Pieces of Me - Week 1

So many times when we go through things like Laurie went through, or we

have some kind of trauma or or brokenness or dysfunction, we wonder why those

things are We try to make sense of it. We try to reconcile those

things, Well, this doesn't happen to so and so, why are they

happening to me? Or if God loves me? And listen, if you

have people in your life that ever tell you, if God loves you,

this wouldn't be happened. Those are the wrong people in your life. But

we do ask those questions. We come to the place where we think,

if God loved me, why in the world would this be happening to me?

Why would I be broken? Why would my life be splintered the way

that it is. Let's get some answers to those questions. John chapter nine,

Starting in verse three, it says Jesus answered, neither this man nor

his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day.

The night is coming when no man can work. As long as I

am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he

had said these things, he spat on the ground, and he made clay

with saliva, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

and he said to them, go and wash in the pool of salam,

which is translated scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing

Father. I ask right now for your anointing to be present. Lord.

We thank you for your word. It's the only change agent on the face

of the planet. And I pray that now it takes residence at the very

fabric of our souls. Lord, that you would work and move through it,

and that we would return, seeing Father, that we would trust you

in the most difficult times and celebrate you through it all in Jesus name.

Amen. Now a little backstory here. This man, this blind man,

was born blind. He had been blind from birth his entire life. He

had never been able to see, and Jesus was on his natural course.

Here's the thing that you got to get complete understanding about living a life full

of Christ, a transformative life, is that it's not about leaving with the

intention to do something, but leaving with the intention to always be available.

So many times we think that we go to church to serve on the team,

and that is our ministry, but your life is ministry, and ministry

happens everywhere you are. Jesus was on his natural path. He was going

to speak, he was going to do the things that Jesus did, and

he encounters this blind man. And in that encounter, Jesus sees the man,

and the disciples see the man, and they turned to him and they

ask a question because they don't quite understand brokenness, they don't understand dysfunction.

And they look at him and they were searching for a reason why this man

was blind, and they weren't. And they looked at him, and they

said, who sinned? Why is this man? Likeness was that? Did

his parents sin? Or did he sin? What is the reason for his

brokenness? And the reality is that the only reason for our brokenness, the

only reason for the hurt and the pain and the trauma that we experience,

is that we live in a world filled with sin and the pressure of sin.

Not your acts of sin, but the pressure of sin that entered the

world when Adam and Eve made that first transgression, that act of disobedience,

when they bit the apple, that the sin entered the world, and ever

since, humanity has felt the pressure of sin, pushing against us, deteriorating

our bodies, deteriorating our minds, trying to pull us to aside contrary to

God's word. These men wanted an answer. They wanted to know why he

was blind, and Jesus answered it. When Jesus speaks, whatever he says

becomes truth. I want you to think about this for just a moment.

The responsibility that comes with every time you open your mouth, what you say

becomes truth, The responsibility that your words bend the universe. Jesus thought carefully,

and he said it wasn't him, and it wasn't his parents. As

a matter of fact, we've come to this place and everything is in divine

alignment for God to do something to bring glory to himself. Now, God

didn't make the man blind, but he's certainly about to use the situation to

bring glory to the Father. When we are experiencing our brokenness and our trauma,

God looks at that and he moves in it in such a way that

he maximizes the amount of glory that he can withdraw from it. Because our

God is a jealous god, and he shares his glory with no one.

He moved in this situation because there was an audience and there were questions being

asked. The greatest place we can find ourselves in is the place where we're

questioning what's happening around us, and we're open to an answer from on high.

The reality is that most of us question, but we don't ever listen

for the answer. Come on, somebody, because our brokenness, we don't

understand brokenness. We look at brokenness from our perspective because we're the one experiencing

the brokenness. When we're sick, we don't think anybody's as sick. Come

on, somebody. I'm gonna be honest. We all. When I get

sick, y'all ain't never been as sick as I get sick. Never.

When my head hurts, it hurts worse every headache combined in the world.

And my family responds in such a way that they know that I'm the sickest

person on the planet. Amen. My wife is amazing. When I get

sick, I go in the bedroom, the door is shut, and about

every four hours there's a crack and a bottle of water that's pitched on the

bed, and then the door shut again. We call it a long time

where I seek my healing and isolation. Come on, somebody. But we

find ourselves questioning these things. But it's always about us. Our brokenness,

always looks inward to the pain and the discomfort we feel. But the reality

is, if we can ever turn around and see on the outside, we

see God who wants to move into the inside and change the situation and take

the pieces and put the pieces together and make it a beautiful piece of art.

But that's hard to do. After all, this man was blind.

He couldn't see, and on top of that, the only way to make

a living was that he was a beggar. So not only could he not

see, he was degraded in society that all he could do was ask people

for what belonged to them. He was known as the blind beggar. But

Jesus showed up, and Jesus did something almost disgusting. He spit on the

ground. And it wasn't a little spit. It was a lot of spit.

It was enough spit that he made enough mud that he rubbed it.

See this, Okay, let me just let me let me tell you eat

something about anointing. I had this conversation at some point. But we think

that anointing is the way we do it. You know, you just take

the oil full on your finger, you touch. That's not what the Bible

when the Bible says anointing, that's not what it is. It is taking

the oil and with pressure, massaging it into the skin. Jesus didn't take

spit mud and touch the guy's eyes. He took the mud and he ground

it into the man's eyes. I want you to put yourself in that blind

man's position for just a moment. You're standing there, blind Jesus shows up.

You don't know what's happening. You hear I'm talking about this. You

hear this man say, oh, it's time for God, and then you

hear it's been straight. That don't sound very godly. But so many times

God will begin to move and we will retract from God's movement because the movement

doesn't look, sound, or feel like we wanted to. So we revert

back to our brokenness because we feel that our brokenness is cleaner than the healing.

What if you're healing is you finally have to forgive that no good fill

in the blank. What if that's the key to your healing. What if

the key to your healing is to move sacrificially to do something that is going

to cost you a lot. God can heal anyway he chooses to heal.

That's why he did it so many different ways in scripture, so there's no

formula. He's a living, progressive God and he does what he wants when

he wants, and calls us to the place that he wants, and our

healing is wrapped up in that uncomfortable spot. But ultimately we know that Jesus

annointed this man's eyes and he went to the pool and he washed, and

he came back seeing. Everybody clap, everybody clap. The man can see.

Now I know I sprung that on y'all. He came back and he

was seeing and it was a miracle. So let's keep reading because we love

that part of the story. Let's keep reading. Let's see what happens to

him. I mean, surely Jesus is going to give him a mansion and

a new car, well, I guess a new donkey and all of those

things, because that's what Jesus does. Jump down to verse thirty one.

Now we know that God. Now this is this man talking to the pharisees.

Now we know that God does not hear sinners. But if anyone is

a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears him. Since the

world began, it's been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who

was born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do

nothing. Now he is giving a lesson to the spiritual leaders of the day.

They have all the answers, and he's saying, listen, here's the

reality is. I've heard I'll say these things. Now I'm going to say

these things back to you, and just because it doesn't fit your narrative doesn't

make them untrue. Now, he says, listen, we know that nobody's

been opening blind eyes, and you say that nobody hears that sinners they can't

hear from God. So if this man heard from God and my eyes are

obviously opened, something's happening. They answered and said to him, you were

completely born in sins, and you are teaching us. They said, hold

on, Jack, who are you to lecture us about God? After all,

we're the god professionals in the building. Let me tell you what you

think about God. This man says, but I'm not where I used to

be. I'm not. I'm not where I used to be because now I've

had an encounter. I've had an encounter with the living God. And before

I was blind, but now I see, and I see that the way

you are is not the way things should be, because there's truly no healing

in religiosity. Healing comes in the freedom of Christ. And this man says,

hey, I don't understand. You've said these things. Now I'm saying

these things back. And they say no, no, no, no,

no, this is how it is. And listen to what happened to this

poor fellow. Now, remember that the synagogue was the place of life.

It was the center of community. It's where people bought and sold. It's

where you went to see your neighbors. It's where you hung out. It's

where everything happened. And then this man gets healed, his dysfunction is fixed.

He's happy because he can see you were completely born in sins and you're

teaching us. And they cast him out, They excommunicated him, They kicked

him out of the synagogue and said, don't come back, because you're healing

is not what we think it should be. What happens when God shows up

and meets you at your point of need, and it causes more dysfunction in

your life when he fixes the thing you want fixed, but it causes a

bigger problem. Will you still praise him for the win that you got and

trust him for the one that's coming, because it's not always finished right,

Then it's not always done right in that moment. It's not that God does

it to be cruel. It's that you're still in a progressive work, and

he's still maximizing his glory through your lives. And if you will allow him,

he'll give you peace through the difficult times that follow the miracle. So

let's see what happened, because now this man, he's he's faced with a

new challenge. Verse thirty five. Jesus heard that they cast him out,

and when he had found him, he said to him, do you believe

in the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he?

Who is he? Jesus opened his eyes, And I know you have a

hard time reconcile, reconciling this, and I do too. Jesus opened his

eyes and the man didn't even know who Jesus was. Is a matter of

fact. Earlier in the narrative, he says he may be a sinner,

I don't know, He says, who who is this? Son of God?

Who is this? You don't have to clean yourself up before you come

to God. You can still come to God in your doubts, in your

mistrust, in your questions, and He will meet you in the middle of

your doubt and your mistrust and your questions. He will meet you right there

at your point of need. Stop thinking you're not good enough for God,

because God is good enough for you. And up until the moment that we're

about to get to, it's only a one way street. He just gives

and gives and gives and gives. We read scriptures like it reigns on the

just and unjust alike the sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous, and

we read those things and we're like, whoa that a fair? But he

realized that God gives and gives to them and they're not giving anything back,

but He still gives to them. If you really walt, you're brokenness healed.

If you want to go to the next place with God, you have

to selflessly give back to those who are not doing anything for you in return.

He asked her that who is he Lord? That I may believe in

him, And Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and

it is he who is talking to you. Then he said, Lord,

I believe, and he worshiped him. Jesus says, listen, I'm I'm,

I'm I'm the one I know you. I know it was easy to

miss with the whole miracle thing. I know that maybe maybe you're you're slow

and you didn't get it with the whole opening of eyes and that whole deal.

And then I listen, I've come back again, and they're after me.

They want to kill me now. But I needed to come back because

now you've been you've been placed into another level of dysfunction. Now you're broken

in a different way. Before it was in your eyes and now it's it's

in your community, and you're broken. And now I've showed up again.

And I know it's easy to miss who I am and those things, but

let me just be plain. It's me. I am, not me Jesus

is that made me feel very uncomfortable when I started doing that. Jesus is

the Son of God. He is everything the Bible says. He is fully

grace and fully truth. He is liberty and freedom. He is deliverence,

but he's also master, he's also discipliner, and he's also accountability. He's

all those things at one time, and you don't get part without all of

it. And if we want to live a truly healed life, we have

to submit to everything that he's calling us to be. And he Brews chapter

thirteen, starting in verse five, the band can come and get ready.

It says, let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with such things

as you have, For he himself said, I will never leave you nor

forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper,

I will not fear what can man and do to me. The first step

of healing, it's just coming to him. But then he's calling you to

a higher place, a different place, a new place. See, he

wants you to respond because the people you think they are going to rejoice with

you when you're healed are not going to rejoice with you. They're going to

find fault with you. The communities that accepted you with your label and your

brokenness, they keep you with the condition that you stay broken, that you

stay traumatized. And when we go through our healing, when we go through

that experience and that moment. We find ourselves often excommunicated from the community that

we found trust in because those that we trusted wanted us to stay where we

are. But Jesus says, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.

We like to quote that when things are bad, but it goes when

things are good too. He says, I'll never leave you, and I'll

never forsake you. I'm always here. I'm always calling you to a new

place. I'm always calling you a little bit higher and at the same time

a little bit deeper. I'm always calling you a little more towards the middle,

but also a little further towards the edges. My plan is for your

wholeness, but not wholeness so that you can hoard it, but wholeness so

that you can give it away. You are the platform your brokenness, and

the healing of that brokenness is the platform that God speaks to the multitudes.

From what they did to you was terrible, but the way He heals you

through it is miraculous. You have to get over the embarrassment of it happening

so that you can tell the story of the miracle of the healing wherever you

are and whatever you're facing, he's here. He's just going about his normal

business. He's just passing through. And if you don't know that he passed

through, your feeler is broken and he's passing through. And while he's passing

through, you might as well cry out and say, here I am,

Lord, meet me at my brokenness. Heal my dysfunction, Open my eyes

so that I can see past my immediate trauma. Open my eyes so that

I can see the spectacular future that lies ahead of me. Open my eyes,

and I don't care how messy the healing is. You know, I

probably shouldn't tell you all this. Sometimes I tell things I shouldn't tell.

But when I look back over my ministry, some of my greatest victories are

helping people find other churches they fit in better than this one. It's just

the reality of how God made me. I don't know why I'm that way,

but I just want people to find where they fit. I just want

people to find their place. And it takes a whole lot of talking and

pulling in persevering to realize that God's got a better plan, another plan outside

of the comfort of the current plan. And I know right now that you're

comfortable, I know that Elistopher's I'm not telling you how to leave the church.

I just thought in my mind how that sounded. That's not why get

out everybody and need the seats. But positionally, you have to look beyond

what's just good for you in order to find all that God as for you.

So right now, in this moment, better you might just close your

eyes, calm, holy Spirit, put a spotlight on our brokenness, on

those pieces, those fragments and shattered identity, that insecurity, and fear,

the small minded thinking that thing that happened to me, that's held me prisoner,

that thing that I did that I can't forgive myself for. If you're

here right now and it's a pastor, I'm ready to bring my peaces to

the Lord, my brokenness, my dysfunction, my doubts, my fears,

my insecurities. I'm ready to bring those things because I know God has an

art work to build from my life. If that's you, slip up your

hand and say that's me, Pastor, I want to give all of those

broken pieces to the Lord right now. You slip up your hand, amen,

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. I'm gonna wait just a moment

because somebody's right on the cusp of raising their hand, and there's freedom just

in that small movement. Amen, every oh, but every head looking around.

As a matter of fact, everybody stand to your feet with me.

If you raised your hand. We want to believe God for a miracle in

your life. But you begin to take those pieces sand away, the rough

edges, begin to build them into a beautiful mosaic that people see and are

wrong to. On the count of three, I want you to step out

from where you're standing and make your way to the front or altar team is

going to meet you and believe God from a miracle in your life. Don't

look around to see if anybody else is moving. This is just between you

and God. Right now is your moment. So on the count of three,

one, two, three, step out and move right now. Come

on when you get here, and lift your hands and begin to begin to

worship. Just lift your hands and begin to pour out yourself. Jesus,

Jesus, Jesus,