"The Rooster Will Crow, But The Wind Must Blow"- The Apostolic Connection

26 and verse 32 I give honor to pastor and his absence Pastor Carpenter Pastor Erickson their great leadership here if you want to stand an honor to the reading the word of God I'll read just a few passes just a short passage of this scripture here in Matthew chapter 26 the First Gospel we find in the New Testament later here in the gospel and the text I'll take from today both here and later in the message are very familiar we'll read through them so you can see and we can point out a few things here in scripture today but Matthew chapter 26 says but after I am rise again and Jesus here speaking I will go before you into Galilee Peter man Peter answered and said unto them though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended Jesus said unto him verily I say unto you that this night before the Crow Thou shalt deny me Thrice and Peter said unto him though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee likewise also said all the disciples after Peter spoke up all their disciples decide to chime in and say Lord we're not going to deny you we're not going to turn our back on you then come at Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and we can shorten our time and reading there and Jesus Takes so the Bible says Peter and the sons of Zebedee and basically Peter James John you go back in this thing where he's trying to have a time of prayer and what we see is one of the probably the most dramatic prayer meetings that we'll see he takes them to Gethsemane where his sweat becomes drops of blood and he prays father let this cup pass for me that's this whole passage here that we we segment into and and he keeps going back to the disciples can you not watch with me can you not tarry with me can you not help me with this could you not pray with me and they keep nodding off and we go on down into verse 69 and remember Peter has said I'm not going to deny you I'm not going just turn my back on you in verse 69 we find in the same chapter now Peter sat without in the palace and the dams who came unto him saying doubt also was with Jesus of Galilee but he denied before them all saying I know not what thou sayest and when he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him and said unto him said unto them that were there this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth and again he denied with an oath I do not know the man and after a while came unto him they that stood by him and said to Peter surely Thou Art one of them for thy speech betrayeth thee then begin he to curse and to swear saying I know not the man and immediately the crew and Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said unto him before the Crow Thou shalt deny me Thrice and he went out and wept bitterly

I want to speak to you for just again just a few minutes here about the rooster will Crow but the wind must blow the rooster will Crow but the wind must blow you can be seated

now today I know that I'm standing here in a suit and I look like maybe to some of y'all moving here just a little over eight years ago that I come as maybe a young man who um knew a little bit about sports and um felt the need to move to Tennessee and to marry the pastor's daughter and work at the church and um whatever it is that you have a perception of me I hope that it is good but tell you a little bit about my my past and where I grew up I'm just a it's my Aunt Kathy would say just a Georgia redneck I'm just an old country boy I you probably wouldn't view me as this but I um it's been around farms and I I could skin a deer so fast and gut a deer so fast that on Saturdays I would go work and uh at a deer processing plant and I could do it fast enough it was worth my time to go make money doing it a guy in our church selling the processing plant and if you could hunt it if you could kill it if you could skin it if you could eat it if you maybe there wasn't a tag for it I probably killed it I've been around any kind of farms been in the mud been done things probably I shouldn't have done out in the woods and this and that and it's just how I grew up now I was taken care of I went to a nice Christian Prestige School drove nice cars lived in a nice house my dad was way too way too a perfectionist and those sort of things to have a farm but I had friends and spent a lot of times and my dad was one of those he cuts grass with scissors like everything's just perfect you know we know we had a dog just long enough that when it started messing up things we got rid of it and uh so we I was never we lived on five acres but we didn't have a farm or anything like that but I was around uh some friends particularly some ones I think of that had chicken houses and I remember we were probably 16 15 16 years old and we got the the idea that when they would come clean out the chicken houses brother Erickson that they would always leave three or four in each house so we just started our own farm so we just went we'd go through the neighbor's house the chicken houses our own chicken houses and gather up those few chickens we built this little pin out back we just put the chickens there and we had before you knew it we had a slew of them all right in the past two or three months we'd gather we had about 35 or 40. we didn't know what we were doing with them we just had a bunch of chickens out in the backyard in the edge of the woods so nobody could see them and uh we just go out there and watch them and mess with them well finally we were old enough to drive and we got this hair brain idea that we would go we got on Craigslist and we bought some roosters and one thing led to another we bought some fighting roosters and it got real out of hand we got in some trouble and that's just the passes in the past but I've spent some time around some roosters and one of the worst things about those things is is the sound when you're just laying there in the bed on a cool nice Saturday morning you finally get to sleep in and you hear that shine I think that one sounds worse than even a live one it's kind of struggling there but you hear that rooster crow and it's just man would that thing be quiet and if you've been around them enough you know they don't just crow in the morning that's just when they're most annoying they Crow all throughout the day and I I began to think and you may be a little later on here in just a few minutes I'll let you know kind of where this message came from because right now I'm sure you're just like how does this kid come up with this stuff

but I thought about just how many times Peter Walking With Jesus being right there in the midst of Jesus all throughout we understand that he had walked on the water he had been invited to the mountain of transfiguration hit all these great experiences with God but right before his death right before his Ascension he would be the one yeah Judas sold him Peter was that one who Jesus called him out and said hey you're going to deny me three in front of everybody in front of the disciples he said you're going to deny me before the crows and for it to come to pass and the Bible says that he wept bitterly he was very upset but that I'm sure was bad in itself that when it hit him that he had done exactly what Jesus had said was going to happen but then to walk out and the next day be awakened by that terrible rooster crowing to walk around the corner in the marketplace and to hear the crow of that screeching sound in his ears as annoying as it could be to us on a Saturday morning every time that rooster crowed every time it lifted up its crackling voice and howled out Peter was reminded that he turned his back on the one that he followed right before he gave up his life for him he was reminded of the bad thing that he had done

and while thinking about Peter's story how many of us can relate how many of us can look at our lives sit here today maybe throughout this week that you've woke up with Devil's Place past experiences past things on your mind you're just trying to do something for God you're just trying to lead your family father you're just trying to be a better mother just trying to be a better young person but it seems like every time you try to do something different or every time you turn a corner if that thing in your past that time that you turned your back on God that thing that you've done wrong seems to always raise its crooked head and seem to let out this loud just can't get away from it it wakes you up it torments you you get through a couple days and before you know it you've slipped it back into the bitterness the frustration you know there's things that you ought to be doing but you just can't get over that it just keeps showing back up you try to lift Your Hands In Worship but you keep hearing that sound you try to go to the prayer room but you just kneel your knees down and all of a sudden the devil throws it back into your mind that hey you're not worthy to call on the name of God you're not worthy to lift your hands what are you doing singing in the choir today you know what you used to be you know what you used to do you know what you did this week you know what you did to your family you know what you said to your husband you know how you've treated your kids you know what you've done this that or the other the devil wants to raise his hand and amplify the voice of that old rooster he wants to let it Crow as loud the rooster is going to Crow every time we try to do something different the devil loves to amplify our past the devil loves to bring up divorce and cheating and lying and disrespect and pride he loves to bring up things that have caused you to turn your back on God and deny him but we can look all through Peter's life and quickly moving here again I told you this is going to be fast we're riding a helicopter today not a plane we're just going to go straight up

we find Peter just not too far away here we we have from Passover to Pentecost there's about 50 days we have three days in the Tomb and he showed himself on Earth the book of Acts chapter one says for 40 days so then Christ has ascended and here for about seven days we find them sitting in an upper room in Acts chapter one in Acts chapter 1 verse 12 says then return they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath Day's Journey and there there and when there were come in they went up into an upper room where Abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew and James the son of alphaeus and Simon zealots and Judas the brother of James these all continued in one Accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his Brethren and in those days Peter stood up in the midst Peter stands up after denying Jesus just just a few months earlier he stands up in the midst of the disciples and said the number of the names together were about he said here are about 120 and he says this men and Brethren the scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before a concerning Judas which was a guide to them that took Jesus and so in Acts chapter 2 we turn the page we find Simon Peter tearing with the mother of Jesus the disciples summing up to about 120 people and the Bible says this in Acts chapter 2 and verse 1 you know all too well and when the day of Pentecost was fully come there was all in one Accord in one place and suddenly there was a sound from Heaven as of a rushing Mighty Wind and it filled all the house where they were sinning and appeared unto them cloven tongues like a fire and it's set upon each of them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance suddenly there was a sound I believe that suddenly in Peter's life there was a sound that the Bible says about the third hour or nine o'clock that morning that was able to drown out the sound of an old rooster I believe that all of a sudden a wind came in the Bible says a Russian Mighty Wind and it filled the house and it overcome the sound of that denial it overcome the sound of that past and I stand here today to remind somebody whether you're in the room or behind a television screen today that that sound is still shouting today it's still moving today it's still blowing today that wind is still as strong today as it's ever been I hear the sound of a rushing Mighty Wind that wants to fill the house today the Bible says for these are not drunk in verse 15 as you suppose seeing it's but the third hour of the day Peter reminds and and speaks he's the one standing up notice he is the voice of this whole birth of the church everything we see here in Acts 2 the Power of the Holy Ghost for the first time coming down he's ascended but he sent his Spirit back to dwell with us the whole purpose of the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ now coming to full fruition the prophecies are being fulfilled because he's coming down the Bible says as a rushing Mighty Wind to fill each and every person in that room one Accord one place everybody gets focused everybody brings their issues everybody brings their past everybody brings their mess-ups everybody gets gets their mind off that old rooster gets their mind off the things that they've done wrong trust me there was plenty of wrongs there was plenty of mess-ups in that room today but they got their mind on one thing got their mind in one Accord trust me they're all uh it just just seems to to work today with today's sermon though you put two roosters in in a room together they're going to want to fight and the reason that we have problems today bringing our past to the place that it ought to be taken care of into a room in one Accord is that too many people bring them to churches and the reason that churches are struggling today is that roosters when they come together want to fight you bring yours in the room and I'll bring mine in the room and he'll bring his in the room and we have just a big mess but the great thing about the church the great thing about a church that's built upon the foundation of the spirit of God moving is that anybody and everybody all throughout this County and all throughout this world can walk through a door and the wind begin to blow and the spirit of God began to move and no matter what you've ever done no matter if you've got a drug addict past if you come from a divorced home if you've been beaten it don't matter black white rich or poor there's a wind that's going to blow there's some things that's going to happen that can touch and change anybody's life in this room or in this world today if you believe that why don't you just praise him right now what don't you love him right now there's a wind that wants to blow in this place today I feel the Holy Ghost today Hallelujah Peter brought him to a place he couldn't be heard Peter learned how to silence the cry of an old rooster

and so today I bring you to what brought me to this thought like I said I grew up country boy and I live today in a barn a house but it looks like a barn my wife would like for us to put weather veins little things on top of the house so I've been doing a little research trying to find one and been unbeknowing to me you find out that there is all sorts of them there's any animal any size and shape whatever you want and so my search online led me to this sermon and led me to this interesting fact of the first Weather Vein the oldest existing Weather Vein with the shape of a rooster is was made in 820 CE and it's still on display today in a museum the whole purpose of a Weather Vein was based upon this rooster Pope Leo the fourth had a rooster placed on the Old Saint Peter's Basilica long long ago then Pope Gregory the first said that the rooster was the most suitable emblem for Christianity being the emblem of Saint Peter a reference to Luke chapter 22 and verse 34 in which Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows as a result of this the rooster gradually began to be used as a Weather Vein on Church Steeples in the 9th century pope Nicholas the first ordered for every Church to have a rooster a Weather Vein with a rooster on it on every single Church steeple a tapestry of tin and based upon the 1070s depicts a man installing a rooster on the top of Westminster Abbey and the thought behind the Weather Vein is simply my title today is that the rooster is going to Crow that you and I every single one of us are going to deny God at some point we're going to slip up we're human we're going to mess up they put it on top of the churches to let everybody know that hey we're just ordinary people we're messed up people but the wind the wind's going to control the rooster the wind is going to be what moves the rooster the wind is going to be what takes care of your problems the spirit is the only thing that is going to take care of your issues in the language of scripture the word for wind is ruach are you a CH but it has another meaning which also means spirit in Hebrew the holy spirit is the holy wind so what happens when you and I decide to allow the wind to move in our lives or in other words to walk with the Wind it creates a Thrust in the same tense if you turn away and walk into the wind it creates a drag you and I understand that it takes sometimes if we're working with God and you I can testify to this that it takes more energy to do less without God why is it that we feel like things this life's such a struggle it's such this it's such that maybe we're walking Against the Wind maybe we're carrying an old rooster around maybe we find ourselves right everything's just become harder but understand that it's that much more when we turn our backs and begin to walk with God and we decide to repent of our sins to leave those things to assemble ourselves and allow God to take those things of our past though we've denied him though you've done wrong as the Bible says you're surrounded with such a great cloud of witnesses today where would I be where would any of us be without the grace and the mercy of God when we begin to move with the spirit when we begin to allow the wind of the spirit it helps us walk it helps us move ahead it makes everything move easier so when we walk with that when we get walk against that wind and begin to walk away that we get rid of that drag we get rid of those burdens we get rid of that past

understand this morning if you are if you haven't got over your past you're living in it if you're not using your past to thrust you for it if you don't have some kind of testimony that you share with somebody you're still in your past God has no no plan for your past except to cover it with the blood that's the whole purpose we understand that the rooster's there the mess-ups are going to be there that's why we live in a Grace dispensation that Grace is teaching us Grace is showing us it's that we acknowledge it but we're allowing the wind to control it God we're just going to put that in your hands amen and so we understand now moving all the way up into this point

we understand now why Peter is the one who could Step Up in Acts chapter 2 and verse 37 and now when they had heard this and they explained they're not drunk this is a move of God they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and Brethren what shall we do then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord Our God shall call and with many words did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation then they gladly received his word were baptized and in the same day they were added unto the church how many 3 000 Souls it's very important that we understand that all it takes for a church to grow just allow the wind to move just allow the spirit of God to move we don't have to get rid of things we don't have to let down on standards we don't have to do this or we don't have to do that we just have to be a place that broken people that people that have a haunting past that people that have messed up issues like Peter can walk into a room and assemble themselves and we get a choir and we get a body of people that decide to get in one mind and one Accord and allow the spirit of God to begin to move and allow the spirit of God to begin to speak and allow the spirit of God to begin to touch and heal and deliver and set free and put some things under the blood