The Paradigm of Possibility

Amen what a wonderful presence of the Lord is here. I think we ought to put our hands together and just let God know we appreciate him without him. None of this really means very much but when he shows up every bit of preparation, every hour spent cleaning, every person who got up early and came so there would be somebody to smile at the door on the way in. All of that means so much when his presence comes. After the choir had finished rehearsing this afternoon, I was standing at the back, Charles Harris and I were speaking for a moment. He came over and he said you know you travel a little bit so you probably know this but he said there really isn't many places like this and I said you know if the people here only knew. I flew home from Antalya, Turkey yesterday afternoon, beautiful city on the Mediterranean, beautiful mountains. I mean it was it was breathtaking. We're walking through

the city one day this week and one of our leaders in that area of the world. He threw his arm around my shoulder and he said you know young man? He said this city needs a work in it. I said yes I'm sure it does. I'll pray that God sends somebody. There's a little city in the state of Indiana. It doesn't have the Mediterranean. It doesn't have mountains like I was looking at for the past five days but I can tell you what does have. Oh come on give thanks unto the Lord. Hallelujah. The book of Romans chapter number 12 and verse 2. Familiar passage of scripture. Romans 12 and verse 2. Apostle Paul says be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It's worth noting that Paul is not telling us there are levels to the will of God rather

by repetition of descriptive words he is emphasizing the necessity of achieving the will of God. There's not a good and acceptable and perfect. There's just a will of God. So the Apostle tells us that we are first not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. In other words you're not able to accomplish the will of God unless there is a transformation of your mind. A change of how you think of how you perceive the environment around you. So Paul tells us your ability to prove or to accomplish the divine will that has been set before you hinges on this thing right here. I want to preach to you tonight on this title the paradigm of possibility. The prayer that you would help me communicate your word. I asked father that you would give us ears to hear what the spirit would say to the church and I pray there would be

a sovereign demonstration of your spirit. I pray miracle signs and wonders would confirm the word of the Lord this night. In Jesus name we pray and the church said amen. The Lord bless you you can be seated. His name was Dr. Thomas Coon. The year was 1962. He was a renowned physicist and philosopher and he authored a book entitled the structure of scientific revolutions in which his interest was yes science but more so the revolution of the field of science he was interested in. It is in this book he first introduced the term paradigm shift. It was a new term for the intellectual community. It was used to describe new information that would change drastically how all other information was perceived. The term was given to inform a new revolution in science but its result reached far beyond the scientific community. Today we would understand this idea of a paradigm as a typical example or pattern of something a form or we might

say a framework by which we perceive the information around us. So in this scientific discovery had led to the revelation that each person had a unique genetic code. All of a sudden barriers were broken. An old information that had been settled was suddenly reevaluated in light of this new information. It reached beyond the scientific community and all of a sudden court cases that had long been closed are reopened. Walked in to the courts of justice once again because now they are looking at the same scientific evidence but through the lens of a new paradigm. It caused them to revisit old stories and things that had seemingly been settled for some time but now this new information has gone so far as to produce new behavior and the outcomes are life altering. Some who had been bound to prison and left no chance of hope. A new paradigm had presented them a life altering opportunity of freedom once again. All of this because of

one paradigm shift. I tell you tonight the paradigm shifts are powerful. The information has not changed. The facts remain the same but by virtue of a paradigm shift how you see that information changes. And so I tell you tonight it's time for new life to embrace a paradigm shift. In the day that we celebrate in the days to come this story holds much meaning. We find it in Matthew 26 it is near to the day of the Passover if not the day of the Passover. It's a time of celebration. It's an occasion that's marked with a bounding joy. The people of God the Israelites would gather together at this sacred time to commemorate their liberation from Egyptian captivity. They are so grateful for the freedom. They refuse to forget the reality of their salvation. I know I know it's century upon century removed from that historical fact but they refuse to forget. They are also grateful. They called a memory that night that

Israel fled from their captives. They left in great hurry and there was no time for the bread to rise and in memory of this sacred occasion to this day they continue to celebrate it by the eating of the unleavened bread. It is at this time of the Passover that our text would tell us Jesus sits with those who are closest to him what we affectionately call this last supper. And this in and of itself was not unusual for it is an annual feast. There's nothing new about the feast. There's nothing entirely new about the meal. All of these characters and their family for centuries have done this very same thing yet the account of Matthew 26 stands out from them all with great significance. For here as they're eating Jesus takes the bread and verse 26 and the Scripture would say he blessed it and break it and gives it to the disciples and says take and eat this is my body. He

takes the cup. He gives thanks and gives it to them saying drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. In some ways this moment was to be expected. They have done this every year for centuries but there are words uttered in these verses that would forever change the perspective of the Passover. For to them Passover was a celebration of their past Egyptian exodus. It celebrated their deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh. It would call to memory the sacrifice of a lamb and they would think of that night that blood was applied to the doorpost and when the death angel passed through they were preserved and they were delivered and they were spared. This was what the Passover was about. It was a time of recollection, a remembering of the past until this moment. All of a sudden Jesus on this most familiar occasion utters these words that

changes the perspective of the Passover from being one that looked back but to one that looked forward. See Passover has always been about what had happened but now Jesus doesn't call to memory the lamb that had been slain or the lambs that had been slain but the lamb that would be slain. Oh they don't yet realize it but they're in the middle of a paradigm shift because for thousands of years this had always been about what had happened but with these words take for this is my body and this is my blood. He changes their perspective from looking back to an event that is soon to come in a mere matter of days. You see this was their paradigm shift. It was the changing of perspective. It was the introduction of information that would change how all other information was perceived. See it had always been about what had happened but now Jesus says I want to give you insight into what will

happen. This talk of his body was a new idea. It challenged their concepts and the information they had lived by. It had formed their paradigm for centuries but now there is a shift taking place. We are observing it. The disciples are caught between two worlds between what is old, what is familiar and what is known and what is most certainly of God but is challenging their ideas. Those who would try to understand these words by carnal reasoning would certainly find them to seem to be a strange matter of words. For what man would tell us followers this bread is my body and this cup is my blood. I know to the carnal mind it seems so silly. There are some among us who have even tried to propagate an idea of doctrine that that bread becomes the physical body of Jesus. This was not what he was speaking of but it was metaphorical in nature. He was telling us of what was to

come that he soon would allow his body to be broken. He soon would shed his blood for the remission of sins and that deliverance from an Egyptian pharaoh was in fact not the totality of God's story for humanity. It was just a shadow of things to come and the danger was and the repetition year after year and century after century that their way of thinking could become ensnare by what was in their past when in fact the paradigm was given to move them towards the future. Until now Passover had always made them look back but in this moment God says I'm trying to interject some information into your mind a way of thinking into your world that would transition your vision from looking back to looking forward. The result of what we read in these few verses introduces to us a prophetic reality tonight that gives me the permission to stand here and tell you we have biblical precedent to retry cases that

you have just determined to settle with. I know what you may have been told and I know what you may have feel. You may think that's just your lot in life but I tell you the reality that Jesus was telling those disciples introduces to us the paradigm of possibility. Perhaps there's no better story in the scripture to illustrate this than what we find in Matthew 14. Contrary to popular opinion and my preference and likely yours Matthew 14 introduces to us the reality that there is divinely permitted discomfort in our lives. I don't like it but my friend it's true. Sometimes in the sovereignty of God in the little trouble in your life the entire experience that we'll find in these few verses we must remind ourselves that the onset of the story is ordained by God because in verse 22 the scripture would say Jesus constrained them to get in the boat. That tells me there was a little hesitancy on their part.

Evidently they looked out on the dark water. They could see a little storm brewing on the horizon. There was something a little unsettled in their experience mind that told them it's probably not an ideal situation. This is not the best of times to make your way out on to the water but Jesus constrained them. He made them. It's not up for debate. This is what you're gonna do. You're gonna get in the boat because I need you to get in the boat. Now they had no way of knowing what was to come. They could not see into the future. They could not perceive what the Lord was about to do. All we know is he makes them get in the boat. Now to their surprise but not the Lord's the storm shows up. Now here's Peter a fisherman of all environments that a man might find himself. This is one he's a little familiar with. He spent a little time on the water

in his day. I would go so far tonight as to to say this is probably not his first time in a boat in the midst of a storm. This is not the first little bit of discomfort on the water that he has had to traverse. It's not the first time he's felt a little bit of wind that made him uneasy. It's not the first time he's wrestled with the waves of the sea. The boat which would seem so sufficient any other time in the midst of this storm all of a sudden seems so insufficient. But we must remind ourselves the boat the water this environment is an environment of familiarity for Peter was a fisherman. This is his place of experience. It's his place of comfort. But the Bible would say the wind was contrary. We often preach this text as the reality of Peter's soon coming fear is the fault of the storm. But I would remind you tonight there is no

mention of fear when you read of the wind and the wave. How can this be? It's because as uncomfortable as this is. It's the environment of his familiarity. He's dealt with a little trouble before. He's navigated a little discomfort. Oh, he doesn't like it. But this happened a time or two. But here in the midst of a storm, a storm that so easily skews your perspective, the Bible would tell us that they see a figure on the water and perceiving it to be a spirit. He's now troubled. Now even amidst the storm, Peter is spiritual enough to perceive the spiritual nature of this encounter. Yet the storm has skewed his perspective to the point he's not certain who it is. This is the source of his fear. It's not the wind. It's not the wave. It's his ability to recognize the spiritual nature of the encounter, but his inability to perceive the working of God in the midst of the storm. But the

Lord knowing the heart of Peter lifts up his voice and says, It is I be not afraid. Oh, what comforting words to hear in the middle of your storm. It is I be not afraid here in this environment that yes, it is familiar, but he has been stripped of control. He's now in an arena where he must utilize his faith. This is beyond human reasoning. It's beyond the logic of man. He can't control this storm by his own hands. And at the moment, fear begins to manipulate the will of the child of God. This Lord lifts up his voice and says, It is I be not afraid. Be of good cheer, Peter. You've got no reason to fear. You've got no reason to be distraught. You have no reason to be overcome with worry or anxiety. It is I. And the Greek, these are those most precious words, ego, me. I am. This was not just the words of an ordinary man saying,

Hey, it's someone you know. You're familiar with me. This was the sovereign God reaching back to that revelation to Moses at a burning bush. And now he was telling Peter in his own storm in his own trying experience. Hey, the same God that showed up to Moses in a burning bush is showing up to you in the middle of your storm. It's me. Don't you dare be afraid. Hey, and I know that sounds exciting. But then, then he says these most audacious words, Lord, if it's really you, I want you to bid me to come unto thee on the water. If it's really you, then I want you to bid me to come out there with you. Now, I know, I know this just looks like Peter's looking for a little joy ride. But what he's really saying is I see your authority. I see the way my boat is walking in the wind and on the waves. And everything that's messing with

my life doesn't seem to be messing with you. This storm that's jeopardizing my safety is under your feet. Because the same waves that are tossing this boat, you're walking on right now. So what he's really saying is I see the authority you have. And if it's really you, I want you to let me share in that authority. This wasn't a first century amusement ride. This was Peter saying, I see who you are and I see what you have. And if it's really you, I want you to let me share in that authority. Just one problem, Peter. I'm not sure if you're aware, but you can't walk on water. I'm not sure if you've ever tried Peter, but if you just want to step beyond the arena of personal thought and experience, we've actually got a few thousand years of history now. I just want to let you know that you can't walk on water. It doesn't work like this. There's a thing called

gravity and buoyancy and weight. And there's all these scientific theories that govern the reality of God's creation and the earth. And I know everything you've ever experienced has produced a paradigm of thinking that tells you this is not scientifically possible. But he said, come, come. One word, four letters. And it was the introduction. It was a divine invitation to have a change of thinking that would produce a change of behavior. It was his doorway into the paradigm of possibility. I know it's never happened before. I know it's not scientifically possible, but I showed up in the middle of your storm and told you I am. It was the introduction of divine information that changed how he perceived all other information. It didn't matter how violently the wind raged. It didn't matter what that boat was looking like or what it felt like. It didn't matter if everybody else was seasick and crying for their mother. Not this guy. He had an ear for

what the Spirit said. He had received information from God that changed how he perceived everything around him. It didn't matter if it was uncomfortable to his flesh. It didn't matter if it challenged his comfort. God said, come. And now he stands at the threshold of a life altering opportunity. So I've got to preach to somebody in this house tonight. I've got to preach to new life. And I've got to tell you, you better not let your past experience keep you hostage from your present opportunity. We're in the midst of something significant here. And I know you just come Wednesday after Wednesday and Sunday after Sunday. And sometimes it just seems like Passover after Passover and week after week and year after year. And if we're not careful in the repetition of our traditions and our disciplines, we can miss the significance of divinely granted moments. You say, but preacher, you have any idea about the trouble in my life? You have any idea

about the pain in my body? You don't know what's going on in my family. You don't know what's happened at my place of work? No, I don't. But this is what I do know. He had to make them get in the boat. And sometimes he's going to make you get into trouble. Because until you get in the storm, you don't discover the savior. I know you feel like you can't see him right now. You can't find him anywhere around you. But this is what you're doing wrong. You're not going to see him with your eye until you first hear him with your ear. Eve was first to see because she spent too much time looking. And when she started looking too long, then she started listening. If she would have spent more time listening in the first place, then she would have been looking in the right place. God doesn't show your eye until he first gets your ear. Peter, be of good

cheer. You've got no reason to be fearful. You've got no reason to be afraid. You don't have to surrender. No, I already told you, you're going to the other side. The end of the story is all better to have been determined. Don't give up in the middle. I've allowed this, Peter, because I'm introducing you to the paradigm of possibilities. I want to show you what's never happened before can happen with me, but somewhere in the midst of your storm. And I know how we are with storms. We like a way of escape. I like a way of escape. Sometimes he don't give you a way of escape. He gives you a revelation to endure. Come me really. And there he is on the edge of that boat, looking at water, knowing it's not scientifically possible. Knowing it's never happened before with the paradigm formed by personal experience and the testimony of human history knows it's not possible. But the problem is he's perceived

this divinely granted information. He's heard the word of the Lord that said, it's I come. I've never done it before. It's a little bit uncomfortable. I have all this past experience that tells me I can't do this and this shouldn't happen. It shouldn't make sense. But he said, come. What do I do? You got to go. You can't let your God opportunity be held hostage to your past experience. I know maybe didn't I listen to me. You can't let your God opportunity be held captive by familiarity and what is common to you and what is make sense. This God we serve does anything but make sense. Come Peter. Come. Just, just, just, just try it. And there he goes off the edge of the boat. And for the first time in the entirety of human history, we've got a biblical record of a man walking on water. And I know it seems so far fetched us, but it's either true or it's not.

You either believe the word or you don't. Here is a man walking on water. And I've heard people kind of preach this cute little way like he wasn't really walking on water. He was walking on on God's word. Let me just tell you his feet were getting wet. It's going to let your flesh feel the reality of the storm you're walking through. To give you a choice, are you going to make your decision on the basis of your past paradigm that says this isn't possible? Or are you going to embrace the paradigm shift and make your present decision on the basis of the divinely granted information that says this is possible? And he starts walking on water. He's doing all right until the Bible says he saw the wind. That's kind of interesting to me because you can't really see the wind. You can see the effect of the wind, but you can't see the wind. But when he became distracted by seeing

the effect of the storm on his social environment, he took his eyes off the revelation and he starts sinking. Now we know God's merciful and the outcome of the story is great. The Lord would reach him and they would make their way back into the boat. And while I rejoice, over the fact that when they get back into the boat, they worship and thank the Lord, I can't help but wonder, Peter, why did you go back to the boat? Why not recover from that little mistake and choose to just keep on walking? I would submit to you, it's our tendency after moments of divine visitation and great revelation, life-altering opportunity to always retreat to what is common, what is familiar, and what is safe. There's no indication in the text that he could not have come back to the water and chosen to walk to the other side. It could have risen from that struggle and chosen to move forward in this

new paradigm. But human tendency has revealed as he retreats back to what he can control, to what he can perceive and make sense of. We look at Matthew 19 and 26. Jesus beheld them and saith unto them, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible, and it's easy to shout about. We can read it in even a minute, but when we're forced to choose the paradigm that we will live with in the midst of our own storm, it becomes a much more pressing reality. I don't know the details of the story of everyone I preached to this evening, but this is what I'm certain of by way of the Holy Ghost. There's a displeasure and despair and tests and trials and trauma. You're in the boat, but it's rocking beyond the measure that you're comfortable with, and it's your inability to perceive the working of God in the midst of the storm that is really the source of your

fear. But if you tune your ear to the voice of the Spirit, you know what you hear? Be a good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Oh, and with the entrance of those divine words, with that realization of divine revelation, with that understanding that though I've not always seen him, he's always been there, that I've not been able to make sense of him. He's still with me. With that realization, there is the introduction of a new paradigm that causes me to reevaluate all other information. I just preached it straight to where the rubber meets the road tonight. It means that that piece of paper the doctor gave you that says there's no alternative outcome or you've got to get in a machine or you've got to go under some kind of operation. This is what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the hopelessness you roll around at night wondering, my God, will my kids ever come back? I'm talking about feelings you

don't like to talk about because you don't want to entertain unbelief. But you're real, you're real troubled about the salvation of your backslidden spouse or your children who are hooked on drugs and this is what I'm talking about. See, you have just settled into the fate of unbelief. You have just settled based upon your evaluation of the information that this is all it's going to be. But what I've got to tell you tonight is there is divine information that changes how you perceive everything else. I know you don't see the way of escape. I know you don't see the way of return. I know they're so far from God and it's been so long since they've been here and it's been so long since they've cried and it's been so long since they've prayed and it feels like God is nowhere to be found. But you hear this preacher tonight. There is divinely granted information where you can realize God is with you

in the storm because this is the human. This is what your pain does. Your pain has you looking one direction. Your pain has you dwelling on the past. You're asking questions, what if I would have done this and what if I would have done that? If we could have done this differently, you're only looking one direction. But when you get that divinely granted information and you come to the realization, oh, he's been here all along. He's still working. He's still speaking. I'm not out here by myself. All of a sudden, your perspective changes. You're not looking back anymore. You're looking forward because in the midst of your pain, it's easy to cry tears about where your children are. It's easy to cry tears about what's happened and what the doctor said and the struggles you've been through with your family and your business and your career. It's easy to look back. But what you have to understand is God introduces this kind of

information to change your perspective. The story is not over. So you can't look back. There's a paradigm. There's a way of thinking that changes how you perceive this. So you start looking forward. This is why Paul said, and those great words of Philippians 3, he said, I'm forgetting those things which are behind. And I know we like to preach that like everything in his past had been heartache and heavy and struggle. But my friend Paul had some successes too. Paul had seen a little victory here and there. But the problem was when he got a revelation of from God, when he got a vision of what the future looked like, he said, all right, now I've got two sets of information. What do I live by? Do I live by what the pain is telling me? Do I live by what the rejection is telling me? Do I live by what the heartache is telling me? Or do I choose to live by

what I've seen by revelation? And so he says, I choose. This is what I choose. You just want to know what Paul chooses. Here's what Paul chooses. Paul says, I choose to forget. Some of it was bad. Some of it was good. But I choose to forget it because I've got a new set of information that causes me to reevaluate everything in my life. I've seen something from God. I've got this pull towards the future. And, hey, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to come without a fight. So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to press towards the mark. I'm going to forget. That's the hard part. That's the emotional part. But then I'm going to press towards the mark. That's the part that takes a little grit, a little sacrifice, a little fight, a little resolve because it's not going to come easy. It's going to be a fight. There's going to be a challenge. So

I have to ask you tonight, who told you it can't happen? Who told you your backslidden child's not coming home? Who told you your spouse isn't going to be saved? Who told you you're not going to be healed? Who told you the miracle's not going to happen? Who told you that bill's not going to be paid? Who told you? I can tell you who didn't tell you? You see, the problem is we all live in the tension of two worlds of information, and you have to choose. Do I live in the information that is communicated and perceived by my social environment in my five senses? Or do I step into this arena of faith, into this paradigm of possibility, where I take this divinely communicated word from God that becomes a paradigm shift that changes how I perceive everything else around me? I'll tell you what you need to do. You take off your glasses. You see, walking around like this. I got

a pastor friend of mine back in Canada diagnosed with a GBM brain tumor. He's lived longer than anyone in the world. But when he was diagnosing what the doctors told him, he lost his peripheral vision. He started telling his doctor, I want to drive again. I want to drive again. I want to drive again. The doctor said, well, well, sir, unfortunately, the part of your brain that controls your peripheral vision was removed in the operation. It's sitting in a glass jar in a hospital two and a half hours from here. He'd go back to the doctor, doctor, I'm going to drive again. I'm going to drive again. I believe I'm going to drive again. Finally, one day he woke up and he realized my peripheral vision is coming back. So he goes to his doctor, doctor, my vision is coming back. Well, sir, unfortunately, that's not scientifically possible because the part of your brain that controls your vision, I cut out of your

head. Well, I know. But you see the reality of what he said, when this is his body and this is his blood, what he accomplished on that cross, introduced a new set of information that gives me biblical precedent to reevaluate all other information. And I know your scientific document says it can't happen, but I'm just going to bring it into the court of heaven and on the blood of Jesus Christ challenge that. So eventually that doctor said, all right, you ought to just go get yourself an eye exam. And that eye doctor said, I don't know what they told you, and I don't know what happened to you, but your eyesight is fine. And you know what he's doing today? He's driving everywhere he goes. I'm telling you tonight, you have got to choose which set of information you want to live by. Do you want to live by what this world tells you and what the accuser tells you and what the

deceiver tells you or do you want to get a little revelation in the midst of your storm and step in to the paradigm of God's possibility? Hey, I know with man, it might be impossible. With the doctor, it might not be possible. With the banker, it might not be possible. With a counselor, it might not be possible. With God, with God. Hey, hear me right now. This is the information you need to get right now because you say, preacher, I can't see God. I can't feel God. I don't know where he is. I feel like I'm all alone and I'm at the mercy of the storm. Be of good cheer. It is high. Be not afraid. You mean I'm not alone? No, you're not alone. You're not by yourself. You're not navigating these treacherous waters by yourself. And you're not just doing it with the people in the boat with you. There's one who's in the storm, but he's got enough power. His

salvation doesn't depend on that little boat. He's just walking on the water. You see the authority I have? Come. Come. Step out of that boat of familiarity. Leave that place of comfort right now. Come on. Come with me, Peter. Come into the paradigm of possibility. Let me show you what I can do. Come on. Come on, Peter. Try it. Choose how you want to live. This is only a moment, but I'm not preaching a new life tonight about a moment. I'm talking about a trajectory of how we're going to live. I mean no disrespect. I celebrate all that God has done, but it's easy to look back. And there's times to visit our memories and share our testimonies. But I would tell you the urgency of this moment and what God has for our great church demands that our Passover become more than just looking back. There's some divinely granted information that's causing us to have a change of perspective. And we've got

to start looking forward because it's not just about our past experience. It's about this present opportunity. But if we're going to see what God has for us to see, we're going to have to make this choice. I refuse. I refuse. I reject every carnal idea, every logical way of thinking. I reject reason and safety. I hear the call. I've never done this before. I've never walked this way before. I know. So I'm not preaching to something that I'm not living. I told Reagan he preached a couple Sundays ago. I came to that service with the made-up mind. I felt like God had already talked to me. And he made one statement. I thought, oh God, this is kind of scaring me. This is more than I can make sense of. It's not logical. It's uncomfortable. But I know when God speaks to me and I heard him say, come on. Come on, Dan. You've seen me do some things before. But if

you'll just come a little farther, I'm not done yet. I have some authority I'm inviting you to share in with me. Come on. And I'm telling this church tonight. There's an authority that God has far supersedes anything you've ever walked in. It supersedes anything you've ever seen. But you hear this preacher. You are going to have to make the decision. I'm stepping out of what is common. I'm forsaking what is familiar. I know it's scary. But in the midst of my storm, he let me know he was with me. And when I realized he was with me, I said, all right, let me experience that authority too. And he stepped out of the boat and he started walking on water. And I'm telling you tonight, the greatest weapon the adversary has against this church and this season is distraction. It's just the wind. It's the waves. It's the effect of his social environment and how that makes his mind become manipulated by what

his five senses perceive. Can I make it plain for you? Don't hate me, but I've got to obey God right now. Some of you are so emotionally distraught by what the news has to say about Donald Trump in a court case. And some of you will become so distracted by the narrative of the mainstream. He said, well, no, I'll tell you what you're doing. You're becoming distracted by the effect of what's happening in your social environment. He couldn't see the wind and you can't see the system that's already been predetermined to set up the political structures of this world. You just see the effect. But if you're not careful, distraction will keep you from walking in the authority that God later, not even hundreds of years, hundreds of years later, the writer of Hebrews would say, he's put all things under his feet. But we don't yet see all things under his feet. It's the tension of two worlds. I have divinely granted

information that tells me he's already done it, but I have information perceived by my carnal mind because it's not yet under his feet and I have to choose which set of information do I live by. You can judge this for what you want, but I have felt in my spirit for several months. I text pastor sometime last fall and I said, I feel like somewhere in the spring in March or April, there's going to be this season of unique visitation. I don't know what it looks like, but this is what I do know from God is there's something there is a God given opportunity before us right now and we've got a choice to make. Do we judge our action in the present moment by what we perceive by spiritual revelation or just by what is familiar? Is it just another Sunday? Is it just another building? Is it just another service? Is it just another Bible study? Is it just another day?

It's this way of thinking that's conditioned, that's conformed, that becomes systemized by the repetition of tradition that can cause us to miss the divinely granted moments God has. And so I tell you, we are being given a God given opportunity to choose to embrace the paradigm of possibility. I thank the Lord for the great miracle that our pastors shared this morning, but it's not the only one that God has. In fact, I would tell you tonight, I would tell you, we are in a season of divine opportunity. You want to know the authority God has? I'll tell you, he can make that tumor disappear. He can grow that part of your brain back. He can go to your back sleeping child on a Sunday night and say, hey, you should turn on that webcast. You see the authority I have? Come, because I'm going to let you share it. Come on, I know with man it's impossible, but you just got a word

that told you there's a God with you in the storm. I want you to hear me one minute before we flood this altar. I want to make sure we give space to the right people. If you're here tonight and you have never received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, evidence by speaking in another language as the spear gives you the ability. If you've never been baptized in Jesus name, you're the first person I'm talking to. It may be beyond the scope of your comfort, what you're familiar with to leave your seat and press your way to this altar, but I'm telling you, God says, come. So if you need the Holy Ghost, I want you to come. If you are here and you need a physical miracle in your body, a notable physical miracle. Now, if you have a headache, God can help your headache, but I'm talking, you need a miracle. Appeal is not going to do it. The doctor is not

going to do it. You don't want to wait for the surgery. You need a miracle. I want you to come right now. Come on, come. If you're battling in your mind, depression, anxiety, and we all have hard days, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about if you were living in a cycle of repeated despair and you feel like you're trapped in a pit of hopelessness, I want you to come. Come on. Come on, press your way in. There's no shame here. Don't be shy. This is our opportunity. I see people still moving, so I'm just going to give you time. I want you to press in. Press in. You may have just accepted that life was always going to be that way. No, because there's a new set of information that changes how we perceive all other information. There's a cross that we can look to. There's a body that was shed. All right, let me have your attention. Everybody

look at me. Now, you're only looking at me for a moment so I can give you a little bit of instruction. If you want to share in the authority that God has, you've got to look past me, and you've got to look to the cross. Because those words, he said, this is my body and this is my blood. Oh, they had celebrated the Passover before, but the reality of that cross introduced a world of information that changed everything they had ever known. All of a sudden, the words of Isaiah 53 that had just laid in wait for hundreds of years are fulfilled, and the reality of those words bear fruit in my life. I don't know if I've shared it here before or not, but Dan McLeod stands here tonight because in 1967, when my father had laid in a coma for 10 weeks, and the doctor said, oh, Eva, that's the only David you're ever going to have. There's nothing more medicine

can do. There's nothing more a doctor can do. This is the world of scientific reasoning. She said, well, I'd just like to wait, and if you'd let my preacher come in here on Sunday when we get done church, I just want him to pray one more time. And that little preacher, I don't even know his name. He's never preached a conference in the UPC, and a little village in the back country of New Brunswick walked in that hospital room with a paradigm of possibility, shaped by revelation from another world. He said, I know death is in this room, and I know despair has overtaken your mind, but I come with an authority from another world. So you got to look past me, and you got to look to kindshifted, and whatever you need, whatever pain is in your body, elder, whatever trauma is in your family, whatever you need, whatever child you need God to touch, whatever marriage need restored, I stand tonight

on the authority of another world, and I declare to you, we are stepping in to the paradigm of God's possibility. So here's what we're going to do. In a unified shout, we're going to shout a shout of victory under the Lord. I was in prayer up early this morning with jet lag, and I was reading all four gospel accounts of the Passover, and the triumphant entry. The Bible says when Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem, all the city was moved. That word moved literally means there was a shaking or an agitation of mind. Be not conformed, but it wasn't simply the entry of Jesus. It was the response of the multitudes that brought an awareness to the greater body. I kind of feel like that's what happened here this morning. We came and there was just this witness and this awareness. God is moving among us. I mean, pastor had a word and he could have preached it, but he said, what's

your pleasure? And the multitudes recognize the witness and the working of the spirit. And we hasten to respond and men begin to run the aisles and people begin to shout. People begin to wave their hands. And I'll tell you what was happening. There was a shaking. You wonder what's happening in Terahot right now? There's a shaking. There's an agitation of mind. You know what that means? There's a tearing down of strongholds where we're not conformed to the thinking of this world, but we're freed from the prison of carnal reasoning and human logic. And we step into this world of supernatural possibility. So we're looking to the cross. I want you to close your eyes and I want you to lift up your head and I want you to lift up your hands with your eyes closed. I want you to visualize Calvary right now. Visualize it. You see the cross. You see his body there. You see the blood running down his brow.

That blood's about to heal your body right now. You see it? That's an authority from another world that's about to be manifest in this room right now. Let's speak the word of faith. And when I shout hallelujah, I want you to shout hallelujah with me of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to fall across this sanctuary. Lord Jesus right now upon the authority of your word that says by your stripes, we promises us peace and joy. Your word, I lose the working of miracles now in the name of Jesus Christ.