Paul Daugherty - Acts Chapter One - Part 2
Just because the world might put labels on you and say, "You're done, you're disqualified. You're too old, you're too young. You're not the right person. You didn't graduate from the right school. You don't have the right skills. You came from the wrong family". Just because the world puts labels on you, doesn't mean that God puts labels on you. God's looking for any man or woman who would say, "Holy Spirit, use me. Holy Spirit, move through me". The Holy Spirit enlightens your memories, number one, gives you the message to speak, what to say. Number three, your movements. He shows you when to go, where to go, who you need.
In the book of Acts, we're gonna find out, the Holy Spirit is involved in every movement of the church. He literally tells Paul, "Don't go there. It's not time yet. You're not supposed to go to Asia yet, but I do want you to go here. And I need you to go talk to Cornelius. I need you to chase that chariot. And I need you to go and talk to these people. And you're called to stop doing ministry with this guy. It's not that he's bad, it's just that I've got him called to do some other things with some other people, and I need you to do some things with Silas now". Like, the Holy Spirit wants to direct your friendships, wants to direct your relationships, and sometimes there's necessary endings that have to happen. It doesn't mean that someone's wrong or someone's off, it just means the Holy Spirit has assignments for each season, each person. And He's wanting to spread the gospel across the earth. He's got a big vision.
And the Holy Spirit, and I wanna tell you two things He does to energize you. Two things. Number one, He energizes you to preach with power. He energizes you to preach with power. If it's a heavy burden, it's not from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew 10:38, He said, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened, for I will give you rest. My yolk is easy, My burden is"? The Holy Spirit wants to energize you by taking off burdens that you were never meant to carry. Can you imagine if I had to carry this pulpit? Oh, my word, this is heavy. Okay. This thing, this is heavy. This is probably about a solid 75 pound, maybe 150 pounds here. And can you imagine if I felt like I had to carry this everywhere I went? Like after service, I gotta go home. I gotta go play with my kids. And while I'm playing with them, I'm just, you know, carrying this pulpit.
Come here Mack, come here Liam. Guys, do y'all realize how ridiculous this looks? Do I look weird? Do I look ridiculous? Can the camera even catch this? Where, oh, the camera doesn't even see me, because I am squashed by this burden. I'm squashed. Some of you are carrying. No wonder you're exhausted. You're carrying something God didn't ask you to carry. If it's heavy, it's not the Holy Spirit. Okay? Hold on. I might need some help, Pastor Ty, can you lift this thing off me? Okay. Little bit of help, little bit of help now. Will you stay here? When we're trying to carry the burden of the outcomes, it's heavy. Even during the pandemic, there was this, there was a lot of good things God was doing, but then there was this part of me that I felt like it was on me for our church. And I was carrying this burden of the outcomes, like, whether our church was gonna make it through the pandemic.
And one thing we all realized during the pandemic, is we are not in control. Like, we cannot control the mayor's decisions or the governor's decisions or the president's decisions, and that's a scary thing for control freaks. Some of us in the room, we were like, man, we can't control what our bosses do, what people do. And there were people that I really wanted to just stay at Victory, that left. And I thought the outcome was my responsibility. And I was like, I need these people. You know, I'm in charge. It's my fault. It's my responsibility. No, no, no. When you're trying to carry the outcome of other people's decisions, you're gonna feel heavy. You're gonna feel so exhausted, drained, tired, confused, conflicted, trying to figure out, what did I do wrong? There's another burden. Ty, will you carry this? Is this heavy or is it just me? Thank you. No, it's not. It's 300, I think. This is getting heavier and heavier with each person that carries it.
Now, let's call this the burden of outcomes, let's call this the burden of obedience. Hold this. You can carry this. This is easy, right? Because when I'm just focused on obeying God, I'm not in charge of the outcomes of people's decisions. You know, Ashley said something to me, not too long ago, she said, "You're carrying this burden of other people's decisions like it's your responsibility. Paul, your responsibility's right here. Pray, preach, do what you need to do. Apologize to whoever you need to apologize to, but you can't determine other people's forgiveness. That's too heavy of a burden for you to bear. You'll be spending the rest of your life, trying to control other people's decisions. That's the burden of outcome. That is not your burden to carry. Your burden is obedience".
Obey, obey. Thank you, Pastor Ty. I'm gonna leave this down here, 'cause it's too heavy for me to carry, and I'm gonna lay this at the altar. Let's leave it right there. Some of y'all need to lay some burdens at the altar today. If it's heavy, it's not from the Holy Spirit. He comes to energize you. He blesses you with a burden that's light. He blesses you with a burden. Now, it doesn't mean that you don't have work to do, you still have work to do. I was talking with a guy in his early twenties the other day and he said, "I can't wait to retire". And I said, "What, when are you gonna retire"? He said, "When I'm like 27". I was like, "What are you gonna do after that"? He's like, "Nothing the rest of my life". And I was like, "That sounds miserable".
You know, I don't know. I just like to work, and I just like to be a part of doing stuff and building things and helping people and growing things. And I think God created us in His image, put us in the garden and said, "I want you to work this garden and multiply and be fruitful with your life". And so I was trying to talk to him. I said, "You know, maybe you could do some other things, like start some businesses". And he was like, "Nah, just gonna sit on the beach and retire at 27". You know, we're living in a time right now where people don't wanna work. But the Holy Spirit is looking for men and women who say, "You know what, I want my life to count for eternity. So whatever I can do to make an impact, I'm gonna go work at the Tulsa Dream Center".
If you're gonna retire, go do something that's fruitful for the kingdom of God. Go minister at Walmart. Go share the love of Jesus in the youth group. Become a mentor. Start a Connect group. Dr. Cho, who pastors the largest church in the world. They said, "What's the secret to the success that God's given you in Seoul, South Korea"? A million people come to their church every week. He said, "I pray and I obey, everything else is up to God". I pray and I obey. The results are up to God. The outcome is not my re... Paul the apostle said that "Some water, some sow seed, but the Lord is the Lord of the harvest". He's in charge of the outcomes, not us. The Holy Spirit energizes us to preach with power and to live the life He's called us to live, to move in the demonstration of the gospel. I want the band to come out.
Let's keep reading. They said, "When are You gonna restore the kingdom of Israel?" in verse six. They're focused on a secular kingdom, a material kingdom. "When are we gonna get our country back from the Roman empire? When are we gonna overthrow the other political side"? And Jesus said, "You got it wrong. I'm not just here to try to restore a political kingdom, that's not My focus. My focus is to destroy the kingdom of darkness. The bondages that people are in, not just in Israel, but across the world".
See, Jesus had a bigger vision than His disciples. They were thinking a nationalistic vision, He was thinking a global vision. They were thinking, we gotta get things right here. Jesus said, "No, it's gonna start in Jerusalem". But what's gonna happen is the Roman empire is going to oppress you, they're gonna persecute you. You're gonna go through suffering. There's gonna be martyrdom, and the church is gonna explode like crazy. 'Cause where the enemy comes in and tries to threaten the church, the gates of hell will not prevail. Jesus was telling His disciples, "Buckle your seat belts. You're about to go on the greatest adventure of a lifetime. You can push for political power, but it's an empty life," He says. "He who gains the world, loses his soul. But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it".
Now, He's not saying don't get involved in the political landscape. He's saying be a part of it, but be a part of a bigger kingdom here. Be focused on driving out the spirit of darkness and bringing salvation to people and bringing grace to people and bringing the gospel to people. "Go and preach the gospel to all the world," He was saying. He was saying, "It's gonna start in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then the ends of the earth". He said, "It's not for you to know the times". Timing is in God's hands. Some of us are trying to control the outcome of time.
When you get married, when you have your first kid, when you get a promotion, when someone gives you a car, when you get that certain thing that you've been waiting for, whatever it is. Jesus says, "Don't get focused on the timing of things, just focus on preparing your heart for what God wants to do". How you wait, is more important, or just as important as what you're waiting for. And He says, "But you will receive power". This is the key verse in the book of Acts. "You will receive power". Everybody say power. "Power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight". So Jesus goes up and they're watching Him.
As we were coming back home on a plane this past week, I was looking at the clouds, and we had to go through some turbulence. We had to kind of go through a stormy spot, some really thick clouds, and the pilot knew exactly where to go. The pilot, you know, a really good pilot, he's flown through storms before. I remember someone gave me a painting a couple years back, and it said, "A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor". And it was a picture of this storm and this ship sailing through the storm. And I was like, "Thanks". And they were like, "No, trust me. Like, you're becoming a better captain of the ship when you walk through stormy seasons".
And I think it's the same for a pilot. A smooth sky never made a skillful pilot. Good pilots and good captains, they don't have their ear to every person on the plane, 'cause every person on the plane has a different opinion. They're like he should have gone left. You should have gone right. You should have gone down. We never should have taken off in the first place. You know, you're gonna talk about it at lunch, all your opinions. The world is never short on opinions, but a good pilot's not listening to all the opinions on the plane. He's focused on his mission. A good captain is focused on his mission and he trusts the instruments, he trusts his training. He trusts those who've gone before him. Those who've weathered storms years before him.
And so, so Jesus is going up into the clouds and I was reminded as I was on the plane this last week, I took a picture out the window. And there we were right above the clouds, right next to the clouds. And we kept flying and we got further up, higher above those clouds. And there was one spot where the clouds were so thick. There it is right there. The clouds were so thick. Below that was just this rainstorm, but above it was this beautiful sunset. And um... And I heard the Lord say, "Come up higher, come up higher".
This is a season. Some of you are in earthly circumstances and God wants to give you a heavenly revelation. And I was reminded of Revelation 4:1. John was exiled to the island of Patmos. He was the oldest, longest living disciple. They tried to kill him multiple times. They tried to burn him in boiling oil. They tried to stretch his body out. Multiple times emperors tried to kill John, they couldn't kill John. He was so full of the love of God, he just couldn't be stopped. He was like the unbeatable disciple, lived into his nineties, and he's writing on this island. He's been exiled to an island all by himself. Some of y'all are like, that sounds nice, I wanna go to an island all by myself too. But he was there left to die.
Wild beasts on this island. And while he's feeling alone, he's feeling discouraged, he's feeling overwhelmed, he's in an earthly circumstance, God gives him a heavenly revelation. God's calling us to see things from a different perspective. And he sees this in Revelation 4:1. He says, "After this". After what? After all the crud that I've walked through, after all the stuff, how many of y'all have walked through some stuff in the last year. Could have been your fault, someone else's. But he says, "After all this, I looked up and there before me, I saw a door that was open". We've gotta learn to tap into the supernatural. This is where the Holy Spirit helps open our eyes. Lord, open the eyes of my understanding. He says, "I saw an open door, and there was a voice that was speaking from heaven like a trumpet saying, 'Come up higher John.'"
Not physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually. See things from a higher perspective, come up higher and I'll show you what's next. I'll show you the interpretation of what you've been walking through. And I'll show you the prophetic vision of where you're headed, because where the church is about to go, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind could conceive what God has in store. He's gonna work all things together for your good. God's calling some of you to come up to a higher revelation of Him. He's saying, "Come up higher, come up above the clouds, above the storm, above the rain, above the natural earthly understanding". You've been looking at this too close. And God's saying, "Come up higher".
As Jesus begin to ascend in the book of Acts, "They were looking up into the sky, and they got stuck in a stare". Everybody say "stuck in a stare". It's important that when you get a heavenly revelation, if you're still living on earth, if there's breath in your lungs, you still got a mission in front of you. Don't get stuck in a stare, get the vision and then move forward. "They were stuck looking up there, and two men dressed in white". I'm almost done. They said, "Why are you standing here looking there"? Why are you standing here, but you're stuck staring off there? I hear the Lord saying this to someone, "Why are you standing in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Victory Church for such a time as this, but you're staring somewhere else"?
And God wants to get your eyes back on the mission that He's called you in. See, these disciples, they were staring off with a little bit of sadness. They were going, "I miss you. I miss the good old days". They would go back to the upper room and they'd have to find a replacement for Judas in this next chapter, 'cause he was gone. And there was just this sense of loss, there was this sense of sadness. And they were staring off in this distance, missing how life once was. And the angel said, "Get your eyes back on who. Stop looking at who left you and focus on who's with you. Stop focusing on what's missing and start focusing on where I've called you to be, right here, right now. There's a mission. There's a message. There's a movement that God has for you".
I want you to stand your feet all over this place. The next thing that would happen is they would go back to the upper room. It says in verse 12, "They returned to Jerusalem and they went upstairs and they shut the door behind them". Some of you need to shut the door on distraction, shut the door on opinions of everyone else. "And it was Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alpheus, Simon the zealot, Judas son of James". This was a different Judas. Y'all are like, I thought he was gone. This is a different one. And it says, "They all joined together constantly in prayer". I pray and I obey. Prayer is connecting with heaven. Prayer is releasing the will and the kingdom of heaven. Prayer refreshes you. Prayer encourages you. Prayer connects you with God's heart.
"They begin to pray, but they prayed in one accord and they prayed for the answers to the questions they were facing. Like, who should we choose next to be in this group"? And in that upper room, in that place of prayer, the miracle that God was gonna bring them was already in the house. Some of you are waiting on a miracle, and God says, "The miracle is in the house". The thing you've been looking for, it's already in the house. The stuff you've been waiting on, it's in the house. Their next disciple was already in the house. Not only that, but the evangelist of the New Testament, who would write 13 books in the New Testament, was already in the city of Jerusalem. His name was Saul of Tarsus. Don't look at things in the natural. They were judging a man by the way that man looks at man. But God was saying, "The miracle for the New Testament is not only already in the house, there's another one that's right inside this city".
See, God was about to launch these disciples into a new season. They needed power. They needed a Holy Spirit revelation. Some of you are, right now, you're at. You are literally at an intersection of fear or faith. You're at an intersection of whether you're gonna go your way or God's way, and God's saying, "Lean into obedience". The outcome is not your responsibility, obedience is. And if you will pray and follow the voice of God above all other voices, follow what God's asking you to do, lean into His heart. God's going to not only use you in great ways, He's gonna connect you, He's gonna line up favor for you. He's gonna give you wisdom. He's gonna give you the grace you need. He's gonna unlock the doors that no man could unlock. He's gonna shut the doors that need to be shut. He's gonna connect the dots for you. He's gonna work all things together for good.
I'm telling you, Pentecost is coming, fire is coming. These disciples, they didn't know that back in that upper room, they were gonna pray. It was gonna feel normal to them. It was gonna feel a little sad to them. Just because you don't have the feelings every Sunday, doesn't mean the Holy Spirit's not moving. Sometimes you gotta stir it up when you don't feel it. They would go back to that upper room and they would pray. Jesus wasn't there anymore. He had already ascended in heaven. They'd look at that empty seat, they would cry. And then they would pray and cry, and they would pray and cry some more, and they would pray and cry some more. And then they would talk about it and then they would eat, and they would pray and cry some more. And then all of a sudden, tongues of fire appeared over their head. The sound of a rushing wind began to blow through the windows. You've gotta learn to wait with a fervency, even when you don't feel like it. You've gotta stir it up.
See, God has greater things, but we've gotta stir up our expectancy. We've gotta not base our faith on what we've seen or what we feel, but on what we know. See, religion is about what you do. Relationship is about who you know. And when you're moving from a place of relationship, this is where Jesus was calling them. He says, "I want you to know the Holy Spirit. I want the Holy Spirit to be so inside you, that you're gonna hear His voice. You're gonna know which way to turn. You're gonna know which person to connect with. You're gonna know what city to go into. You're gonna know what sermons to preach".
God wants us to move by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the next chapter after Pentecost, they would lay hands on a lame man. Even their shadows would walk past people and people would get healed. God wants to unlock the miracles of heaven to flow in and through His church. He wants disciples to move in power, to move in unity, to move in harmony, to move in one accord. I want us to close our eyes all over this place. If you're here right now and you need a fresh touch from heaven, you're walking through some earthly circumstances. You need a heavenly perspective. You need God to pull off some burdens that you've been holding onto.
Some of you have been carrying that 300 pound pulpit over there, and God's saying, "It's time to lay down that burden. It's time to trust Me with your life". It's time to trust the Holy Spirit with what He's gonna speak to you. Some of you need direction for this next season. You need a word from heaven. You need to know that you know that you've heard from God. Don't do anything without the unction of the Holy Spirit. He wants to lead you and guide you and comfort you and counsel you.
With heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're here today and He's speaking to you, if you want that, I want you to raise your hand across this room. You know God's talking to you. Just leave your seat, come and find a place at this altar. Come and lay it down at this altar. Some of you, you need to get your language back. You need to get that language of heaven back. You want the gifts of the Spirit. You're hungry for the gifts of the Spirit. You knew it when you were a kid. You used to hear that back, a long time ago. And God's saying, "I want you to get that back. I want you to get that".
Some of you have never seen it before, you've never heard it before, and maybe it feels strange to you, but God's saying, "I want you to step into a new, higher level of understanding of the Word of God. I want you to move by the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to help you in everything you're walking through".
See, God has a calling for you. He's not finished with you. You haven't seen your best days yet. You haven't sang your best song. You haven't written your best song yet. You haven't preached your best sermon yet. You haven't met your best friends yet. God says, "I've got new, fresh things for you. I've got fresh seasons for you. I've got fresh songs for you. I've got greater days ahead for you". Whatever you've walked through, whatever's been trying to steal your joy. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus said, "I've come to give you life and life more abundantly".