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You matter! You are important! You have Super Power!
An interesting power in comic books and science fiction is the power of Teleportatation. t iis a fascinating notion. It is the theoretical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them.
The power behind teleportation is BEING PRESENT. Although we don’t disassemble our atomic structure and reassemble it in another location, we have the power of being present. Nightcrawler, Blink, The Spot and others with teleporting power simply need to think of where they want to be present and then they are there. But is that really any different from us? We can only be in one place at a time and we must decide where we will be present.
Are you present? Are you taking advantage of this Super Power?

Super Power 4 – Teleportation from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

Super Power 4 – Teleporting

Sermon Notes by Chris Fluitt

**Bumper Video –
Life isn’t meant to be ordinary. Life is meant to be Super.
Welcome to Redemption Church. You are either here in person or experiencing this on the internet. Either way we are glad to have fellowship with you.
Can I talk about you for a moment?
You. You can sit on a couch and watch endless Netflix, youtube videos, or social media streams. You can walk right past opportunities and suppress your dreams. You can just show up to your job or your school. You can simply fade into the background. You can think that you matter little. You can live having never REALLY LIVED.
You. You have gifting and ability inside of you to do amazing things. You can make a difference. You can change your life, your family, your school, your work, your church, your city, your nation, your world world. YOU CAN DO THAT! You can overcome setback and disappointment. You matter. You have Super Power.
The Last weeks in the Super Power series we told you about…

VISION – The ability to see and feel the need. To sense a better world and future.
Super Strength – A strength beyond your capacity. A strength that shows up even when you are weak.
Invincibility – Impossible to destroy or conquer. Through Christ we are invincible but not invulnerable. To be invulnerable you would never feel pain, but you would also never feel joy. You would be numb. We are not called to be numb

Today I want to talk to you about the Super Power… Teleportation
Teleportation or Teletransportation – is the theoretical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. The ability to move from location to location instantly. If I could vanish from this location on this stage and immediately appear at the back of this room without normal travel to the back of this room… that would be teleportation.
Examples
Real quick, can you think of a super hero that can teleport? Share with the person beside you.
You might have come up with Nightcrawler, also known as Kurt Wagner. He is the most known super hero who teleports. He is a part of the x-men team and gets his power from mutant genetics. In the comics when he would teleport it would describe the sound in a word… a little onomatopoeia for our English nerds. The sound Nightcrawler would make when he teleported was… BAMF
Blink is also a mutant teleporter from the xmen series. She recently appeared in the Xmen movie days of future past. She has the ability to transport herself and others and objects.
The Spot (real name Dr. Jonathan Ohnn) is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and appearing as an enemy of Spider-Man and Daredevil. He is able to open portals to other dimensions. He got this power through a science experiment gone wrong where he was exposed to radiation.
Outside of Comic books the notion of teleportation can be found as well.
Jumper – an underrated 2008 science fiction movie.
Harry Potter featured teleporting House elves like Dobby and also through magical Port Keys.
A horror movie named The Fly featured a terrible science mishap involving a fly and a teleportation machine.
And then of course Star Trek featured a transporter room where Scotty could beam you up.
There are many more examples…

Teleportation
Audiences have long been entertained by the notion of teleporting. It is a fantastic idea.
Tired of your daily commute in Dallas traffic? BAMF you are there.
In an awkward conversation or a bad date? BAMF
Hate airports? Why fly anymore? BAMF
Tired of your TOGO orders getting cold before you get home? BAMF
Never be late for Church again BAMF

Long before Science Fiction and comic books, your Bible told you about Teleportation. Did you know this?

Jesus more than once Appeared and disappeared in different places. Once the scribes and Pharisees went to stone Him and he just vanished. Other times who walked through walls. Once as Satan tempted Christ, they teleported to the top of the Temple. Christ ascended into Heaven and will return in like manner.

Enoch appears to have teleported.

Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.(NIV)
Enoch was suddenly was transported from this earth.

Elijah leaves this world in style

2 Kings 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.(NIV)

Believers and followers of Jesus will experience a teleportation.

1 Corinthians 15:52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.(NIV)
In an instant, a flash, a moment and twinkling of an eye… The dead and Christ will rise and those alive changed. There is a moment where we who believe will be “CAUGHT UP” to meet the Lord in the sky.
You are going to teleport. Cool stuff.

Phillip in Acts 8 teleports

If you have been around Redemption Church over the last year you probably heard us talk about Acts 8. It’s an amazing chapter where a young man named Phillip is running for his life from persecution. As he is running from Jerusalem he goes through the area of Samaria and preaches Christ and the whole city converts, repents, gets baptized gets healed, Peter and John come lay hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit.
In the middle of this amazing revival God speaks to Phillip… What do you think God would say to Phillip…?

Good job Philly.
Stay here and continue the work you started.
You have been faithful and now I have this highly detailed plan for you to follow.

Nope.
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road–the desert road–that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”(NIV)
Go down this desert road.. That was what God said. No details. No reasoning. No specific location..
Phillip leave this successful city wide revival and go out into the middle of the Desert.
Phillip goes and he sees an Ethiopian who is parked in a chariot and reading scripture from Isaiah 53. Philip speaks to the Ethiopian and tells him the scripture is about Jesus. He shares the Gospel with this man and baptizes him…
Acts 8:38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.(NIV)
Acts 8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.(NIV)
Phillip is teleported by the Spirit. One moment he is picking a guy up out of the water and then immediately he is taken from that place to another. The Ethiopian man just went right on rejoicing… Phillip was translated/teleported…
Acts 8:40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.(NIV)
The power of Teleportation is BEING PRESENT.

Nightcrawler can decide to teleport anywhere. Somehow his body, every cell, every atom disassembles and then reassembles in another place. He simply has to decide where he wants to be present.
But, atomic modification aside, is that really any different from us? Don’t we have to decide where we want to be present?
The only omnipresent person is God. God is everywhere. He is not far from anyone. He is with us always.
Nightcrawler can be anywhere, but he can only be one place at a time. The same can be said about us. We may not have the ability to disassemble and reassemble our particles to instantly travel to new places… but we do have the power to decide where we will be present.
Being Present is a Super Power
Phillip in Acts 8 was teleported and that is so cool. One moment Dessert. BAMF! One moment Azotus. Over 40 miles away. It’s easy for us to concentrate on that. I mean that is SUPER Natural Power! But maybe we lose track of something equally amazing.
Phillip teleported from that desert road, but he walked to the desert road. If God wanted to he could have teleported Phillip to the desert road, but he didn’t. Instead Philip chose to be present at the desert road by walking.
I want to tell you that walking to the Desert Road because God told you to, is as powerful as God teleporting you from the desert road.
Philip exercised Super Power before he teleported to Azotus. Being Present is a Super Power.

When he decided to be present in the midst of an Angel… To listen to the command of God… That was a Super Power moment.
Every step he took in obedience, even though he walked into the unknown… That was a Super Power moment.
When he saw someone who he could build a relationship with and perhaps share Christ with… he decided to be present in that situation and it was Powerful! Being Present is a Super Power.

Are you using the Super Power of being present? Remember we aren’t omni-present. We can only be at 1 place at a time. We must decide where we will be present.
Often we are here, but not really here
Musician
Sitting at the dinner table with people that matter, yet focused on your phone and why no one has liked your clever status update. You are at the table but a million miles away.
At home but thinking about work. At work but thinking about home. Never present… always somewhere else.
Can’t move on in your relationship because your mind is present in the past… when someone hurt you, when you failed. Even when your loved ones bring it up… you play a good game. You nod. You say the right things. But you know you haven’t moved on… you are stuck in the past.
Exactly where God wants you to be… In a place like Phillip on the desert road… a person begging to know Jesus and understand faith… but you are not ready to share Jesus… you are distracted or afraid… Exactly positioned by God… yet not present.
Sitting in church. It’s a great place to be, but are you really here? Where you really here when we sang praise to God and offered our hearts? You sang the lyrics, you were in the room… but where you present..
Listening to this sermon, but have you made the mistake of thinking it is meant for someone else and not for you? Are you hearing the Word of God? Do you understand that there is a world that is in desperate need of you? This sermon is for YOU, but are you present?
We are about to talk to God. We do this every week. It’s the 3^rd thing we do… and you will come down to this altar area… but will you really be here? You have been battling frustration and struggles all week, yet you come down here and kind of wait around til service is dismissed… That is not being present in the moment.
You are here, but not really here…
It’s time to Be present
A few weeks ago we got a call from someone who had been calling church after church after church. We get calls like this often. They just open the yellow pages and start calling churches. The person was calling on behalf of an Alzheimer’s care facility. Her sales pitch was “hey you want to minister to some people who won’t remember you ministered to them.. much less ever come to your church?
The real question is… Will someone be present? Will someone teleport over to help these people. Will someone choose to be present.
We said yes. And the following isn’t meant to be a pat on our backs… but a conviction…
She had called church after church. Most of them said we will get back to you, but never did. Including a church that is less than 100 feet from the Care center.
We are a Church in the city of Plano. We are in the heart of the North Dallas metroplex. This is our location… but are we present?
Being present doesn’t seem like it would be hard. It can be easily overlooked. Being present is a super power.
I was so proud as I saw people in this room walk up to people they had never met before and begin to talk with them and spend time with them. They allowed themselves to be present.
I need this altar to be full today. I need it to be full of people that will stop being absentee Christians. I need to see some people who have decided they are going to be present… present in God’s presence… present in their homes… present in their relationships…