Steven Furtick - Plot Hole
He's on time. I'd better start my sermon, because you won't be leaving on time if we keep singing. We could sing it all day long. Praise the Lord. Let's give him another hand of praise for his faithfulness to us. Hey, welcome to all of our locations today. eFam around the world, we bless you in Jesus' name. May this word find you well and blessed and prospering, in good health even as your soul prospers. I speak the blessing of almighty God over your family, your business, your house, and your endeavors. If you're in school, I pray the blessing of God over your end of the semester. I just pray that God will meet you today. We are in the middle of a teaching called Ghost Writer. I'm so proud of this graphic they made for me.
Do you see how there's something blowing on those pages and it looks like they're about to turn? That's the Holy Spirit who is blowing on the story of your life, getting ready to take you into a new chapter where there will be faith and challenges, where there will be blessings and burdens, where there will be uncertainty, but there will also be the unshakable presence of almighty God. This series was inspired to me just reading through the book of Acts with my family Bible club. I asked them for permission to invite and include our whole church on our journey through the book of Acts. That's what we're doing today. Please stand on your feet wherever you are if you are physically able. I want to share with you the Scripture for today, the lesson. Maybe, just maybe, God will speak something to you so incredible today that you'll be talking about it years from now.
In Acts, chapter 1… I thought we would be in Acts, chapter 2, this week because we were in Acts, chapter 1, last week, but the Lord had unfinished business. In Acts, chapter 1, we see the disciples… Have you ever walked into the middle of a movie and tried to ask somebody to explain it, and they were like, "Shut up. You're annoying. You should have been here. Just sit down and catch up"? That's kind of how the people who come to church every week feel. They're like, "Get on to the next one. If they didn't come last week, it's their fault". Be nice. Okay? Let's catch the whole class up. We're talking about the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost and how a lot of times when somebody, maybe an athlete or a musician, wants to write the story of their life, a memoir or an autobiography, they'll get a ghostwriter. The ghostwriter will take the events that happened to the person and translate them to the written page.
Now, I think we need somebody in our lives to help us translate some of the trauma we've been through, some of the tests we're going through, and especially to help us when there's a long period of time between what we're believing for and where we are currently being stationed. So, this is the situation for the disciples. They're waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. Jesus has risen from the grave. He's going to send this wonderful Holy Spirit. He has sent the Holy Spirit to us to live in all of us who call on the name of Jesus, but they are waiting in a space of 10 days for this to happen, and they're praying. They need to do something about Judas who betrayed Jesus and then hanged himself. They have to replace him before they can go forward with the mission.
I'll pick up there in Acts 1:20. "'For,' said Peter, 'it is written in the Book of Psalms: "May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it," and, "May another take his place of leadership". Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us.'"
Of all of the things to be taken from you… Imagine the Savior was walking with you, giving you step-by-step instructions, turn-by-turn navigation, and suddenly he's gone. Do y'all remember when the AT&T network shut down a couple of months ago for, like, three hours, and we all thought the rapture was next, and we were all looking for white horses? For me, my sense of direction is so poor I don't even know if I can make it to the bathroom without my GPS. I wasn't worried about text messages not coming through; I was worried about my GPS. Well, Jesus was the GPS of the disciples, and he is taken from them. Peter stands up and says, "We've got to move forward even though we are missing what matters the most to us".
That's a difficult place to be, and we'll talk about it today. Look at this. He said (verse 22), "We've got to take somebody who has been with us the whole time, and they must become a witness with us of his resurrection". "So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed…" Very good idea. When you have a mission to change the world and you're a fisherman, you'd better pray. "Then they prayed, 'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.'" So, Jesus left to go where he belongs, the right hand of the Father. Judas left to go where he belongs, not the right hand of the Father.
Look at this. "Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles". Just two verses from chapter 2, and then I'll seat you and preach a little bit. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting".
Now, last week I talked about Page Turner, how there's more to your story and God is the page turner. This week, I want to talk to you about something different. I want to talk to you about the Plot Hole. That doesn't sound as exciting, but it is so essential. Father, help me to do it. In Jesus' name, amen. Plot Hole. Are you familiar with the term plot hole? Yes? No? A little bit? Maybe? All right. (I don't know if this screen is helpful. I've been drawing and writing things on the screen the last few weeks just to give you more of a visual. My handwriting might be more distracting than the visual is helpful. Trying to teach the Bible with the handwriting of a serial killer is a challenge.)
Hold on. Let me clarify this. You might be thinking, "Well, I've heard of a plot twist," but that's different than a plot hole. I'm kind of building on this theme of story. The Holy Spirit wants to help you tell your story. The story you tell to yourself determines the story your life tells to the world. What you tell yourself about why your dad didn't stay to raise you might determine whether or not you go on to be the dad you never had. The story you tell yourself about why you're a little bit behind in this area might determine whether you get motivated to see if you can catch up. Or maybe to know, "I'm not even supposed to be running their race, and I'm not behind at all," whether you give up and just sit on the sidelines or whether you stay in it and keep moving.
So, since the disciples have the most important story to tell to the world, the story of the gospel, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the coming again of Jesus Christ, they need help, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Ghostwriter, is going to help them tell the story. With every story, you need something to happen. It's no good to watch a movie if there isn't a plot twist. One of my friends wanted to buy a car, and he bought it and drove it home. We're not going to make a movie about that. Right? Something needs to happen. He wants to buy a car. He buys the car, only it's not a car at all; it's a steel death trap. You know, there's a bomb underneath it or something like that.
Now we're listening. That's a plot twist. A plot twist is an element in a story that is unexpected but intentional. That's a plot twist. (I think about the people who are listening to this on a podcast and don't see me writing on the board, and all they hear is the pen sound. That must be really annoying.) I just wrote the words unexpected and intentional. An example of a plot twist that probably everybody would be familiar with… "No. I am your father". That's a plot twist. Spoiler alert if you haven't seen Star Wars from 1980. That's a plot twist. It's where the person telling the story was always taking it; you just didn't know. Those are fun. Plot twists are fun. That's why we buy the ticket to go see it.
A plot hole is a different thing. A plot hole is something in a story that doesn't make sense, but instead of being unexpected and intentional, it feels unresolved and illogical. It feels like, "Wait a minute. That doesn't make sense, and I don't think they meant for it not to make sense". Have you ever been watching a show, and all of a sudden the main character does something that main character totally would not do? It's not a character arc. It's not, you know, a chemistry teacher starting to make meth so he can pay for his son's medical bills. That's interesting and intentional. That's where the story was always going. That's why they called it Breaking Bad. They told you in the title where it was going. That's a plot twist. A plot hole is different. A plot hole is this.
I'll give you an example of a plot hole now. It's Daniel-san in The Karate Kid. He wins the tournament by kicking Johnny in the face, but earlier in the movie The Karate Kid, we learned that kicks to the face were illegal. So, how did he win the tournament if he did the thing that was illegal? The answer is somebody just screwed up. Somebody in the script or in the editing room didn't think the whole thing through. That's called a plot hole. Not a twist. The twist is Daniel-san gets beat up, paints fences, waxes cars, and then kicks the guy in the face. The plot hole is he was supposed to get disqualified for kicking him in the face. (This is a very deep church, by the way. We talk about deep things all the time here.) That's a plot hole.
See the difference? My favorite plot hole of all time is from the TV show Friday Night Lights. There's a character in Friday Night Lights named Buddy Garrity who has a daughter named Lyla Garrity. In one of the episodes of Friday Night Lights, Buddy and Lyla are having a fight. Lyla Garrity, Buddy Garrity's daughter, takes her car… I forgot to tell you this. Buddy Garrity owns a car dealership, and he's a booster for the Dillon Panthers. Lyla is so mad at her dad Buddy Garrity she drives her car through the front window of his showroom, and the episode ends. Next episode, the window is back. She doesn't get beaten. She doesn't get grounded. They're completely fine. We were watching that. We looked at each other and went, "Wait a minute. Did we miss an episode? Did we skip an episode"? No. It's a plot hole.
In that particular instance, our family loved it so much we created a rule in our family called the Garrity named after Buddy and Lyla Garrity. It's when you do something dumb in our family, like the equivalent of driving a car through a window, and you want it to be as if it never happened. You can call a Furtick family council and ask for a Garrity. Here's the rule, though. Everybody in the family has to unanimously agree to give you a Garrity. If everybody agrees to give you a Garrity, we can never mention it, but everybody has to agree. Many Garritys have been given in our family, and many Garritys have been withheld. There's even a subworld to this world. There's a lot to this little game. You can get a Lyla. A Lyla is when the family can talk about it, but not around others. It's a whole thing. I'm going to teach my parenting class once all of my kids are 50 years old and older. But that's what we're working on.
Now, let me bring this all together, and hopefully there's a twist but not a hole in it when I finish with it. A plot hole is unresolved and illogical. It doesn't match the rules of the world that have been created. It makes no sense, and it wasn't intentional. A plot twist is it doesn't make sense right now, but it will because the author intended it. In Acts, chapter 1, we are in the midst of the greatest plot twist in human history where death became defeated and where the grave became a trophy of the grace of God, who is greater than the violence of men and the sins of your heart and who has overthrown everything that stands between you and him forever and ever. For the disciples, though, what now is clearly to us, through the lens of history, a plot twist felt like a plot hole, because they didn't know when he went to the cross that he would get up, even though he told them he would.
Would you believe your friend if he said that? Would you believe your boss if he said that? Neither did they really. They were shocked by the cross, because what for us has become the jewelry we wear to remember the plot twist… Here's the plot twist. We were sinners, enemies of God, but God… That's a plot twist. "But God, who is rich in mercy, demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". We shout about that, but they couldn't, because when you're living in it, it doesn't feel like a twist; it feels like a hole. It doesn't feel like a twist when you don't know how it ends. I'm speaking to somebody today who feels like, "I'm in a plot hole right now, not knowing how this will make sense and pretty sure it never will". "He just walked out on me. He did not explain it, and I did not deserve to be abandoned like that".
To be in that kind of moment in your life… It does not satisfy to give spiritual sucralose to say to you in those moments, "Smile. Everything is going to be okay. God's got your back," because while it may be a plot twist, I experience it as a hole. When you're living in it, it doesn't feel like a twist, because it hasn't turned around just yet. Who am I preaching to today? Added to the trauma they are still recovering from of watching the innocent one be treated as a criminal… To us that's a plot twist, because we understand that we were criminals treated as innocent ones. He was an innocent one treated as a criminal. To us that's a twist. To them it was a hole. To them it was the end. To them the cross meant the end of his mission, yet what they saw as the end of the mission from his perspective was really its fulfillment.
I wonder if that could be true of some of the things you're going through in your life right now too. These apostles, who are waiting for the Holy Spirit… Let's talk about waiting for the Holy Spirit. You don't have to do that. He already came. Now imagine this. Jesus is not here anymore, and neither is the Spirit that he said is coming. Put yourself in that position. This is what's really crazy about it. You want to talk about a plot hole, a plot hole when something happens that's completely random and ridiculous, a plot hole when something happens that you completely don't expect, and it doesn't make sense? All right. Let me show you how little sense this makes. Maybe this will encourage you for your own situation today.
In Acts, chapter 1, that I just read you, the Bible says something that, if you don't trust the author of this story, you might think is a plot hole. You might even stop reading the Bible. It says, "'For,' said Peter, 'it is written in the Book of Psalms…'" If you've been reading your Bible up to this point, we have seen Peter… I don't mean to bring up his lowest moment. When Jesus was being crucified, he was cussing. So, we have seen Peter cussing while Christ was being crucified. Now this guy, who was cussing while Christ was being crucified, is quoting not only the Bible but the most beautiful book of the Bible, the book of Psalms. That's almost a plot hole, that somebody could be cussing one moment and quoting Psalms the next moment. But won't God do it? It can go the other way too.
Some of you who are singing really beautiful songs in church today… Let's see when the traffic hits tomorrow if you are still quoting "The Lord is good". "I sought the Lord, and he heard… Hurry up"! That's a plot hole right there…Christians who don't act like Christians and sinners who start acting like saints. You can change. That's what I heard when it said, "'For it is written in the book of Psalms,' said Peter". I was like, "Oh! If the one who was cussing can start quoting the Scriptures, then there is hope for everybody I'm going to preach to today". I don't care if you're watching this in prison. I don't care if you're watching this addicted. I don't care if you're trying to reach for a pill while I'm preaching. This powerful grace of almighty God can twist the plot. I lift you up out of your pit.
That's what I'm talking about. That's who I'm praising: the plot twister, the page turner, who I can be cussing one minute and preaching the next. Get ready for a revolution in your life! Your kids might shock you yet. Your kid might not even have graduated high school, and they might end up doing a TED talk that people who are professors at Harvard end up watching on YouTube. This is a twist. From cussing to quoting. It's a twist. From sorrow and mourning to the oil of gladness and joy. It's the twist. Now, some people twist the truth, but sometimes the truth will twist you. That's why Jesus said to Peter before he left the earth to send the precious Holy Spirit, "After you have turned back…" "After you have turned back…" He hadn't even messed up yet. The Lord was predicting the comeback before the fall even occurred. How does that make you feel? How does that make you feel about your failure?
Now you ought to feel a little bit better about your future, because God saw your failure from the future, and he's still with you in it. We have to go quicker than this, y'all. We're on the first verse of the same passage I preached last week. But I think if I can show you this, you'll really understand the heart of it for the moments in your life that feel like a plot hole. I was thinking about several categories. I was thinking about how a plot hole is not only when somebody drives the car through the glass and they act like it never happened. It's not only the event; it's when the individual does something that's completely out of character, like this in the text. That could mean for you that you were doing so well and then hit a setback. You were sober so long, and then one night, one business trip… That could mean for you that you thought people who treated people with kindness received kindness in return, and you didn't.
You really should have known better, because Christians follow Christ, and he gave nothing but good and received evil in return and returned kindness and grace for evil. But even though it's easy for us to see that in the story of Jesus, isn't it so hard to see that in the story of you? Please tell your neighbor so they're not confused, "I'm not Jesus, so it's not easy for me to believe this stuff when I'm living in it". You're living in a twist, but it feels like a hole. You're living in a new beginning, but it feels like the ending. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. (I think that was a song from the 90s. I'm not sure who I just ripped off with that quote, but it felt anointed when I said it, so I said it, and I let it fly. "It's closing time…" That's what it is. I remembered it. Don't copyright strike me.) Watch this. He said two Scriptures from the book of Psalms. He's reaching back to go forward.
I want you to understand that. Sometimes I have to reach back to go forward. He reaches all the way back to David, and he quotes something David said in Psalm 69:25. That's the first thing. David is talking about someone who took over the throne but didn't have the rightful place, and David says, "May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it". In other words, he's saying, "Get the wrong people out of the right places". How many want God to do that in your life? I don't want the wrong best friends. I don't want the wrong boyfriend. I don't want the wrong confidants. I don't want the wrong enemies in my mind. I don't want to be pushing people away from me whom God is trying to send to me to help me.
So, now Peter has a plot hole. "I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit. I am a failure because of my lack of courage at the moment of his crucifixion". But he starts quoting Scripture and applying it to his life. Watch. Not just one Scripture. Look at the second one. "May another take his place of leadership". They're talking about Judas, but David wasn't talking about Judas. David was talking about something totally different. This is from Psalm 109:8. Peter had read some things. On the surface, it kind of looks like Peter is doing… Did y'all ever hear the old preacher story about the guy who needed God to help him make a decision, so he said, "All right, Lord. I'm just going to flip my Bible open, and the first thing it lands on, I'm going to point, and I'm going to do it".
So he flipped his Bible open and pointed, and the Scripture his finger landed on said, "Judas went and hanged himself". He said, "O Lord, let me turn the page and try another one". He did it again, and it said, "Go thou and do likewise". He said, "I'm going to try one more time". "Whatever thou doest, do it quickly". So he closed the Bible and said, "That doesn't work". It seems like Peter is just trying Scriptures. Like, "Well, this one psalm says, 'May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,' and 'Let another take his place of leadership.'" No, no, no. This is a very systematic student you're watching here. Don't get it twisted about Peter. These psalms were actually known as psalms that referred to the righteous sufferer, Jesus Christ.
So, not only were they pointing to Jesus, but they were pointing to Peter's situation too. I need you to know that God has a "back then" word for whatever is your "right now" situation. "And may another take his place of leadership". He's saying, "Lord, I need you to not only move the wrong stuff out". How many need God to move some clutter out of your life in this season, some wrong thoughts, some wrong paradigms, some dirty habits, some nasty thoughts, some things that are keeping you bound and in chains, and you smell like what you've been through, and you need a change of clothes? Not only is Peter saying, "Take all of that away," but he's also saying, "Put in what needs to be put in". "Let another take his place of leadership".
Put in what needs to be put in. That's exactly what's about to happen on the day of Pentecost. God is about to put in exactly what needs to be put in. What they need is not human resources. What they need is not just to have a nice, pleasant time about it. What they need is not for Judas to have never betrayed Jesus. Stop revising the way you wish it would have gone in your mind. It didn't go that way. What they need is the power of the Holy Spirit. Say it out loud. "What I need is the power of the Holy Spirit. What I need is the presence of the Holy Spirit. What I need is the plan". I felt God on that one. I need the plan of the Holy Spirit. This is where it gets very interesting in your life.
It is amazing that Peter knew what was necessary. I'm going to spend a few minutes on this word necessary. I need God to show me in this season of my life what is necessary…where it is necessary for me to spend my time, where it is necessary for me to put my money, where it is necessary for me to invest in relationships that will be fruitful. I don't just mean that people are supposed to always be helping me. Show me who I'm supposed to help. (Y'all don't like that one as much.) Show me who to be a blessing to. Show me how to convert the bitterness of my regret into the wisdom of experience so that somebody else never has to hurt like I had to hurt. I need to know what's necessary.
My question is this, because we know the twist. The Holy Spirit is coming. We know the twist. The sound of a mighty rushing wind. We know the twist. They all speak in other tongues, and they all hear it in their own languages, and the gospel goes forth and fills the earth. But remember, before the gospel filled the earth, God had to fill them. I'm going to say it again. Before the gospel could fill the earth, God had to fill them. Before the mission can go forward, I need God to fill me. Somebody say, "Fill me, Lord, with your wisdom. Fill me, Lord, with your ways. Fill me, Lord, with your will". Now, you've heard of the sinner's prayer before. "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner". Or maybe you've been through recovery and you've heard of the serenity prayer. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference".
Well, this is a different prayer I want to give you today. Those are beautiful. I cannot add to those, and I never would subtract from them. I want to teach you a prayer called the plot hole prayer for you to pray when it makes no sense. I'm going to give this to you, and the only thing I ask in return is you use this sucker. You're like, "But I don't know if I want to yet". It's from the Bible. I'm about to show you… It's only in the Bible. I didn't make it up. It's when Peter is trying to figure out what to do next. Are you trying to figure out what to do next? Okay. Then you need this prayer. It's when Peter is in a position that is new for him. Are you in a season of life that is new for you?
Come on, everybody over 55. It's new to be old. I'm going to show you two things. I'll come back here in a moment, but let me get to it. They nominate two men, and they know for a fact that they are nowhere near smart enough to know what to do next. They're probably smart enough to know that they would have picked Judas if they had been given the choice, and that didn't turn out too well. So they prayed. They prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen". Now, the essence of the prayer is "God, help me choose what you've chosen, to believe that you have a path for me, that you have a plot for me, that you have a purpose for me, that you have a calling on my life, that you have an anointing on my life, that you gave me your Spirit for an assignment, not just for leisure. I believe that, Lord. So, believing that you have given me an assignment and believing that you are writing a story that is unfolding with time in my life, I want to pray this prayer like Peter prayed. Lord, you know…show us".
That's the plot hole prayer, people. When you don't know why it happened, when you don't know how it will, when you don't know what would possess somebody to act like that and why God didn't stop it, pray this. "Lord, you know…show us". Now, whatever you need to put in that blank, fill it in. They prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart". By the way, this is how I would show you in the Bible if we were just hanging out. That's why I've been trying to circle and highlight. When I want to show my kids something in the Bible, I pull them over and say, "Here's this, and here's that," and I start writing and showing, because I get so excited. I saw this in the Bible, and I thought about us, and I thought about you. I thought about the hole you're in, and I thought about the deficit, and I thought about the thing you feel behind it. I thought about the thing you can't figure out, and I thought about the thing that can't make sense.
I figured if we could just get you to pray this… "Lord, you know…show us". Whatever needs to go in that blank, you can bet this is true about it. Whatever is in this blank… Oh, I wish you could see this right now. I wish you could see it like I see it. Whatever you put in this blank… They said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us". Whatever you can put in that blank… "Lord, you know how long it's going to take. Show me how to stay strong while I wait". "Lord, you know who is supposed to go into the next decade of my life with me, so show me who to pick up along the way to make up for the people who I thought would still be here right now". "Lord, you know what I'm going to go through for the next few years".
You could even start praying boldly like this. This is a plot hole prayer. This Scripture Peter is quoting was written centuries before he needed it. He did not wait until he needed it to know it. I read it again and again, and I asked the question, "How did Peter know 'Therefore it is necessary'"? How did he know? How do I know what's necessary at this point in my life? How did he know what was necessary? It's because he knew what was written. The more you know this, the better you can figure out this. The more I know about what he spoke, the more I can see what he's showing me to do. So, you come up on a situation. You come up on a Red Sea, but you read about a Red Sea somewhere, so you don't stop and die at the Red Sea.
You read about Moses who stretched out his staff, and you say to yourself, "Self, I don't have a staff, but I've got a praise. I don't have a staff, but I've got a 'hallelujah.' I don't have a college degree, but I've got a calculator, and zero plus God equals infinite if he's with me". "I know something. I know enough Scripture to pull the Scripture out like a sword". Some people will say, "Well, that's what they did in the Bible days". Huh? They didn't even have the Holy Spirit at this point. You have something they didn't even have. So, when you get in your Bible, you'd better have your ribbon ready so you can go, "All right, Devil. I don't even need this Scripture right now, but the next time you show up on my door…Boom! I'm going to hit you with that Scripture that I read when I didn't need it, because I remember what I read when I didn't need it, and I put a ribbon in it".
Oh, yeah, Beyonce. Put a ribbon in it. Not a ring on it…put a ribbon in it. When you come across something God gave you for manna, put a ribbon in it. So, the next time the Enemy starts reminding you of your shame, you say, "There is therefore now no condemnation. I read it in my Bible". "I don't really feel like this sermon is for me today. Nobody left me. I'm doing pretty good". You'd better put a ribbon on this. You'd better remember I was up here telling you, so when you find yourself in a plot hole… "I'm not really in a plot hole. I make careful, wise decisions. I have avoided the calamity that comes with living a foolish life. I don't really need it". You're going to need this plot hole prayer when you raise your kids exactly right and they still act a little crazy. It only takes one fool friend to mess the whole plan up. Then you'd better pray, "Lord, you know. Show us".
Have you ever had somebody explain something to you, and then after they explained it you felt so stupid that you acted how you did before you had that piece of information? I was mad at this guy the other day because he didn't do his job. I was speaking to his supervisor, and his supervisor said, "I understand your frustration. Let me fill you in a little". He told me the man had a terminal disease, and he hadn't even told his whole family yet. That's why he had been distracted at work. Do you think I listened differently? Do you think that gave me a different lens? All because somebody in a superior position filled me in. What do you do when your story hits a plot hole?
You say, "Holy Spirit, fill me in. I've got this plot hole, and I need something to fill it". If the Holy Spirit doesn't fill it, the Enemy will. Are you going to let him keep tormenting you like that? The Devil will fill in details that aren't real. He will make you block people who could have blessed you because you had a bad temper, because you got offended. Maybe they needed you. One of the biggest revelations I ever had about people when I'm preaching in church… I'll just share this with you in case it ever happens in your life. Some of the people who look like they're getting the least out of the sermon need it the most. So, where I used to think, "Oh, that person looks very bored; they hate me," now I think they're hungry. It changed everything.
Now, that's something that I say, "Lord, you know what they're going through; show me. You know; fill me in". It's like when you had Kristin Hannah on the Book Club. This is Holly's favorite author. She has read a lot of her books. I was going to say, "All of them," but I think she has written about 30 books. I bet Holly has read about 10 of them. When she got her on the Book Club, she was so excited. She always wanted to talk to Kristin Hannah. I watched her do the interview, and Holly did such a great job. I could tell Kristin Hannah was like, "I would talk to you for hours," because Holly is so good at drawing stuff out when she's listening and talking. She has a real gift for that.
That's why I call her the "Holly spirit," by the way. They talked about the book and what happened, and they did all of the spoilers and all that. Everybody listened and asked questions. "How did you write it? What did you do"? Then at the very end… This was a move I never saw before. Holly said, "So, do…" Let's say the characters names are Jim and Nancy. She said, "So, do Jim and Nancy get together in the end"? Because the book ends without revealing the end. Kristin Hannah said, "Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Of course". Not because it was in the book but because it was in the author. See, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, some people get scared. "Are you going to be talking in tongues"?
Maybe. I sure will. I will talk in tongues in a minute. I will, but that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about today, like, goose bumps and excitement. A UFC fight can give you goose bumps. What only the Holy Ghost can do is show me what he knows that I don't. It's a very natural starting place to just say, "Lord, you know". If you would reinstate that core belief in your life, it would help you so much with your stress. See, from his perspective it's a twist, even though from yours it's a hole. The cross was always where Jesus was going. Peter was always meant to be the one to preach on the day of Pentecost. Even when he failed, his future was secure. So, when Holly asked Kristin Hannah, "Do they get together in the end?" she did it because she was in a unique position. She had an audience with the author.
I came to tell you today, my brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, Peter and Matthew and Bartholomew… I came to announce to you today you don't only have a Savior who died for you. You do have a Savior who died for you, but that's not all. You don't only have a Savior who defeated death and held the keys of death, hell, and the grave, although you have that and he's seated in heavenly places beside the Father, making intercession for you right now as I preach. But you also have an audience with the author. That means if you want to, you can get in the presence of God anytime you want, starting right now, and say, "Lord, you know. You know the plans you have for me". "You know the plans you have for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. You not only know how my story ends; you know what's not going to be written in the book that time will reveal through the corridors of eternity. You know".
Why do you keep taking opinions from the crowd when you have an audience with the author? Why do you keep living in the shadow of a critic's insecurity when you have an audience with the author? Why do you keep staying up worrying about stuff that the author is working on? I told you last week there's going to be a sequel, and in this sequel we win. If you flip to the end to the back of the book… I spoke to the author, and he said, "Everything is going to be all right". I've got a feeling. I've got more than a feeling. I've got faith! Suddenly… Because they prayed the prayer, the plot hole prayer, the "Lord, you know" prayer. Watch this. They didn't even do all the right stuff. Neither do we.
The Bible says they cast lots. That's like rolling dice. That's like flipping coins. That's like shaking a Magic 8 Ball. (Y'all don't know nothin'.) Yet even though they didn't do it exactly right… They didn't even get the right process, but they prayed the right prayer. How deep can I go? You keep thinking, "Oh, I've got to do it exactly right". You're never going to do it exactly right. "Oh, I made the wrong choice". What does that have to do with it? God has already chosen. God is already sovereign. Even if Matthias was the wrong disciple, Paul was on the way. Come on. Come with me. Let's not just splash around on Sunday morning. Let's get you something you can pray in your real life when you don't know how it's going to be, when you don't understand why they did it, when you don't feel the empathy inside of you. Pray, "Lord, you know. Fill me in".
In Acts, chapter 2, verse 1, the Bible says they were all together. The Bible says, "When the day of Pentecost came…" I'm waiting for something from God. Well, when it came, they were all together in one place, and look at what the Lord did. Verse 2: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind…" It sounds like trouble, but it's really transformation. When you hear wind, that sounds like trouble, but it wasn't trouble; it was transformation. Something is blowing through your life right now. Something is changing in your life right now, things rearranging, pages flying everywhere. You feel like it's a plot hole. No, no, no. It's a twist. It's a turnaround. Suddenly came a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, and it came from heaven. And what did the Spirit do? Read the words with me. It came from heaven and filled the whole…
Come get me, mama! Come get me like they get James Brown. Get me off this stage, because I hear God saying, "I'm about to fill the hole, the whole thing. The rest of your life is going to be the best of your life. I'm about to fill the hole," saith the Lord who knows the end from the beginning. I see God filling your hole! Fill the whole church! Fill the whole earth! And the whole earth is filled with his glory! Fill it with your glory, Lord! Every story, fill it with your glory! So, this story is not ending in death.
Peter said, "We have to choose what God has chosen that he already knows". Now, I need you to get it firm in your heart that there is a God and he knows. He knows what you're crying about. He knows what's behind what you're crying about. He knows what you're crying about that happened last week that's really about what happened eight years ago. "Lord, you know; show me". "Show me what's really going on with my wife so I can be a support like she needs". "Show me what's really going on with my husband so I can step in with the right words". "Show me what I'm supposed to be doing with the experience I have, even though I don't have the youth I had". "Show me what I'm supposed to be doing with the youth I have, even though I don't have the experience I need". "Lord, you know. Fill me in". I hear heaven saying, "Let me fill you in". He filled the whole house. Let me fill you in. Let me witness to you today. He said they have to be witnesses of the resurrection, because the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest plot twist in human history.
If you go to that empty grave, you'll see a hole, a hole where power came from, a hole where purpose came from. We might even call it a plot hole, for while the Enemy was conspiring and plotting to wipe Jesus out, Jesus was planning to bring us in. Now shout. I learned the most important thing about a plot hole is what you fill it with. Are you going to fill it with fear or are you going to fill it with faith? Are you going to fill it with junk or are you going to fill it with Jesus? What you fill it with will determine what comes forth from it. And suddenly… "no you all see wind, you won't see rain, the drown will end, everything can change". All of a sudden, that's a plot twist.