Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / You Can't Control Your Way Out of This - April 26, 2026

Transcript

You Can't Control Your Way Out of This - April 26, 2026 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

0:00
My name is Dave. I'm one of the pastors here.
0:02
Resurrection. Let me ask you, thank you.
0:04
Have you ever been in a room where something happened that
0:09
nobody planned, not a good plan that worked out, a strategy that
0:14
paid off something that just happened and nobody could
0:20
actually take credit for what just occurred?
0:24
It kind of reminds me of right before when my son Kevin came
0:30
into my life. By this time we had three
0:34
daughters, but we knew, my wife and I knew that God had a plan
0:39
for a son to be in our lives. We just didn't know how.
0:45
And we started fostering. One day we got a phone call.
0:50
They said would you like a son? OK.
0:56
They didn't say like that, but that's what it was.
1:02
We knew this felt different. This is this is something.
1:05
So what did we tell them? No.
1:08
We told no. No.
1:11
With all our heart. We wanted to tell them yes.
1:14
But every bed in our house was full.
1:17
We had a foster child already. But we knew this felt different.
1:26
So I started thinking, while I'm on the phone telling these
1:29
people, no, we can't do it, I'm texting my sister.
1:31
You met her last week. Could you temporarily take a
1:35
child? I'm frantically texting, she
1:39
said. Thank the Lord Kevin goes to my
1:45
sister's house in a little over a week.
1:49
Week and a half, we get news. Kevin's being moved, he's going
1:55
closer to home, He's going out of town, out of reach of our
2:01
lives. And we're thinking, OK, God,
2:06
what does that actually mean? I guess this was not the boy for
2:12
us. The next day, another phone call
2:16
happens. It says, would you be interested
2:18
in Kevin coming to your house now?
2:23
I remember just standing there not knowing what to think.
2:27
Like, what are you talking about?
2:28
We'd know he left. He's gone.
2:30
He's not even in Bakersfield anymore.
2:34
We said, of course, yes, we have a bed now.
2:39
They said, great, he's on his way.
2:44
He'll be at your house in 30 minutes.
2:49
I didn't plan that. Who can plan something like
2:53
that? We just kept saying yes to phone
2:57
calls. In the middle of chaos. 30
3:02
minutes later, there's a knock on the door and Kevin is
3:08
delivered to us. I remember thinking this is this
3:12
is not possible. In fact, to this very day, no
3:16
child has ever been brought to our door.
3:21
I did not do that. God did that.
3:26
And this is where we find ourselves in Acts chapter 2.
3:30
A God could only do this moment. We're three weeks into this one
3:37
a day one series, week 1. Pastor Daniel gave us a
3:40
statement that I think we're still wrestling with.
3:44
You don't need the plan, you need the power.
3:48
Last week in the message, the power showed up.
3:52
The Holy Spirit fell on the upper room.
3:54
The doors blew open. Outside the crowd, they thought
3:58
they were watching a circus, drunk people, chaos, noise.
4:03
Nobody knew what they were looking at.
4:06
Then Peter stood up and understand this, before Acts
4:09
chapter 2, this is the beginning of the church.
4:13
The church had been existing for about 15 minutes.
4:17
There's no building. There's no baking team, thank
4:20
you baking team. There's no budget.
4:24
There's no worship team. Wasn't worship amazing today
4:30
just a room full of people who got set on fire by the Holy
4:35
Spirit and the first thing the church ever does, the first
4:40
public act of the people of God was to open their mouth and to
4:46
proclaim the word of God, not organize, not plan, not create a
4:52
committee, just speak. Last week, Pastor Daniel talked
4:57
about the Tower of Babel. Humanity crawling their way to
5:03
God, building a tower, making a way to God, trying to reach
5:08
heaven their way, and God saying, no, I have none of this.
5:12
I'm going to scatter you all. I'm going to put a stop to this.
5:17
But right here, this is the reversal.
5:22
God doesn't wait for us to reach him anymore.
5:25
He comes down to us. He wants in our lives and what?
5:32
Peter stands up, He opens his mouth.
5:36
The things that got messed with in battle God starts putting
5:43
back together. Let's read Acts chapter 2
5:48
starting in verse 14. It says but Peter standing with
5:54
the 11th lifted up his voice and address them.
5:58
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this thing be
6:04
known to you and give ear to my words.
6:09
For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only
6:14
the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered
6:18
through the prophet Joel right here.
6:23
The crowd thinks it's chaos. They think something went
6:28
sideways. They're confused, maybe a little
6:30
bit spooked. Peter's first move is not to
6:34
calm them down. It's not to explain, to be
6:38
logical. He reshapes the whole scene.
6:44
The prophecy has come 700 years earlier.
6:48
God told Joel, I'm going to pour out my spirit and all the people
6:52
your sons and daughters will prophecy.
6:56
I'm going to do something you have never seen before.
7:01
And Peter looks at the crowd and says what you think is disorder,
7:05
What you think is going horribly wrong.
7:09
God said this is coming and now the time has come.
7:18
This isn't chaos. This is a promise being kept
7:24
because some of you walked in today carrying something that
7:27
feels like disorder, something in your life feels like it went
7:32
sideways, maybe something in the church that feels like loss.
7:37
And you've been asking the question, what went wrong?
7:44
Peter is standing up in the middle of the mess saying that's
7:48
the wrong question. The right question is what is
7:52
God keeping His word about right now?
7:58
Because here we've witnessed and I've witnessed in my own life,
8:02
God does not get surprised. He doesn't scramble.
8:07
He's not looking down and saying, oh, I don't know what's
8:10
happening. I didn't see that coming.
8:12
Let me adjust my plan. What looks like disorder was God
8:17
keeping his word. That's not a bumper sticker.
8:23
That's Acts chapter 2, verse 22 says this.
8:28
Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
8:36
attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and
8:41
signs that God did through him in your midst.
8:47
As you yourselves know, this is Jesus delivered up according to
8:55
the different plan and the foreknowledge of God.
9:00
You crucified him. You crucified and killed by the
9:05
hands of lawless men. God raised him up, losing the
9:11
pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held
9:17
by it. We have to feel the weight of
9:22
this moment. Pentecost brings every nation to
9:27
Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of people
9:30
come to the city. God didn't craft this moment
9:33
silently. He had 50 days to bring the
9:37
Spirit to the people. He could have done it any of
9:39
those days. But he waited until Pentecost,
9:45
until hundreds of thousands of people, people were in the city.
9:49
Because when God moves, he moves so people don't miss it.
9:58
And Peter doesn't soften it. He doesn't ease into God's plan.
10:01
He looks at the crowd. It's the same crowd that was
10:05
there when Jesus was crucified. And he says you did this.
10:13
In fact, God knew you were going to do this and he sent Jesus
10:19
anyways. That's the Gospel in two
10:24
sentences. Now you're basically good people
10:28
and God is proud of you. No, you did the worst thing
10:32
imaginable and God used it to do the best thing possible.
10:43
Verse 36 Let all the House of Israel therefore know for
10:49
certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus
10:56
whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they
11:01
were cut to the heart. And Peter said, and the rest of
11:05
the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
11:12
Cut to the heart, not inspired, not motivated, not challenged,
11:20
Cut, pierced. There's a difference.
11:25
Inspiration is a spark, motivation is a flame.
11:32
But the cut of conviction is like a burning fire that won't
11:37
let you stay where you are. There are things in my life that
11:42
have become convictions. Not opinions, not preferences.
11:47
Oh, conviction isn't something you have to talk yourself into,
11:51
it's something you've been trying to talk yourself out of.
11:57
There are times when I have said I believe, but my calendar is
12:03
full of everything except time with God.
12:07
Or I will give everything God but tithing?
12:12
That's an afterthought when I'm comfortable with it.
12:16
And the people who hurt me, man, they never know I follow a God
12:21
that says forgive them. Convictions like the person that
12:29
keeps coming into your mind. You keep reminded I should tell
12:34
them about Jesus or having a prayer life in theory or
12:43
convictions that are slowly becoming calloused less and less
12:49
week by week because he tried to deal with it, but you aren't
12:54
willing to radically change your life or your lifestyle to make a
12:58
change. Peter didn't produce that
13:04
conviction. He wasn't in a nice church.
13:08
He didn't have lights and a fog machine.
13:11
Shoot, he didn't even know he's going to wake up and preach that
13:13
day. He just opened his mouth, spoke
13:21
and the Spirit did the surgical work.
13:26
That's how it still works today. Verse 38 Peter goes on, he says
13:33
and Peter said to them repent, meaning regret the sinful things
13:42
that are happening that you're doing in your life and most
13:46
importantly run, run from those things.
13:50
He continues and be baptized everyone of you in the name of
13:55
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will
14:00
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for
14:04
you and for your children and for all who are far off every
14:12
everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself all all who are
14:20
far off our community groups that spent the last six weeks
14:27
learning learning how to reach people who are far from God.
14:35
Six weeks talking about how to open the door, how to invite
14:39
somebody in, and Peter uses these exact words.
14:45
We didn't stumble upon this in Acts 2.
14:49
This spirit brought us here. He's been planning it this
14:53
entire time. And if you're skeptical about
14:57
all of this, can I say somebody invited you or you felt the need
15:05
to show up and you're hearing this right now.
15:09
That's not chance, That's not luck.
15:14
That's the same Spirit working in your life.
15:19
Verse 40 and with many other things, he bore witness and
15:24
continue to exhort them saying save yourself from this crooked
15:30
generation. Sounds familiar.
15:34
So those who receive His word were baptized.
15:38
They were added that day about 3000 souls, 3000 from 120 people
15:48
in the upper room. No venue, no bands, no
15:52
marketing, 1 sermon, 1 moment, 1 Spirit filled afternoon, and
16:02
3000 people gave their life to Christ.
16:06
Nobody planned that. Nobody strategized and stood up.
16:12
Peter just stepped into it, spoke, and the Spirit did what
16:18
the Spirit does. Pastor Daniel told us three
16:22
weeks ago, you don't need the plan, you need the power.
16:28
This is what the power actually looks like, what it actually
16:32
does in our lives. This is what happens when
16:35
ordinary people like you and me stop managing God and start
16:41
following Him. One spirit moment can produce
16:46
what years of careful planning never could.
16:53
Some of us think that was That was 1000 years ago, that was
16:59
Pentecost, that was the early church.
17:01
We don't get that anymore. I reject that.
17:06
Don't you dare shrink the Holy Spirit down to a history lesson.
17:10
The same spirit that set that upper room on fire lives in the
17:16
believer. Now let me tell you what that
17:21
looks like for me. On a Wednesday a while back, one
17:26
of our students brought a friend.
17:29
Somebody I've never met just showed up to youth group.
17:33
I introduced myself and immediately the spirit tells me
17:37
this person is hurting. They tell me their name and I
17:43
don't know why I asked this. I don't know other than spirit
17:47
speaking through me. I say, who left your house?
17:50
Was it your mom or was it your dad?
17:55
No background, no warning signs. I don't know what I'm walking
17:59
into. I'm not qualified for this type
18:01
of thing. I'm just there and this kid, no
18:08
hesitation, opens up, starts talking about his home life,
18:14
everything he's caring. Probably hasn't said these words
18:18
out loud to anybody that actually cared before.
18:22
I didn't plan that. I didn't train for that.
18:29
I just asked a question that the spirit put in my mouth, because
18:35
the spirit knew exactly what that child needed.
18:40
And how do you to use an unqualified person like me?
18:44
That same spirit lives in you, believer in the Old Testament.
18:50
The Spirit would rest on a person for a specific reason for
18:55
a specific season, and then it would lift.
19:00
Kings lost it. Prophets wondered if it would
19:04
stay David. Literally pray, don't take your
19:07
Spirit from me. That's not what this is and acts
19:12
to. The Spirit is not clocking in on
19:16
Sunday and then clocking out in the parking lot.
19:19
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in
19:24
you. The Spirit of the living God
19:26
lives in every believer permanently.
19:33
You are walking around with the same power that produced 3000
19:38
believers in one afternoon. The question is, the question
19:43
isn't whether the Spirit is available.
19:48
The question is, are we willing to move when He moves?
19:55
You can't make the wind blow. You can't make the spirit move.
20:01
But we can raise our sails. We can be there when He calls us
20:11
to be. We can open our mouth and speak
20:16
when He needs us to. That's our application for this
20:20
week. Not a program, not a checklist.
20:22
One conversation. One moment this week where Jesus
20:27
is the most relevant thing you could possibly say to someone
20:31
else. Instead of going quiet, instead
20:35
of not talking, we spent six weeks learning how to reach
20:39
people far from God. The Spirit has been in your
20:42
living rooms week after week. You don't need to have it all
20:49
figured out, Peter didn't. You just need to raise your sail
20:57
and open your mouth and speak as the Lord leads you.
21:02
The Spirit will do the rest. That's walking into Monday
21:06
morning with an open mind, not with a plan locked down.
21:12
I know what I'm going to do this week.
21:14
That's asking God. Where are you already moving God
21:18
and how can I get in on that? Because 3000 people, it didn't
21:25
happen because Peter had a great strategy.
21:30
It'd be it happened because the Spirit showed up and they were
21:34
willing to step into it. So how do we get this meaningful
21:40
conversation this week? 3 different ways.
21:45
Number one, pray for somebody by name, not a group, one person,
21:52
somebody that's on your mind, somebody that you know that's
21:56
far from God, somebody you know that's hurting.
22:00
Pray for them every day this week.
22:03
Ask the Spirit to soften their hearts.
22:07
Ask Him to give you the courage and to be bold and to be present
22:11
when the moment comes #2 find that moment and ask them a real
22:19
question not the drive by questions.
22:22
How are you doing? An eye contact, a sit down maybe
22:29
ask them how are you actually doing.
22:33
I want the real version not the American answer.
22:38
You will be amazed what people tell you when you actually care
22:42
about them #3 let them talk, let them talk.
22:52
That's the hardest thing for me. Let them talk.
22:57
Let the Spirit lead your discussion.
23:01
Be praying in that moment. You don't need your speech
23:04
ready. You don't need your theology
23:06
figured out. You don't have to have an answer
23:08
for every question. In fact, if you tell them, I
23:11
don't know they're going to respect you more.
23:14
But you care for them enough to be present, to be genuine.
23:19
The Spirit knows what this person needs.
23:23
Your job is to show up and be there.
23:29
Peter didn't have this figured out.
23:32
He just stepped into it and the Spirit did what the Spirit does.
23:40
Maybe this feels overwhelming to you.
23:46
Maybe the last season has felt more like loss than harvest.
23:53
Maybe something feels like disorder that's been just
23:56
weighing in on You hear this, Peter preached to a a crowd
24:04
standing in the middle of chaos, thousands of people not
24:12
understanding what's going on. I tell you, God is not done with
24:18
your story. He's not scrambling.
24:22
He's not adjusting his plan. What looks like disorder God
24:27
already knew was going to happen in your life.
24:33
But maybe, maybe you don't have the power I'm talking about.
24:41
There's a reason for that. You can't buy this power.
24:47
You can't earn it. You can't manufacture it.
24:50
No matter how hard you try. It's a gift. 2000 years ago a
25:00
man came to Earth and he earned the right to give this power
25:07
away for free. Jesus lived a perfect life, a
25:12
sinless life that you and I could never live, so that we,
25:22
you and I who are broken, messy, sinful people, could receive the
25:32
free gift that he paid for with his life.
25:37
That's the good news of Jesus. That's why 3000 people gave
25:43
their lives to following Jesus that afternoon.
25:47
Every single person started in the same place.
25:54
Cut to the heart, sitting with a burning conviction.
26:00
A conviction you can't explain, asking the same question.
26:04
What do I do with this? Peter gave them.
26:08
The same answer he's giving you right now.
26:12
Repent from your sins. Run from them.
26:16
Commit to following Jesus. Receive what he.
26:23
Already paid for. He paid for.
26:27
By dying for you and gives you forgiveness it.
26:33
Gives you salvation. Romans 10/9 says if you confess
26:37
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
26:42
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
26:49
Or with the heart one. Believes and.
26:52
Is saved and. Is justified and with a mouth.
26:55
One confess confesses and is saved.
27:01
In the spirit of. God lives within you and.
27:08
It looks so. Different when you have the
27:10
spirit, people are going to ask why are.
27:14
You different, they won't understand.
27:17
It you have patience, that doesn't make sense.
27:22
Peace that has. No business being there.
27:27
Joy in the middle. Of hard, hard things.
27:32
The same spirit. That moved in Acts 2 is in.
27:36
This room, right? Now.
27:41
He's still producing. Thousands from 120.
27:46
He's not. Done yet?
27:52
There's somebody in. This room that needs a chance to
27:55
tell God you believe you surrender to Him.
28:02
That chances right? Now.
28:05
Let's bow our. Heads in prayer.
28:12
If you're ready. To surrender your life to Jesus
28:16
today you. Can do that.
28:19
Right now. Just talk to him.
28:24
You don't need perfect words, He already knows your heart.
28:30
Pray something. Like this or similar.
28:32
Jesus, I. Know.
28:36
I can't save myself. I repent from.
28:40
My sins, I'm done running from you, and now I'm running to you.
28:50
Today I receive. Your forgiveness.
28:55
I receive. Your spirit.
29:00
I receive the. Promises never leaving me be, my
29:07
Lord Jesus. If you pray.
29:11
That for the very first time, would you be brave for me to see
29:17
by raising your hand? I see your hand.
29:21
Anybody else you may. Put.
29:25
Your hand in. In Jesus name.
29:30
Everybody says Amen if. You just prayed.
29:35
That prayer for the very first time.
29:37
Welcome to the family of God. In a moment, we're all.
29:44
Going to stand, we're going to sing one song.
29:48
Our prayer team is going to come forward and I encourage you to
29:53
pray with them about anything, and I mean anything.
29:58
There's tables in the back between now and.
30:00
Before you leave, please stop by the I raised my hand table.
30:06
We have. A book for you we want to
30:09
celebrate with you we want to take the first steps of you
30:14
accepting God with you Prayer team come forward may the.
30:20
Spirit. Who lives in you?
30:23
Now move. Move you and you follow him.