of both and so the religious leaders, they are filled with jealousy and a part of the reason that they're filled with jealousy is because their services are
7:22 diminishing and the services at the apostles church, they are booming. Everybody's going to their church now and so when they bump into people and they say, hey, you know, we hadn't seen you in our services. What's going
7:32 on? And the people are saying, well, look, your service is great. You read Isaiah, but Peter hit my grandma. Okay? So we're going to Peter's service. Like her leg grew back. So that's the church we're going to, alright?
7:42 So, peace out. We're gonna be there and so, people in power especially when they're addicted to power and and power is slipping through their fingers, man. They just squeeze tighter
7:54 and tighter and tighter and so and so what they do is they arrest these men. And not only that, there's some political stuff going on. You see, the the Jewish ruling council is under the authority of the Roman
8:04 government. And the Roman government doesn't care about what religion is practiced in Jerusalem. All they want is peace and and taxes. That's all they care about. Just just don't get disruptive and pay your taxes and
8:16 so, the sadducees and the Pharisees and the Jewish ruling council, they understand if if this whole Jesus movement thing keeps going because there's thousands and thousands of people from all the surrounding areas and
8:26 they're coming in to get healed because the apostles are healing people in the name of Jesus and it's causing a disruption. They know that the the Roman government will say, look, if Pharisees and sadducees, if if you
8:36 can't control this, we'll kick you out and get somebody in power that can control it. So, they're going to stop it. That's what they think and so they arrest the apostles and they put them in public prison. Verse 19, and
8:46 during the night, an angel of the lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all words of this life and when they heard this,
8:58 they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Look, look at the relentless obedience of the apostles. I mean, they are just relentlessly obedient because if I get locked up and put in jail for preaching Jesus
9:09 in the temple and then the angel lets me out and says, go preach Jesus in the temple. I might have a conversation about, hey, bro. You know that's how I got here in the 1st place. So I can I can free up your calendar
9:19 next week by not going to jail, by not going to the temple? But not the disciples, not the apostles. They are relentlessly obedient to what they have been commanded to do. Listen to me.
9:32 God does not set us free for our own preferences, but for his purposes. Some of you have been set free from addictions, from bondage, from debt, have been set free from some of those
9:44 things but it's not just for you to settle in to this life that is to make you comfortable but it's for you to be relentlessly obedient to god's command and god's call in your life and so that's
9:55 what they did. And then now, when the high priest came, this is verse 21. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together this council and all the senate of the people of
10:07 Israel and they sent them to the prison to have them brought. Verse 22, but when the officers came, they didn't find them in the prison, so they returned and they reported. We found the prison securely locked and the
10:18 guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no 1 inside. Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them,
10:29 wondering what this would come to, and someone came and told them, look, these men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people, to which the temple guard said, ain't that where we found them
10:38 yesterday? Can you imagine how frustrating this must be for the people in charge trying to squelch Christianity? Every time they arrest them, an angel lets them out of jail. And by the way, this is just God being funny.
10:50 Alright? The 3 bible nerds in here, you'll get this. This is funny. The sadducees, 1st of all, they don't believe in a resurrection. That's why they're sad, you see. That's how you can remember that. Alright? And I know
11:00 it's cheesy, but tomorrow tomorrow At some point in your life, you're gonna be like, sadducees didn't even believe in the resurrection. People like, oh, wow. They're so smart. Alright. So and not only that. So if they
11:10 didn't believe in the resurrection, they don't believe in angels. The sadducees don't believe in angels. So who does God use to get the apostles out of jail? An angel. So that when they show up and and the sadducees say,
11:21 what are you doing here? An angel let us out of jail. We don't believe in angels. I don't care what you believe. Ta da. Here I am. What you believe has no impact on what's reality. Okay? And so can you imagine how
11:32 frustrating this must be for the group of people that's trying to just just press out Christianity? What do you do with a group of people that do not mind being persecuted for for what they have seen and heard? My
11:43 favorite is the apostle Paul in the book of Philippians. He says this, to live is Christ and to die is gain. He wrote that from prison. So imagine how frustrating it is for this world that just can't get a hold of
11:55 somebody fully devoted to following Jesus Christ. If you don't shut up about Jesus, we will put you in jail. And Paul and the apostles would say, praise god. Give me a hymnal. I'm gonna sing praises to him and lead your
12:06 jailer to Christ. Well, then we're gonna kill you. Even better, then I'll be face to face to the 1 I was singing to. What do you do with that guy? That's the kind of slippery way
12:18 these guys live. It's like the handles that this world likes to grab hold of or beginning to fall off of the apostles and so, here they are again. Ta the, they are out of jail And
12:30 so, you can just imagine how frustrating this is. Verse 26, then the captain and the officers went and brought them not by force for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. Notice how the shift of power
12:41 is happening. You see, at 1st, they would come in force with swords and torches and say, you better quit talking about Jesus. Now, they're coming up to the guys as they're preaching to thousands of people going, hey,
12:52 guys. You mind coming back to jail with us? I mean, that that's how it's going now and so, Peter and John and the apostles are like, sure because it's got no hold on us, right? We we go wherever you wanna go and so they
13:03 go back. Verse 27 and when they brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name. They can't even say the name
13:15 of Jesus. You you ever notice how some things just kinda never change? Like even in our culture, 2000 years later, it's all good to believe in god the man upstairs and the higher power and all of that
13:27 works but you use that name Jesus and people start getting a little bit uncomfortable. Okay? They start getting a little uncomfortable. I mean, you in fact, we live in a kinda crazy culture where you can you can write
13:38 and produce an album that is so anti god. It's not even funny and yet, when you get an award to celebrate your album, you can thank the man upstairs and everybody goes, oh, I know he was spiritual. No, he's not.
13:50 No, he's not. But you start using that name Jesus and I'm telling you, it is a dividing line and so these guys, they can't even, they can't even use that name and yet, here you have filled
14:02 Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. You see, every time Peter got in front of these people, he said, you killed Jesus. Kinda got on their nerves. Verse 29. But Peter and the
14:12 apostles answered, we must obey god rather than men. Underline that in your Bible. This is this is important. We must obey god rather than men. Let me ask you this. I mean,
14:24 let's just be honest. I know this is church. No place for that. They'll just pretend, okay? That phrase that Peter has decided to live his life by. This is the 2nd time he said it. We must
14:36 obey god rather than men. If you're honest, it really cut you to your soul. Why? Why is the applause of man so important for so many of us? I mean, it just is, isn't it? We are people
14:48 pleasing machines. In fact, if you're in that place in your life or you feel like you're stuck, when you feel like, gosh, I hope there's more to this life. I'll bet a big part of the reason you're in that place
15:00 in your life, in this ordinary, average, mundane kind of life is because back when you were making decisions about the direction that your life would go, a lot of those decisions were made to please people, to please
15:10 your mom, to please your dad, to please your boss, to please your kids, to please everybody else except for that audience of 1. Why? Why? Why is it so important to us?
15:23 And look, preachers aren't exempt. Look, preachers are some of the worst people about pleasing people. There's there are many many pastors today standing in pulpits all across our country and they know god is calling
15:34 them to do something but they're afraid to disappoint the folks or they're afraid it might affect attendance and giving and those kind of superficial things and look, I know, I know what that feels like. You know, when
15:45 it's easy to be bold in your faith, when you're like a full time Christian like me, is when you're the youth pastor, when you're sitting in the back row and you've got comments about everything because every church
15:53 planner used to be a youth pastor and we'd all sit in the back row and and when church would happen, we'd like, if I was in charge, this is what I do and then the lord goes, alright, scooter, knock yourself out, alright?
16:02 And then, everything changes. And I can tell you, I know you think I enjoy just making you mad at me. I it it's not, you know, it's not my favorite thing to do. It's really not. None of us want to
16:14 disappoint people that are important to us and so, the apostle Peter, he's standing in front in front of a group of men that could kill him instantly and he says, look, we've gotta obey god rather than men.
16:25 We all seek the approval of people. I've never seen it more tangibly than this past week when I was in New York City with my wife, Gretchen. She and I and some friends went to to New York for the week. She always wanted
16:37 to see New York at Christmas and so that's what we did. We went and we were on the 6th floor of Macy's. I don't know why department store needs 6 or 7 or 8 or 10 floors. Where I grew up, the biggest building in town was
16:48 Walmart. Praise god, alright? And so, we're in the 6th floor of Macy's and you know why? Because Gretchen needs boots. She needs boots because who doesn't need boots? And in Macy's, they got a whole floor just for boots.
16:59 Alright? And and here's what happened. So so all you girls, I don't know exactly how it worked, alright? But about a year ago, some very influential woman decided, we all are gonna wear boots that look like
17:11 we came from the Lord of the Rings. Okay? That's what we're gonna do. We're wear boots up to here and on weather, it doesn't matter how hot or cold it is. We're wear boots up to here and and I don't know who decided it
17:21 but once 1 girl did it, she must have been hot and then everybody went, oh, I gotta have boots like that. And then and then and then 2 girls saw it and then 4 saw it and then and now it's all over New York and all the
17:30 way to Jacksonville. Alright? I'm talking about boots everywhere. Why? Now listen, I got no problem with boots. Alright? If you like The Hobbit and you wanna look like you are gonna be in the movie and wear you some
17:40 Hobbit boots, yourself out. I don't care. But the other day at staff, I even looked around and every girl I was like, what? Are y'all in a guild together? What is going on with the boots? And so I sat on this very
17:51 comfortable couch in Macy's and watched my wife try on boot after boot after boot and watched almost every woman. It didn't matter where they were from. It didn't matter. Just boots everywhere. Why? Because we just kinda
18:03 wanna be like everybody else. And again, I got not against boots. Alright? Rock on with your Lord of the Ring boots. But And you know what happened to me though? Was At 1st, I was like, man, what's this silly? Everybody
18:12 gotta have boots. Guess what I got? Boots. Alright. So It's just in us. It's just in us.
18:24 It became the applause of man and again, if you got on boots, praise god. If you don't, I don't care but there's some deeper things in your life. Some of you are in the career
18:36 you're in not because god called you there but because you're trying to live out somebody else's dream or you're trying to seek the approval of someone else or you're trying to chase after this thing called it the
18:47 American dream and Imma tell you, the American dream is a nightmare. Now, I'm pro America all the way, alright? And and god has blessed us like crazy. The the the saddest part of the American dream is when you achieve it
18:58 and you go, oh my goodness, it was so empty and so Peter says, Peter says, we must obey god rather than men. So, how about you? You see, we, if you've been a Christian for a
19:10 while, you love this verse, Jeremiah 29 11, alright? Your grandma probably has a coffee cup with it written on there, alright? You love this verse. This is a coffee cup verse. For I know the plans I have for you,
19:20 declares the lord. But we skip by that part and we get to the part about us. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you and you're like, praise Jesus. Give me some prosper and no harm. That's what I want. I am claiming
19:30 Jeremiah 29 11. But you can't run by the beginning where god says through the prophet Jeremiah, for I know the plans I have for you. Don't be living out anybody else's plans for you.
19:42 You live out my plans for you regardless of what that means. And so that's what Peter's saying. We must obey God rather than men. Verse 30. Now, the reason
19:53 he can do that is because he is not afraid and he is not insecure. Because Peter knows who he is because he knows whose he is. He knows that he is not his own, that he is bought at a
20:05 price. He has this gospel centered relationship with Jesus Christ and that's why every time he has the opportunity to speak, he always brings it back to the gospel. Verse 30, he's gonna share the gospel with the
20:17 people that are persecuting him for preaching the gospel. Verse 30, the god of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging on a tree and I think when you said that, the group went, we knew you were gonna say
20:27 that. Every time we get together, you tell us about how we killed Jesus. Verse 31, and God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior. So Peter's saying, I don't just trust Jesus for my eternity.
20:39 Didn't just surrender my life to Christ so that when I die, I can go to heaven. Jesus isn't just fire insurance for me. He's not just my savior, but he's also my leader. He doesn't just direct my eternity. He
20:51 directs my every steps today. And what my leader told me to do in acts 1 8 is, and you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. And I look
21:03 around, and guess what, fellas? I'm in Jerusalem. So I'm gonna preach and teach in the name of Jesus. And if that's a big crowd at the temple, praise God. And if it's 1 on 1 with a with a prison guard, then
21:15 praise God. I might not be able to determine the size of the crowd I'm gonna preach Jesus to. You might be in charge of that, but what I'm in charge of is being obedient to my leader and my savior. Now, what about you?
21:27 Is he your leader and your savior or is he just your fire insurance? You see, some of you are still bowing down to the idol of the applause of men. So,
21:40 in verse 32 or at the end of verse 31, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin. Verse 30, verse 32 and we are witnesses to these things and so is the holy spirit whom god has given
21:52 to those who obey him. I just think, I think it's awesome. He's on trial for preaching Jesus. So, what does he do as his defense? He preaches Jesus to the people that are arresting him for preaching Jesus. He's just
22:03 relentless to do what god has commanded him to do. Verse 33 and when they heard this, they were enraged and they wanted to kill him but a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a
22:15 teacher of the law held in honor by all the people. He stood up and he gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. So, he can talk about em. Verse 35 and he said to them, men of
22:27 Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. Alright, listen. This is why. See, Gamaliel is this older guy. Gamaliel he's wise. He's got some experience, some life
22:38 experience and it's why every church and really every organization but for my organization, why every church needs, that's why our church has a board of elders and and we've thank god we got some old people at our
22:48 church, alright? Here's why you need old people and old people, I'm not picking on you. We wanna be like you 1 day, alright? We wanna be old, okay? And so, it's because you've got some life experience and so what's going
22:58 on is that the Jewish ruling council, they're getting fired up and enraged and full of feelings and they're going, we're kill em and Gamaliel, this older guy is like, woah, woah, settle down, settle down, settle down.
23:08 You see, he's got a little experience. He he says, this has happened before. This isn't the 1st time that a movement began that had a leader and some people started following and so he's gonna share a little historical
23:19 context so that he could share some advice with this group of fired up people and so he says, men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. Verse 36,
23:31 for before these days, Thudas, that's a pretty name, isn't it? Thudas rose up. Some of you, maybe you're with child and you're looking for a boy name. There you go. Ain't that pretty? Thudas. It's biblical. Thudas rose
23:43 up claiming to be somebody and a number of men about 400 joined him. He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. Verse 37 and after him, Judas, maybe
23:55 another name you wanna stay away from if you're new to church and you're naming your babies, don't name him Judas. After him, Judas, the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after
24:06 him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So, what Gamaliel is saying is this isn't new. Let me just give you 2 examples. Judas and Judas, alright? They both started these little little movements and
24:18 we squish them and then it all went away and there's actually extra biblical history on these guys like Judas, the 2nd guy, he started this movement called the Zealots and what they did is in about 6
24:30 AD, the government wanted to take a census of all the people so they could raise the taxes. Can you believe that kind of stuff used to happen? And they, the Judas and the Zealots went, we we ain't playing. We're
24:42 not going to do that and so he started a little revolt and both Thudas and Judas, both of em, as soon as they squashed them, it it just all went away and so, Gamaliel sharing that just to give them a little bit of
24:53 context to verse 38. So, in this present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. Now, these next 2 lines, you need to underline them in your Bible. You need to highlight
25:05 them in your Bible. You need to bite your finger and bleed on them in your Bible. Something that would draw your attention back to back to this because there is, if you're not there today, there is going to be a time in
25:14 your life where you need to look at the advice that Gamaliel gives. So in this present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. Here's why. For if this plan or this
25:26 undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. Do you see what Gamaliel's advice is?
25:38 Gamaliel's advice is, listen, in this present case, there's only 1 of 2 things that can happen. Either this movement, this old Jesus came from heaven, died on the cross for the sin of all mankind, and resurrected from
25:49 the dead. Either that's true or it's false. If it's false, if Peter and John and the apostles are just making it up, if they're just great if they're just great community organizers, and if they're just great speakers,
26:01 and if they're just they're just great at at at rallying a crowd, well, then sooner or later, it's gonna die off anyway. But on the other hand, if this whole Jesus thing is true, if it's actually ordained
26:13 of God, then you can't stop it. There's nothing we could do as a ruling council that could stop god and we're supposed to be on god's team and what would that look like if we
26:24 actually found our self opposing god? So, I wanna ask you, what is Gamaliel's advice look like for you? What does it look like for you? You see, because some of
26:36 you, some of you are right on that edge and you know that god has planted his dream deep in your soul and you know it's there and the only reason you haven't done something about it because you're either
26:48 afraid or insecure. And you're waiting on somebody else to go, and you've got 15 excuses, and you've got too many responsibilities, and you know what I'm talking about. Maybe you've been clocking in to the same big
26:59 company that you've been working out for years and years and years, and you know God has put it in here for you to start your own business, but you've just been afraid. Or some of you, you're majoring in something in
27:09 school, but that's not your major, that's your dad's major. And your dad loves you and he's rooting for you, but you know that's not God's call on your life. That's your dad's call in your life and you know you need to
27:19 switch majors but you know it's going take more school or some of you know you need you know you need to go back to school or this is blasphemous in the 21st century. Some of you know you need to not do school. Hear all
27:31 the parents go, shut up. Don't tell my kids. Know. It's crazy, isn't it? Some of you moms, you know god's been saying, come home. Go, quit work, cut down your hours, go
27:43 come home, and raise those babies. Now, not because I'm saying so. Alright, some of you mamas need to go to work because you're driving your kids crazy, alright? I'm just, you know, some of you do. It's not about what
27:53 I'm telling you to do. I don't know what god's telling you to do but you do. You know exactly what he's saying. It's launch that company, it's launch that business, it's venture out on your own. And for a lot of you in
28:04 this room, it's to double back down on that calling that you received from him years ago, that he has strategically placed you in the company, in the workspace, in the workplace that you're in and and he
28:16 placed you there like a city on a hill or like a light in a dark place and you've gotten bored with it and you've taken your eye off of it. For some of you, a few of you, not many, he's calling you to step away step away
28:27 from that kind of workforce and go into full time ministry. Now, not everybody. There's no there's no sacred and secular. People make that up but god calls us all to do whatever he's called us to do and some of you are
28:39 right on that edge but you've been afraid to jump in And Gamaliel's advice to us today would be go for it. Why not? What do you have to lose? Because if it's up to you, if
28:51 this is just your own good idea, then it will fail and praise God, right? You get a little, you get a loan and some counseling and you'd be right back on your feet and but but at least you won't be living with
29:02 regret. At least when you are in your last days and you're looking back over your life, you won't be going, what if? I wonder if that really was the Lord nudging me to do something bigger than I ever
29:14 dreamed. And if it is God, if God is actually calling you to step away or to start it new or to come home or to go to work or to switch majors or
29:26 whatever it is that he is calling you to do, if it is God, then nothing can stop it anyway. And don't you wanna be on his side instead of seeing what you can do on your own? So Camellia would say,
29:38 look, just go for it. The point is this. I put it in your notes this way. Here's what I want our folks doing. I want a bunch of people here that are following Peter's example. That means we must obey God rather than men.
29:48 I'm not I'm not living out somebody else's dream for me. I'm gonna be obedient to what God has called me to do. I wanna follow Peter's example and I wanna take Gamaliel's advice. If this plan is of man, it will fail, but
30:00 if it is of God, you will not be able to stop it. Look, there, there are 2 times that I can think of right now that that I've had to just stare that Gamaliel's advice just just right down the
30:12 barrel of it. The 1st is when I surrendered to to go into the ministry. Now, some of you might look at at what's going on now and say, gosh, that must have been an easy decision but you know, when
30:24 I was making that decision, it wasn't at all. I didn't grow up in church. The the my only church experience was not super positive. There's a lot of things that I didn't understand. I didn't want to understand why men
30:34 wore dresses in church and and I didn't understand. I didn't even, the word pew meant something didn't smell good where I was from. I didn't want to sit in it, alright? So, there's just a lot of stuff about church that
30:44 that I didn't get. I was radically saved as a teenager at this camp and while I was at camp, coach Bully continuously put me in charge of everything. The 1st sermon I preached was there. He just leaned over during the
30:56 worship service and said, alright, Joby Martin, you going to preach. What? Preach about what? Preach about Jesus. Preach about 30 minutes. Go. I mean, that was it. That's how I got into it. Led Bible studies there and
31:06 all of that but I I had no intention of working for church. None. In fact, I would tell coach Lee, I will never ever ever work at church. Alright? And
31:18 I went to school to be a doctor. I went to Virginia Commonwealth University, majored in biology pre med and you know why I wanted to be a doctor? Because I'd seen alright? Started school in 19 91 and ER was
31:30 awesome. I thought, well, I'll do that, okay? I'll be rich. Everybody will think I'm awesome. I've seen Doctor Cars. I've seen Doctor Wives. I'm I'm I'll sign up for all those, okay? That's what I want And in fact, my
31:42 freshman year, I saved up some money and got a pair of Doc Martens. You know why? Because when people say, what's your name? I was gonna go, Doc Martin. Boo you. What you got on that? How sweet would that be? And then,
31:54 another reason is is when I told my dad, dad, I think I'm to be a doctor. He kind of swelled up. He's like, man, that's right. Boy, my boy is going to be Doc Martin, right? He loved that. And so, it
32:05 was it was my right between my junior and senior year of college and everything was lined up for me to go to medical school. I'd taken my MCATs. I got into Medical College of Virginia. I had good grades.
32:17 All of that and and it's not because I'm that smart. It's just that the way that the educational system was set up, it's just set up for my brain, especially biology. You go into biology class and they say, this is your
32:28 arm. And then 9 weeks later, you go, what is that? You go, that's an arm. I go, congratulations. You got an A. And it just kinda progresses from there, right? It really is and so and so I I did all that and then the
32:38 problem was is that that was not god's call on my life. Now, if you're a doctor, god bless you. Praise god. If god's called you to be that, you better be a god glorifying doctor but
32:50 and and it would be sinful for you to step away from that and try to be a preacher and listen, doctors, I'll make a deal with you. You won't preach my sermons and I won't see your patients. See? And it'll all work out
32:59 beautifully. And and and all of that was sort of tough surrendering to that. I mean, remember thinking, man, I'm I'm my roommate in in college. He he would have given his left leg to get
33:11 into med school and he didn't get in and I I wasn't even sure I should go or not and I made it in. That was tough to tell him that But the really tough 1 was my dad. Call my dad and said, hey, let's take you out lunch,
33:22 took him to subway. We sat down. Eyeball to eyeball from 1 another and I said, daddy, I am not going to med school. I'm gonna go to seminary and you know what he said? What is
33:33 seminary? Didn't know what it was, okay? And I just found out too. So, and here's the thing, now my dad loves
33:45 me. He knew me probably better than I knew me but I still couldn't live out his call in my life. I had to live out the lord's call and he gave me very very wise advice. He was a little afraid that I was running from
33:55 responsibility and and and running for fun. So, let me tell all you 20 year olds in here that are ready to go home and say, mom, I'm dropping out of college because god told me. Alright, let me tell you. God is not a god
34:06 of confusion. So, I had a plan, alright? Dad, here's what I'm going do. Here's what I'm going go to grad school and you know, here's what jobs after that look like, etcetera, etcetera and he gave me wise advice. He said,
34:17 he just said, just just know this. Every day when you wake up, you don't get up and go to fun. You get up and go to work. That's what he told me and man, I did not know how right he was but I took that advice and I
34:27 worked very very hard but but here's what I knew in that moment. If I was just making this up, well, it'll fail but this is god's idea, then nothing can stop it.
34:39 This the other time where I had to stare down Gamaliel's advice was when we decided to launch this church, okay? Now, I know we're only 12 weeks old. And so far, things are going great.
34:52 But a year and a half ago, when we 1st started talking about this, you know, those of you that that were part of the service at Beach, 11 22, things were going great there and then the leadership, we all decided that
35:01 that it wasn't going to continue that way and so, Gus and I had a decision to make and let me just tell you, in preacher world, alright? In preacher world, the easiest thing and probably the most lucrative thing
35:13 for my family would have been to just send out the resume. To just send out the resume to churches around the country and we could kind of go where wherever it worked out to go and and that would have been easy. Instead
35:25 of planting a new church, just move into an already church, right? You don't have to convert the ladies accessory section into the pulpit. You just move into 1 that's already happening but the problem with that was god's
35:36 call in our life. When Gretchen and I came to Jacksonville in 2003, we believe with everything we were made of. I mean, short of hearing god's voice out of a burning bush, we believed that god had called us to
35:46 Jacksonville to make disciples and we didn't think we were finished making disciples of you and with you and we we for the last 9 years, god had been knitting together our families
35:58 with some families that are sitting in this room right now and so, at our kitchen table, we literally opened up the Bible to this prayer for
36:10 if this plan and we were talking about the launch of the church of 11 22 for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail And we pray, dear God, if this thing, if the success of the church of 11
36:22 22 is built on how good Ben Williams can sing and how good I can preach, then let it fail quickly. Just go ahead and run it in the ditch and let nobody show up so that we can get on to whatever you've actually called
36:34 us to because I don't want to waste my time just doing my plans. I'd like to do what you have called us to do but if this is of god, if this is of god, then nothing can stop it and so there were
36:46 lots of organizations that said, that's this is a bad idea. This is a bad idea and we said, well, okay but we've got to do it and then you ask, well, did it work? Again, let's not get ahead
36:58 of ourselves. We're 12 weeks old, alright? But so far so good. Was it painful? Maybe 1 day in a decade. I'll describe to you the pain that it took to get here, alright? But would I do it again? Are
37:10 you kidding me? I wouldn't miss this opportunity to be a part of what god had ordained. You see, this was not my idea. I didn't get me into this. So, I'm counting on the lord to walk me through it.Show more
62.7K followers
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
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