In the book of Acts, though, we see a completely different Peter than we witness in the gospels. He is bold instead of just brash, humble, more of a team player and most impressively he learned to keep a cool head when things heated up. Where before he pulled his sword out and chopped off an ear, later on he fearlessly unsheathed the sword of the spirit and 3,000 were saved. Early on he could be unnerved by the smallest servant girl but he went to the grave as fearless as a lion. He had become clutch.

It was a remarkable contrast and a testimony to the reality of the resurrection and the raw power of the Holy Spirit. I think that when these two things are neglected, perhaps more than any thing else, will drain us of the strength, energy and ability that are ours for the taking. If we are not daily emboldened by the wonder of Christ’s power over death and infused with His Spirit we will be sickly and anemic, and our performance will be pitiful.

As I covered Peter 1.0, the Peter we see perpetually stuck in struggle mode, and chronicled his list of failures I intentionally omitted something others might have included. I’m talking about the night where Jesus came to the disciples walking on the sea of Galilee and Peter got out of the boat and then after only a few steps he sank. I’ve heard people make a big deal about his failure to keep his eyes on Jesus and how he could had kept going had he not gotten distracted by the wind and the waves. That’s all true and a worthwhile thing to think about. But I personally don’t classify that episode as a fail. I think it belongs on his highlight reel not his blooper reel.

Yes he might have sunk, but let’s remember, he walked on water! None of the other disciples came close to drowning, but none of them had the guts to get out of the boat either. Ok, so he got in over his head and Jesus had to intervene, but back to my first point, HE WALKED ON WATER. It’s easy to criticize people who try big things because there will always be some amount failure when you are willing to get out of the boat. But a fail is not a fail when you fail taking steps of faith. It’s just par for the course and part of the experience.

Since we were in Charlotte, North Carolina, my wife and I were looking forward to visiting Elevation Church, which is pastored by Steven Furtick. This explosive move of God began five years ago and in that time they have grown to over 9,000 people meeting at 4 campuses. I have been blessed following this extraordinary ministry through the internet the last few years. It is one of the 5 or 6 podcasts I listen to almost every week.

As a church, we have learned much from Elevation. Back when we were gearing up to launch the Whitefish campus, we sent some members of our team out to Charlotte to learn from Pastor Steven’s team. I knew that the team I sent would witness cutting edge tech and get a vision for excellence across a multi-campus ministry. What I didn’t know was that they would come back different and that the experience would drastically change our church. The concept of honor is one of the key values to Elevation church. They honor those above them, those beside them and those under them. It is infectious. Since that visit, an epidemic of honor has swept through our culture and has changed us for the better.

Experiencing the church in person was awesome. Even better than I expected. The work that God is doing there is powerful, and they do absolutely everything with excellence and on purpose. Their facilities and use of media are killer–state of the art and LOUD (it’s the only other church besides freshlife I know of that offers ear plugs at the door.) The message was outstanding. They are in a relationship series and Pastor Steven taught verse-by-verse through John 4 and showed that Christ calls us from the polluted wells of this world to the Living Water that He offers. It was powerful.

What really stood out during our trip is the way that the vision of the church has been amplified and rings out powerfully from every detail and crevice of the experience. Every single staff member or volunteer I spoke to was passionate, enthusiastic and seemed elated that they were allowed to be a part of what God was doing at the church in reaching people far from Him. It was inspiring.

Jennie and I were also very stoked to spend some time with Pastor Steven Furtick and his wife Holly while we were there. Since meeting a few months back, he has gone out of his way to invest in and encourage me. This is literally an answer to prayer. When we launched freshlife, just about all of my ministry mentors and leaders that I looked to were substantially older than me. Men like Pastor Skip Heitzig, Pastor Greg Laurie, my dad Chip Lusko and more recently Pastor James MacDonald. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am extremely thankful and grateful for the fathers in the faith that God has given me and their wisdom has both steered me through turbulent waters and kept me from pitfalls. But I have also specifically prayed for pastor friends my own age. The problem is that the megachurch-while-in-your-twenties club is not a huge one. It is an unusual mixture to have a handful of kids under five at home and a less than five year old church that has exploded.

God has answered these prayers with friendships with men like Pastor Pedro Garcia from CCk in Miami and this new one with Pastor Steven Furtick, younger pastors who I feel a kindred spirit and a common DNA with and who are charging it in a big way. I am also super passionate about “passing it forward” by intentionally making time in my schedule for another generation of church planters that God is raising up to plunder hell and populate heaven.

Check out Elevation church online here. And if you haven’t read Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick go buy it right now here. It will change your life.

If you are on a mobile device you can watch the movie on vimeo with this link: http://vimeo.com/m/#/12498843

We also had some live sheep at both of our theatre’s for the launch weekend which made the messages come to life with the sounds and smells of livestock. And to send the message that it’s not just David that is apart of God’s flock–we are God’s sheep too–we had “sheep yourself” cutouts where people could take pictures of themselves as happy lambs before and after services. No end to the fun.

Honestly, I am a little bit bummed to have finished. I have never been more challenged or rewarded by any messages as I have been in this study. It makes sense though, Revelation is the only book in the Bible that promises a blessing for those who will read, hear and keep the things that are in it. (Revelation 1:3) I have definitely found that promise to be true–to the max.

Here are a few of the ways I have been blessed this past year:
1. Jesus has become bigger to me
The image of the glorified Christ has been burned into my soul and when I think of Jesus, I don’t just think of the humble incarnate Christ who came but the punk-rock version who is coming.

2. My desire to reach the lost has burned hotter
The idea for skull church which has been floating around in the “some day” category for years, became reality and going through Revelation lit the fuse–there was no reason to wait–He is coming quickly!
3. Heaven has gotten much cooler
The reality of what life will be like on the New Earth in the New Jerusalem is so vastly different from the version of heaven that Satan pushes on us. I have been invigorated by the wonders of growing in my understanding of Heaven will be like.
4. My longing for personal holiness has intensified
I DO NOT WANT TO BE ASHAMED WHEN HE COMES!!! I want to be a pure bride, as Leeland sings.
5. Every cell in my body and every inch of my soul reverberates with the word, MARANTHA!
Even so, Come Lord Jesus!

This weekend I will be closing the series out with one final message where I will attempt to recap the entire book in 50 minutes, Rocketing through Revelation. This will be helpful because it can be easy to lose the forest for the trees. Plus, hundreds of people have joined the church in the past year and so, for those who weren’t there for it all, this will be a good way to get the big picture of the book in one condensed mega-vitamin of prophecy.

If you are a pastor and have never taught through the book, I highly encourage you to. When I first announced the series, over a year ago, I had one pastor tell me they had never thought of doing it on Sunday morning. He said it seemed like more of a “midweek book.” What does that even mean? Nowhere in Revelation is there a disclaimer that the book is only to be studied on Wednesday nights. And what about the other 2/3 of the church that doesn’t make it out to midweeks? Wouldn’t they be interested in how the world will end and what they should do about it? I wasn’t aware that some books of the Bible weren’t meant for prime time. (extra sarcasm inserted here)

It’s ironic, Revelation specifically ends with a warning for the church not to keep it’s contents a secret but that’s exactly what is so often done. Whatever day of the week you land on, I know you and your church will be impacted if you rock it.

Here are some of the resources that I found to be extremely helpful as I went through the book.
Revelation: The Macarthur New Testament Commentary by John Macarthur (2 volumes)
The Revelation of Jesus Christ by John F. Walvoord
The Revelation of John by William Barclay (2 volumes)
Escape the Coming Night by Dr. David Jeremiah
Exploring Revelation by John Phillips
Revelation An Expository Commentary by Donald Grey Barnhouse
Be Victorious by Warren Wiersbe
Heaven by Randy Alcorn (Specifically for chapters 21 and 22:1-5, it’s the best book on the topic I have ever read.)

I also really dug listening to John Macarthur, Chuck Swindoll and Skip Heitzig’s sermons on Revelation that you can listen to for free online.