In 1028, King Canute commanded the ocean tide to recede. It didn't. "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings — for there is none worthy of the name but God." He took off his crown and never wore it again.
In Acts 11, Peter stands before a hostile church and asks the most disarming question in the whole chapter: "Who was I that I could stand in God's way?" This message digs into what happens when God moves in ways that don't fit our categories — and what it costs us to get out of his way.
Three movements from the text:
Surrender to what God is doing — the circumcision party was devout, obedient, and wrong. Peter's testimony silences them. Sometimes our strongest convictions are just preferences, and God is asking us to let them go.
Stretch further to where God is moving — unnamed disciples took the gospel to Antioch, the first multi-ethnic church in the Bible. They didn't wait for permission. They just went.
The hand of the Lord was with them — when you stretch further and surrender your control, you don't go alone. The same hand that held Moses' staff up over the battlefield is with you too.