Shownotes
Ever wonder if you could really move forward after disappointment or failure?
Pastor Barbie invites you into the heart of what it means to respond to God’s invitation to arise, even when self-doubt or the past holds you down. She shares her experiences with seasons of both deep difficulty and surprising joy, reminding us that the journey with God is marked by real questions, lingering shame, and repeated starts.
She explores the tension between the accusing voice that says you’ll never measure up and the hopeful voice of God that calls you to get up, not just once, but as many times as it takes. Through vivid retellings of Scripture and her own walk with God, she unpacks what happens when you step away from your comfort zone, face your wounds, and say yes to the next step.
If you're feeling sidelined or wrestling with whether you’re disqualified, this episode will show that we all sometimes need more than one touch from God. The call to arise isn’t about performance; it’s about responding to God’s persistent offer of healing and purpose. The story isn’t over—the moment you get up, something new begins.
Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 13:17; Joshua 1:2, 3:5; 1 Kings 19:5-7; Psalm 84:6; Matthew 9:6, 14:28; Mark 5:41, 8:22-26; Philippians 1:6
Key Insights
- God’s call to arise is an invitation, not shame.
- Stepping up often precedes clear purpose and open doors.
- Rest and a second touch from God are holy and precious, not signs of failure.
- Sight alone isn't enough. We need to have our vision restored to see the way God sees.
Key Sections
00:00:00 - Wrestling with Shame and Calling
When calling weighs heavy and setbacks pile on, self-doubt and spiritual nausea set in. Real obedience asks for both accountability and grit.
00:03:46 - The Two Voices After a Fall
Ever been immobilized by accusation, feeling both exposed and hopeless? The enemy accuses, but God’s call comes saturated with hope, inviting risky obedience.
00:07:46 - What It Means to Arise
Hours lost to regret and apathy sap our energy. The Hebrew call is not casual—arise punches through inertia, calls you to stand up in defeat, and step toward meaning—again.
00:10:22 - Standing Up Before the Step
Before any miracle, before any purpose is revealed, the decision to stand and move is forged in tension and unknowns. Obedience leads, not certainty.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/arise-the-faith-of-taking-the-first-step-
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
God is so faithful, and we are still in the Arise
Speaker:series. And as I began to pray about where the Lord would
Speaker:actually take me, Pastor Ronnie covered for
Speaker:me a couple of weeks ago because I was dealing
Speaker:with some family illness. And the
Speaker:message that I was supposed to bring was called the first step. So
Speaker:I suppose this is now the third step, and we're going
Speaker:do it anyway, because I'm excited. You know,
Speaker:I have been blessed to be able
Speaker:to share and teach in this
Speaker:house for about 23 years now.
Speaker:And it has been an honor, and it has been the scariest
Speaker:thing I have ever done in my life, because handling the
Speaker:word of God, I do not take it lightly. It
Speaker:still makes me nauseous when I have to come and teach, but that's
Speaker:just part of the way of trying to be accountable before the Lord for
Speaker:the calling that's in your life and also walking in
Speaker:obedience to people who God has put in your life, who has
Speaker:spoken the words teacher over you. Thank you, Pastor Ronnie.
Speaker:And so it's an honor. But during those years, there
Speaker:have been seasons where that have
Speaker:been the most amazing seasons you could possibly imagine.
Speaker:And then there have been seasons that have been extremely difficult
Speaker:and that have been hard. And God has
Speaker:met me in both. God has met me in both. And one of the things
Speaker:that has been consistent in the Lord
Speaker:in his dealing with me. See, our church is
Speaker:founded or has moved since we've become Springhouse. Our scriptural
Speaker:base is out of Psalm 84. And it says, when you pass
Speaker:through the valley of the shadow of tears, you can fear no
Speaker:evil. But it says, when those who pass through the valley of the shadow of
Speaker:tears, we make it a place of spring. And that if you do not know
Speaker:that's where the name Springhouse came from, we have a
Speaker:tendency, a blessing, a calling that
Speaker:allows people who have been wounded or hurt who just need to find
Speaker:healing the valley of tears. They'll either
Speaker:be healed in this house and go on to serve in leadership somewhere
Speaker:else, or they'll stay here and be healed and be used in
Speaker:this household. And I'm quite convinced that that valley of tears
Speaker:makes a direct path through an office right down there
Speaker:on that end of building that belongs to me. And so I find
Speaker:myself in that place a lot of times. And the thing that the Lord does
Speaker:with me is there's this consistent voice that says,
Speaker:you gonna get up? You gonna get up?
Speaker:Because a lot of times I can, in my flesh, I can find myself on
Speaker:the floor for a good reason or a bad reason. You know, it's like I
Speaker:can be like, God, you're so good, you are so faithful. God, why have you
Speaker:forsaken me? Why have you left me? And in both situations,
Speaker:the call of the Lord in my life has been a consistent.
Speaker:Will you get up? Will you get up? And so in this
Speaker:series, Arise, I found myself hearing that voice.
Speaker:And I feel like the calling that the Lord has for us
Speaker:today is the invitation to arise. The
Speaker:invitation or the challenge? Will you get up
Speaker:from where you are? From what has held you back? From everything
Speaker:that has kept you immobile or paralyzed in your walk with him.
Speaker:Will you get up? So, so. Will you get up? We're gonna read the scripture.
Speaker:Will you get up? Okay. Are you ready?
Speaker:I'll give you a moment to shake it off. That was a slow song. Sorry
Speaker:about that. Here we go. And they came to
Speaker:Bethsaiah, and some people brought to him a blind man
Speaker:and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind
Speaker:man by the hand and led him out of the village. And
Speaker:when he had stopped, spit on his eyes and laid his hands on
Speaker:him. He asked him, do you see anything?
Speaker:And he looked up and said, I see men, but
Speaker:they look like trees walking. Then Jesus
Speaker:laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his
Speaker:eyes and his sight was restored.
Speaker:And one more verse, being confident of this,
Speaker:that he who began a good work in you will carry
Speaker:it on to completion until the day of Christ
Speaker:Jesus. Father, God, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you, Lord,
Speaker:for the way it compels us. It draws
Speaker:us, Lord and Father, if we will just dive
Speaker:in to your truth. Our lives change, Lord, and
Speaker:not just our lives, but the lives of those that we're in contact with.
Speaker:Father, I thank you that you are a world changer and you do it through
Speaker:common human beings. And so I thank you for another opportunity to
Speaker:arise and let my stuff fall, Father, and yours stand in
Speaker:Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So this is the
Speaker:call this morning. Will you get up? Will you get up
Speaker:now? See, there's two voices in that. There's two voices in that.
Speaker:There's the shame induced, the blame induced,
Speaker:one that we've all experienced. When it's time for God to do something in
Speaker:our lives, and the enemy loves to tell you, well, why don't
Speaker:you just get up? You know, you have known this,
Speaker:you've been told a thousand times, and yet here you are
Speaker:in this situation again. Well, just get up then.
Speaker:Just get up. And there's so much attached to that Name, there's
Speaker:accusation, you know, even though the voice is going, well, then
Speaker:just get up. What is
Speaker:being inferred is there's no way you deserve to get up.
Speaker:There's no way for you to step back into that calling after
Speaker:what you've done. There is no way that you could ever miss minister
Speaker:to anybody based on where you are right now. And that's the
Speaker:voice of the enemy, right? But then there's that other voice. And this
Speaker:I have experienced both on multiple occasions,
Speaker:as have most of you. The other voice is,
Speaker:will you get up? You going to get up?
Speaker:Because if you will get up and go with me,
Speaker:oh, I got some stuff for you. Will you get up?
Speaker:None of that matters. All of that, that's ancillary. That's just
Speaker:stuff. Will you get up? And there's promise and there's
Speaker:hope, and there's something solid in that
Speaker:invitation. You gonna get up? You gonna lay down that job,
Speaker:Kurt, you gonna lay it down? I know you can't see
Speaker:beyond this, but you're gonna do that because there's something on the other side of
Speaker:that, and I need you guys to just step into that. Trust in Tina.
Speaker:Trust in Tina. It's gonna be okay. Will you get up? Will you get
Speaker:up and will you go do what I've called you to do? One voice shames
Speaker:and is accusatory. And the other voice is
Speaker:filled with authority, with hope, with
Speaker:invitation. And that's the voice that we're gonna listen to this
Speaker:morning. Amen. We got some teachers, we got some prophets, we got
Speaker:some ministers in this room, We've got some encouragers in this
Speaker:room. We've got people who have been just sitting back just a little
Speaker:bit, waiting on your now, waiting on your moment. And
Speaker:the word this morning that I have in my spirit for you is
Speaker:arise. Will you arise?
Speaker:Will you arise? Now, I want you to look at that before you even answer
Speaker:that. Will you arise? I want you to look at what that commitment is.
Speaker:Arise in Hebrew is kum kumi,
Speaker:a divine call to action, spiritual
Speaker:awakening or restoration. It implies moving from
Speaker:inaction to purpose. I love that. Such as
Speaker:standing up after defeat. Anybody need to stand up
Speaker:after being knocked down a couple of times? Anybody just
Speaker:need the strength to get up one more time from
Speaker:that beating that you just took. Receiving strength or being
Speaker:resurrected from dead places.
Speaker:Been spending any time in some places that were bringing you no life
Speaker:whatsoever, Sucking the life right out of you.
Speaker:Time to get up. Time to get up. It is used as a
Speaker:command to shake off Apathy and
Speaker:fulfill divine purpose. Now let me ask you, will
Speaker:you arise? Will you arise? Will
Speaker:you allow God to do these things in your life? Because that is the
Speaker:calling. Will you get up? And one thing
Speaker:that I love is the purposeful use of words in
Speaker:Scripture. God makes no mistakes, and the things that he
Speaker:uses are intentional. This says in Scripture,
Speaker:arise is not casual. It is divine
Speaker:in nature. Now we do
Speaker:abide, arise, advance, and
Speaker:that's great. That's great. It rhymes. They all start with a.
Speaker:We can remember them. We like things we can remember.
Speaker:But abide is a divine invitation.
Speaker:Arise is a divine command,
Speaker:and advance is a divine invitation.
Speaker:And if we will grab hold of them as such, as, oh,
Speaker:human beings did not decide this. Human beings did
Speaker:not decide this. There was inspiration in it,
Speaker:right? And I believe that the things that we teach and the things that are
Speaker:laid on Pastor Kevin's heart, divine inspiration.
Speaker:Otherwise, why would we do it? Why would we even
Speaker:attempt to bring something that we didn't believe the Holy
Speaker:Spirit was in the center of? So if that's the case, then
Speaker:where we are right now in this room at this time is we
Speaker:are facing the call to arise, arise, to move out
Speaker:of places of complacency and apathy. In scripture. It's not
Speaker:casual. It's not casual. And I'm just gonna give you a few examples.
Speaker:I could give you a hundred more, but there is a time constraint for
Speaker:mind understanding. Arise. This is to
Speaker:Abraham. Arise. Walk in the land through its
Speaker:length and width, for I will give it to you.
Speaker:What has God promised you? What
Speaker:has God said, I'm gonna do this in your life. And you're standing
Speaker:here looking at the land, but you're not walking it. You're not
Speaker:becoming a part of it. God said, you are a teacher. I'm gonna
Speaker:use you to teach. And you're waiting for somebody to give you a place to
Speaker:teach before you become the te. Start studying now.
Speaker:Start putting together your lesson plans. Start
Speaker:walking the land. Arise. Get up out
Speaker:of that place of complacency and begin to do what God has called you
Speaker:to do before you have a place to do it. How cool would that
Speaker:be? So that when that door opens, all you have to do is walk
Speaker:through it. His Holy Spirit has already prepared you.
Speaker:Arise. Walk the land. Moses, my servant is dead
Speaker:now, therefore, arise. This is to Joshua. Go over this
Speaker:Jordan, Jordan, you and all this people to the land which
Speaker:I'm giving them.
Speaker:Joshua woke up without an assignment, and by the end of the
Speaker:day, he had a Big one. By the end of the day, not only
Speaker:was Joshua responsible for himself, he was responsible for the
Speaker:people and he was responsible for a journey. He was responsible
Speaker:and accountable to the God. And notice that it
Speaker:doesn't say any here. Moses, my servant is dead. Hey,
Speaker:Joshua, if you got time,
Speaker:if you're not doing anything, if it's convenient to you,
Speaker:do you feel like you might be able to deal with these people for a
Speaker:little while and take them across to the Jordan? No, he didn't.
Speaker:We're waiting for God to say it nicer
Speaker:sometimes than he says. And we would really prefer that he
Speaker:lay out the whole plan for us before we say yes. But it doesn't work
Speaker:that way. Joshua didn't know when he went to
Speaker:bed the night before what was gonna be asked of him the next day.
Speaker:You don't know what's going to be asked of you today,
Speaker:and you don't know what is going to be asked of you tomorrow.
Speaker:The word of God, Joshua, I think it's three, five, says, consecrate
Speaker:yourselves today, for tomorrow I will do
Speaker:amazing things among you. Is this a day of
Speaker:consecration for you? Has the Lord called you into a place
Speaker:where of preparation? Because he's got plans for you
Speaker:tomorrow? Do you really want to walk into tomorrow
Speaker:without that consecration? Do you really want to walk into that
Speaker:place without being prepared? And
Speaker:the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said,
Speaker:arise and eat because the journey is too great for you. This
Speaker:is Elijah. This is Elijah. Fire had just
Speaker:come down from heaven. All of the prophets of BAAL had been
Speaker:defeated. And then this great victory.
Speaker:And then Jezebel says, we're gonna kill him. And so he takes
Speaker:off. Have you ever just been so exhausted? Have you
Speaker:ever just been so defeated that even though you know the
Speaker:right thing, even though you know the truth, and even though
Speaker:God has done the most amazing things in your life, you
Speaker:hit a wall and all you wanna do is go hide. All you wanna
Speaker:do is just go somewhere and rest away from the people. You
Speaker:just need to go. You just need a nap.
Speaker:That's what you need. But the wonderful thing about this,
Speaker:he says the angel of the Lord came back. What? The second
Speaker:time? Because the first time he fed him and
Speaker:gave him something to drink. And Elijah went back to
Speaker:sleep. He still needed to rest. Sometimes we need to
Speaker:rest. Sometimes that's okay. Sometimes it's good
Speaker:to enter into a season of rest knowing that God isn't gonna give up
Speaker:on your calling. He isn't gonna Give up. He hasn't changed his mind about
Speaker:the journey and the trajectory. What he has done is
Speaker:acknowledge the fact that right now, in this moment,
Speaker:this journey feels too great for you. So go rest
Speaker:a little bit more, and I'm gonna send an angel back a second
Speaker:time, and this time, he'll wake you up. And I want you to eat more
Speaker:this time, get something in your system and get
Speaker:ready, because I'm not gonna back off of the calling. You're still gonna
Speaker:go do what I've asked you to do. I'm just gonna sustain you in a
Speaker:little greater way in this season. And that's exactly what he did. Listen,
Speaker:guys, if Elijah needed a second touch, what makes you think that
Speaker:you won't? I'm, like. I'm, like, into, like, you know,
Speaker:the quadruple digits now. I mean, I can't even. I can't even.
Speaker:I don't know, numbers that big. Anyway, the
Speaker:next one. Arise. Take up your bed and go home. This was to the
Speaker:paralytic in Matthew 8. Have you ever just been
Speaker:stuck? And you ever just been hopeless? And it
Speaker:feels like everybody's just walking past you, getting on with their life, and here you
Speaker:are. Here you are, and everybody just walking past you.
Speaker:And you've been in this condition a long time, and Jesus
Speaker:shows up and he says, arise. Take up your bed and
Speaker:go home. Take it up. You know what? I love
Speaker:that he didn't just let him walk away from his bed. He said, clean up
Speaker:your mess.
Speaker:Take this with you, lest somebody else come lay in your mess.
Speaker:Take it with you. Get it out of here and go home.
Speaker:He didn't say, go start a ministry. He said, I'm
Speaker:healing you. Get up. Walk. Clean up your mess and go
Speaker:home. I love that we've got that kind of God. I love
Speaker:that. You know, it's like, how desperate can you be when the world is
Speaker:walking past you? They don't even. And you feel like you're
Speaker:dying, and then he sees you
Speaker:and you hear that voice.
Speaker:Talk about wanting to hear a voice. Tabitha
Speaker:Kumi. Little girl,
Speaker:arise. She was dead. She
Speaker:wasn't just pretend dead. She wasn't just in a place
Speaker:where she was defeated or down. Her life was gone.
Speaker:And some of you feel like your life is gone.
Speaker:There have been instances in my office when I've just been spending time with the
Speaker:Lord where I have been, like, downcast or I've been
Speaker:whatever. And I can hear this whisper in my spirit.
Speaker:Tabitha. Tabitha. Little
Speaker:girl, get up. Little girl, get up.
Speaker:Put your name There. Put your name there.
Speaker:Elizabeth. Get up, Bo.
Speaker:Get up. Hear that whisper.
Speaker:I love that I wrote. Obviously, it's to Tabitha.
Speaker:Obviously to Tabitha. Fill in the blank.
Speaker:He knows your name, and he's able to speak to
Speaker:that place in your life that needs to get
Speaker:up. Now, this is just a small portion of the
Speaker:opportunities to arise, but just in these few things,
Speaker:we've got this. Arise to claim the promise.
Speaker:Arise to go after that promise. Arise to
Speaker:fulfill your calling. Arise from your moments of
Speaker:exhaustion, depression, and defeat.
Speaker:Arise from that thing that has held you captive, that's
Speaker:paralyzed you, that's made it impossible for you to
Speaker:move. Arise from death,
Speaker:from that thing that you've been spending time in that is just killing
Speaker:you. You go to bed at night and go, God, I'm not going to do
Speaker:that again. God, I'm not gonna do that again. Change your
Speaker:vocabulary. God, please help me not to do that again.
Speaker:Help me, Lord, to arise when I arise.
Speaker:When I wake up tomorrow morning, Father, meet me there and
Speaker:let my life be different. God, you give me the strength. Strength
Speaker:to arise. Rise from death to life.
Speaker:Here's the thing, guys. Arise is not just a movement.
Speaker:I could sit down here in the floor, and one of y' all could help
Speaker:me get up. I could sit down here. It's not just a movement.
Speaker:It is a spiritual response to God's
Speaker:invitation. It is a response to
Speaker:God's invitation. And what we are wait. Well, I believe
Speaker:what he's waiting on is for our first step, or our third
Speaker:step, based on the week, to respond to the call to
Speaker:Kumai, Kumai, will you come? Will you come?
Speaker:Now, the first one that I think about this, of course, and I believe you
Speaker:guys probably do, too, is last week, Pastor Kevin had
Speaker:talked about a storm on the sea and the disciples
Speaker:being in there. And the most tender part of that teaching to me is I
Speaker:love the part of the passage of scripture where it says Jesus was asleep on
Speaker:a cushion under the deck. And I just. I
Speaker:can see that, and I just think how tired he must have been.
Speaker:And to be asleep, something about that gets my heart,
Speaker:because we have a tendency to see the Godness
Speaker:of Jesus, and sometimes the humanity just slides right past us. And
Speaker:he didn't even have a place to call his home
Speaker:or lay his head. And there's something about that moment of
Speaker:him resting this pillow that gets me,
Speaker:well, now we're at another boat. Now we're at another boat.
Speaker:And it's the boat that we are most familiar with. Peter
Speaker:and he's standing and the waves are coming, and they look and they
Speaker:see Jesus walking on the water. And Peter says this.
Speaker:Peter responded and said to him, lord, if it's you,
Speaker:command me to come to you on the water. And he
Speaker:said, come, kumi.
Speaker:But it's an extension of that. The word that's used there is actually this,
Speaker:er, komai. See the komi in the center.
Speaker:Arise, arise, stand
Speaker:up, step forward. Find your place of
Speaker:influence and be established. See, to me,
Speaker:this was his Peter's second calling. He had already received
Speaker:Christ. But I believe at this calling, this was when Peter
Speaker:started to be a savior established in the Lord. Anyway, so
Speaker:he says, arise, stand up and come forward. And you know what?
Speaker:That makes me think this. At some point, Peter had to make the decision
Speaker:to get up and walk to the side of the boat. At
Speaker:some point, he had to be able to step and
Speaker:look and see Jesus walking on the water.
Speaker:A decision was made somewhere, a decision
Speaker:to just get up.
Speaker:Before the step, there was a stand.
Speaker:Before the movement, there was a decision.
Speaker:And before the miracle, there was obedience.
Speaker:That's what Jeremy was talking about this morning.
Speaker:Obedience, obedient to the call of God.
Speaker:And at some point, you can just kind of picture it, Peter sitting there in
Speaker:the boat and he feels that unction and something stirring out
Speaker:there. You know, you can feel when somebody's looking at you, even when
Speaker:you don't know why. You can just sense that. I just think
Speaker:he knew that calling and he stood up and I think he went to the
Speaker:side of the boat. He could not have climbed over the side of the boat
Speaker:if he didn't get up and walk over there in the first place.
Speaker:Some want the miracle of walking on water when we have yet made the
Speaker:decision to get up, to get up, go
Speaker:see what he's got, get up and go. You know, instead of
Speaker:just assuming, oh, nothing's happening. God is done with me. This is not gonna
Speaker:happen. Get up. Change your vantage point. Begin to look at
Speaker:things a little differently. You know, God can do the
Speaker:most amazing thing. And this is what I know, this is my
Speaker:response so often, and I would venture a guess, since we are all
Speaker:human, this might be your response. Well, I've been trying,
Speaker:but it hasn't worked. Hasn't worked.
Speaker:I have been here so many times, and it hasn't worked. And
Speaker:my advice is ask again, ask
Speaker:again, Ask again. When Aaron and Caitlin
Speaker:and Matthew, when they were little, and now the grandkids, and there's a lot
Speaker:of them, you can. I
Speaker:would pick them up, or their dad would pick them up and you'd spin
Speaker:in circles. Whoa, wait. Wait a minute. Too old for that. Anyway,
Speaker:someone would spin in circles, and they would just
Speaker:fly out there, and you'd see their faces and they're so excited.
Speaker:And then you would put them down and they would do this, you know, and
Speaker:you would do that. And then they'd go, again, again,
Speaker:again. One more time, one more time, one more time. And
Speaker:you would do it again because of the look on their face. And you
Speaker:knew what it was bringing. Guys, we get a one more time with
Speaker:him. We get those moments where we can go, okay, God.
Speaker:Okay, just one more time. Just one more time. And he
Speaker:knows we don't mean it. He knows there's going to be more. But we're like,
Speaker:one more time, God. And in his love for us,
Speaker:he gives us that spin. He gives us that
Speaker:opportunity to do this again. Listen,
Speaker:even Elijah needed the angel to come back and touch him a second time.
Speaker:Even the angel. So what makes us think that we're going to get it right
Speaker:the first time? That we're going to nail this, knock it out of the park?
Speaker:If that was the case, why would we need such a gracious and merciful
Speaker:God? I mean, seriously, if y' all could do it on
Speaker:your own, why are you here? I know what
Speaker:my life looked like without him. It wasn't pretty,
Speaker:and it wasn't legal all the time, but anyway,
Speaker:I am not going to answer that one. Anyway,
Speaker:even Elijah needed a second touch. Guys, it's okay.
Speaker:God, one more time. And I believe the Lord must have
Speaker:put this next passage of Scripture in there just for me. It's only in Mark.
Speaker:It's not in any of the other Gospels. And I like to inject
Speaker:my name in there because I'm pretty sure he put it in there for now.
Speaker:But I'll let you all borrow it. It's what we just read. And he took
Speaker:the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when
Speaker:he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him,
Speaker:do you see anything? And he looked up and said, I see men,
Speaker:but they look like trees walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on
Speaker:his eyes again. And he opened his eyes, his sight was
Speaker:restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Speaker:Now, look at this part right here. And he took the blind man
Speaker:by the hand, led him out of the village.
Speaker:The first touch of Jesus was not to restore his sight.
Speaker:It was to take his hand, separate him from his crowd, and lead him Out.
Speaker:The first touch is almost always in the drawing. I love
Speaker:that this was not about his friends,
Speaker:even though there's the one who took him there. This wasn't about them. This was
Speaker:not about a performance by Jesus that would show everybod
Speaker:that this man is okay. This was a taking of the hand
Speaker:leading him out of the town and getting him
Speaker:away from all of it so that he could minister to him.
Speaker:I love that God did that. Because one of the things the
Speaker:enemy uses in our life is he says, no, no, no, no, you
Speaker:can't confess that. Because what if somebody sees that?
Speaker:What if somebody knows that you've been doing this? What if
Speaker:somebody knows all of this and the enemy shuts us up When God is trying
Speaker:to get us to be trans transparent and open about what we're walking through.
Speaker:And I love that he takes him away to the crowd, away
Speaker:from the crowd. And guys, when God is drawing
Speaker:you to a quiet place, go,
Speaker:go respond to that drawing.
Speaker:The next thing I see is this. Do you see anything? And he looked up
Speaker:and he said, I see men, but they look like trees walking.
Speaker:Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his eyes and
Speaker:his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly.
Speaker:This is a checkpoint for me, guys, because
Speaker:I can tell when I'm not doing okay spiritually,
Speaker:because I start to see mankind differently.
Speaker:I start to see the man instead of the God who created him.
Speaker:I start to see the failures and the mistakes and the
Speaker:shortfallings. And I begin to
Speaker:categorize humanity in a way and see
Speaker:them differently than I believe God would have me see
Speaker:them. It's a distorted view. And when that starts
Speaker:to happen in my life, when I start to
Speaker:look at people and see
Speaker:less than God's creation, then I have an issue.
Speaker:I have an issue. They don't have an issue. They might have an issue, but
Speaker:God's not dealing with me for their issue. He's dealing with me for my issue.
Speaker:So we'll just leave it. I'm not gonna say that again. E. Anyway,
Speaker:God deals with us personally, you know? So when I start
Speaker:to see this in my own life, I know that it's time for me to
Speaker:do a heart check. It's time for me to ask the
Speaker:Lord to give me a love for his children the way that I'm
Speaker:supposed to. So that's a guidepost for me.
Speaker:Because here's the thing.
Speaker:Jesus didn't just heal his sight. He touched his
Speaker:vision. What does that even mean? His
Speaker:sight was restored and he saw
Speaker:Everything clearly. And he could have just said his
Speaker:sight was restored, right? But it says, and he saw everything
Speaker:clearly. Look why he did that. Sight is physical and it's
Speaker:biological. Vision is cognitive and neurological. Sight
Speaker:allows you to see, while vision allows you to understand,
Speaker:interpret and respond to what you see.
Speaker:And we know that his vision was restored because he
Speaker:speaks to what the men were doing. He saw the men walking. He was able
Speaker:to respond and understand. Sometimes
Speaker:in my walk with the Lord, I have to ask him to
Speaker:restore my vision, restore my vision,
Speaker:God, because I know what I see. I know what I
Speaker:see, but I'm not able to interpret it the way that you would
Speaker:interpret it. I'm not able to respond the way that you would respond
Speaker:in it. So when I look at this, I just see
Speaker:that God does things differently than we do. And he gives me a
Speaker:signpost, you know, Another one he gave me was back several months ago.
Speaker:I was in this situation, and a friend asked
Speaker:me about it. I said, you know, I don't know if I have
Speaker:peace or if I've just gone numb.
Speaker:And as soon as the words left my mouth, the conviction of
Speaker:the Holy Spirit said, you know the difference?
Speaker:You know the difference. Because, see, peace will carry you through
Speaker:when nothing changes. Peace is something that even when
Speaker:the storm's raging, you can have peace. But when you go numb, you
Speaker:don't care. And that is never God's nature.
Speaker:That is never his nature to start to lose your
Speaker:capacity for compassion and caring. And so that's another
Speaker:checkpoint for me. You know, it's okay for Pink Floyd to go comfortably
Speaker:numb. It's not okay for me anyway.
Speaker:Alrighty, then. Sometimes we just
Speaker:need to be bold enough and vulnerable enough to tell the truth
Speaker:and act for one more touch.
Speaker:One more touch. And to ask him to give us the strength to
Speaker:arise, to put strength in these legs that
Speaker:have atrophied from sitting too long and to allow us
Speaker:to stand into that place where transformation can take place,
Speaker:to move from complacency to the action that he has called us
Speaker:to. And I got so excited because I got to thinking about the way,
Speaker:if we have a praise team back there, will you arise?
Speaker:I love them. They're so good. But here's the thing, guys. There are all
Speaker:these invitations in the word to arise, to be
Speaker:changed, to move forward. And I got to thinking, Lord, what about the
Speaker:rest of the story? What about the rest of the story? And you know what
Speaker:else is in there? You know what else is in there?
Speaker:Joshua arose. Deborah
Speaker:arose. Gideon arose.
Speaker:Samson Arose Ruth
Speaker:arose. Samuel. Arose David. Arose
Speaker:Jonathan, Abigail, Nehemiah, the elders, the
Speaker:Levites, Ezra, Job,
Speaker:Mary, Peter, Jesus.
Speaker:At the call, they arose and they did what they were
Speaker:called to do. And they were victorious in the things that they were
Speaker:called to do. And see, you can look at that and go, yeah, but that's
Speaker:Joshua and Gideon and Samson and
Speaker:Ruth. But what if it's Justin?
Speaker:What if it's Jessica? What if it's April?
Speaker:What if it's Mary Sue? What if God is calling Rich
Speaker:to arise? And then one day down the road, they're going,
Speaker:and he arose, and she arose, and
Speaker:she did this, and he did this, and dawn
Speaker:arose, and all of those. Because, see, the
Speaker:calling of God is not limited to these pages. The miracles
Speaker:of God are not all written yet. All of the things that he has
Speaker:ordained for you in this life. See, he is the author and the
Speaker:finisher. He's still writing your story.
Speaker:He will finish it. And you don't know what's on those
Speaker:pages yet. And you might not know
Speaker:unless you arise, unless you hear
Speaker:that call. Allow him to draw you
Speaker:and turn your Arise into a rose.
Speaker:Amen. So will you rise, and let's worship for a
Speaker:second. God is so good and he
Speaker:is so faithful. And here's. Here's what I believe is in my
Speaker:spirit this morning. If you know that God has
Speaker:been calling you, if you know that you have been sitting back
Speaker:and you have been waiting on that. That's it. That's
Speaker:it now. Now I'll go. You have the
Speaker:opportunity this morning to respond. Because arise is
Speaker:a response. Remember to respond and
Speaker:to allow God to move you forward on this journey
Speaker:and the calling. So if I could have some prayer warriors, I would appreciate that.
Speaker:But here's the thing. You might be one of those who just
Speaker:needs the Holy Spirit, just needs Jesus to take your hand for a
Speaker:few minutes and draw you to the side, and that's okay, too.
Speaker:But take a moment and allow the Lord to do in your
Speaker:life what he's called you to do. To step
Speaker:to the side of the boat to hear the invitation
Speaker:and make the decision of obedience. Father God, I thank you
Speaker:for your word and your truth. And I thank you for the opportunity
Speaker:that you are offering us today to move
Speaker:from death to life. To move from complacency, Father,
Speaker:into action. In your word, Father, thank you that your gift
Speaker:and call are irrevocable. You have not changed your mind, Father. I
Speaker:pray you help us to align with that this morning. In Jesus name.
Speaker:Jesus name. Come if you need prayer.
