Heart to Heart

Amen. As we continue in our current series healed, how many of you have been

blessed by this series so far? Amen. How many of you have been blessed by this

series so far? Amen. I want to continue to share and to talk about a few things.

Amen. Some things that are hard to talk about sometimes. Some things that are

hard to confront and deal with at times. I want to talk about some things

concerning love, broken hearts, and relationships. Amen. How many of you have

experienced disappointment? You don't have to raise your hand. I'm sure everybody

has. How many of you have experienced a broken heart? Amen. We've all encountered

or experienced this type of pain due to relationships, fallouts, miscommunications.

Amen. But sometimes we make the mistake of holding on to the pain.

Sometimes we tend to live with the pain and we just accept it. And because we go

about our daily lives and we don't see that the pain is causing any more

convenience than what it already is, we just learn to live with it. I don't want

to live with pain. I don't want to live with a broken heart. And I got good news

for everyone that can hear my voice today. You don't have to. Amen. You don't

have to. Because God can heal a broken heart. And God is the only one that can

mend a broken heart and restore a relationship. Amen. So as we get into

this, if you have your Bibles, amen, if you could turn to John chapter 11 verse

John 11 · chapter mention

one through five, amen. And this is where we are going to take our thought from

today. Amen. Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus. Lazarus, excuse me, a

Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister. Amen. And it was Mary which anointed the

Lord with ointment and wipe his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was

sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou's

lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that he said, this sickness is not unto death,

but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus

loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you

today. We give you honor. We give you glory Lord. Lord, we ask you Lord to open

up our hearts, open up our minds Lord. Lord, that you would speak to the broken

hearted today God. That you would speak to those God who've experienced it or

still experiencing disappointment and grief. God, Lord, that you would begin the

healing process in someone's life. God, in someone's mind. Lord, Lord, in someone's

relationship Jesus hallelujah Lord. Lord, because you are great. Lord, and you are

good Father Lord. Lord, and you are faithful Lord. Lord, we ask you Lord all of

this in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Amen. As I just

mentioned, amen. Not, there isn't any single person. Amen. There's not one

person in this room that hasn't experienced some type of heartache, broken

heart as a result of a relationship. And I am sure that someone has experienced

one of these things or possibly all of these things. Giving ourselves to

relationship is not an easy thing to do. It takes trust, commitment, honesty, and

time. But what happens when the relationship ends badly? What happens when

the trust is broken? And what happens when the commitment fails? When you were

lied to, when you were mistreated, amen, and time was wasted. All you are left

with are bad memories and a broken heart. There is no remedy for a broken heart,

no prescription, no amount of medication can heal or mend a broken heart. The

majority of society would suggest to find someone new. Involve yourself in a

brand new relationship. You don't need time to get over it. Just jump right back

into it. And maybe that new relationship will help you to forget the old one.

But the problem with that is when you have two people who are broken that come

together, eventually someone is going to get cut. Because hurt people hurt people.

The pain of a broken heart is real. And if not resolved, it can leave a damaging

impression and an outlook on what love truly is. Now I'm not speaking from a

mountain that I haven't climbed. I'm not speaking from a valley that I haven't

cried in. I know what I'm talking about when I'm telling you that a broken heart

is painful. When someone tells you that they are suffering from a broken heart

believe them. It don't matter how crazy the story is. It don't matter how wild

the relationship sounded like. What matters is that they're standing in front of

you hurting, broken. The pain of a broken heart is real. And if we don't confront

this and if we don't deal with this, it distorts what love truly is. Amen. Because

Jesus Himself, He views relationships. He views them in a very, very important

point of view or very important way. Because if He did not, He would not have

commanded it so. In Matthew 22, 37, to 39, He says, Jesus replied, love the Lord

your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This

is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. Love your

neighbor as yourself. How do you love someone? How do you eventually love

someone? By getting to know them through relationship. It is impossible to connect

with someone or to have some type of connected connection to someone

without relationship. Relationship is so important to God that He commanded it.

Amen. The same love that He describes that we should have for our neighbor is a

same love that nailed Him to the tree. The same love that He expressed. Amen. When

He was hanging on that cross and He said that He had you and I on His mind, is a

same type of love that we should carry, show, and express when it comes to our

neighbor. Someone say, amen. We tend to mask this love and eventually we become

more concerned with the quality of our relationships and the appearance of our

relationships when we should be more concerned with the quality of our heart.

But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical

stature because I have refused him for the Lord does not see a man as a man

sees for the man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

We must understand that the quality of our heart will reflect the quality of our

lives. Proverbs 423 states above all else guard your heart for everything you do

flows from it. We all know someone who's always upset or who has a negative

output or might have a negative opinion on everything. Hey, I got a promotion

today. Oh man, I'm so happy for you but man you've got to work long hours.

Isn't your boss and people don't really like him? Do you really think it's

worth it? And you're standing there thinking like geez you could have at least

said congrats and walked away. Right? These people are not bad people. They're

grieving in their heart. Something's wrong. There's pain inside that they're not

willing to or haven't dealt with. The quality of your life will reflect the

quality of your heart. Masking and hiding might make it easier to deal with but

eventually you have to confront it. Falsifying your heartbreak can cause you

to seek false remedies. This is why people go from broken relationship to

broken relationship. They seek alternative ways to cope with the pain, to

cope with the disappointment, to cope with the heartbreak. They start to believe

the pain that their heart is speaking. Jeremiah 17 9 10 the heart is deceitful

above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I the Lord search the

heart. I test the mind even to give every man according to his way, according to

the fruit of his doings. Only God can search the heart and see the past deceit

and pain. Only God can search the deepest parts of your heart and listen to your

secrets. Only God can search through hallelujah the pain that is hidden inside

of your heart. Only God can mend and heal a broken heart. Today I want to touch

and speak on the subject very quickly heart to heart. As we take a look at

Mary and Martha and John 11 in the scripture we just read we find that

they experience pain in separation of the brother Lazarus because he's sick and

they are fearful or fear of him dying. The heartbreak is a result of a death of

a relationship. The feeling of rejection when they approach Jesus. The feeling of

being alone and disappointed. The overwhelming feeling of exhaustion due

to the tragedy of losing their brother. The key to healing from it all and

having a heart to heart with God. How do we deal or excuse me how do we heal from

a broken heart? A broken relationship. Well let's find out. Our first point is we

need to understand that we must go to God. Someone say go to God. Therefore his

sister sent unto him saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick. Now Mary and

Martha made a conscious decision. They went they had to go to tell Jesus about

their brother Lazarus being sick. Now in the midst of their pain their fear of

their brother dying their fear or the agony of watching their brother lie

their sick. Amen with no answers no remedy no medication to give them. In the

midst of their sadness they had to make a decision. They had to go and tell Jesus.

They had to get up from where they were and go to tell Jesus. To tell him that

their brother was sick. Now we found ourselves in situations such as these

or such as this when we are hurting a man and we're home and we know what the

answer is and we know what we have to do and yet we sit there because we're in

pain. We're hurting. We're suffering. The sun is shining outside but we got a

rain cloud over our head. Things are not okay and things are not well and so we

want someone to remedy this so we reach out to folks. We post stories on

Instagram. We tell people that we are hurting. We're doing what we can to let

people know so then we get the text messages the phone calls are you okay

the DMs hey I just saw hey I just saw and we we we tend to use that as a remedy

for our pain. And although God is waiting for us God will not move unless we

move. Now consider the relationship Mary Martha Lazarus the Bible says that

they were his friend so they could have waited for him to come around the way.

They could have said well hold on he'll eventually show up. We might run into him

at the market. We might run into you know what let's tell so-and-so and so-and-so

can tell him because I don't feel like getting up. I'm in too much pain. We have

to make a decision to come to God. The word decide amen is comprised of two

words the prefix D which means to remove. This is where we get the words

like dehumidify decompress decline. The word side means to kill off which is how

we have words like pesticide homicide genocide so when you decide to come to

God you have decided to remove what is hurting you and kill off all other

options. Matthew 11 says come to me or you who are weary and burden come to me

come to me and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I

am gentle and humble in heart and I will find rest in you will find rest in your

souls. The word come amen and the word in in James draw on I to God he will draw

on I unto you the word come the word draw it's an invitation God is not just

saying that you've got to come to me he's inviting you to come to him. Hallelujah

I am here to let you know and this is something that we don't want to hear when

we are hurting this is something that we don't want to hear when we're in pain

but you have to participate in your healing you have to participate in your

healing you have to make a decision to come to God why because faith without

words is dead. We won't go to God so easily now as a result of these things

that we've experienced it's now much harder to go to church on Sunday it's

now much harder to log on to zoom on Wednesday it's now much harder to receive

Godly counsel it's now much harder to reach out to your pastor to your minister

friend to the people at church who love you who pray for you who look out for

you it's so much hard to go to them because we already know what we're

going to hear. When they say that it's time to turn the page it's time for you

to step into a new chapter to write out a new chapter a lot of times we won't do

that the reason being is because we know that once we turn the page we know

who won't be there. You see because if you're still holding on to what was you

will never receive to what God has. You cannot accept new love when you're still

harboring the pain from the old love this is why you can't pour new wine into

old wineskins. A lot of times we tend to think upon these things and we say things

like I wish I wish I wish and God is saying stop wishing and come come come

on to me. I want you to know that in the midst of your disparity and in the midst

of those times and those moments where you feel that you are alone you need to

know and understand because pain is a dark place pain is a dark place the

lights can be on the sun is shining but you feel so empty and cold there is

nothing that can put a smile on your face no comment no compliment not even

your favorite prayer song or your favorite church song or your favorite

worship song sometimes can do anything for you because you're so alone the pain

is so bad that it overshadows everything that's good in your life but the

Lord says this he not only says that he will never leave us nor forsake us but

he also says that he is close to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are

crushed in spirit and we wonder why the enemy does all that he can to keep us

from God we wonder why amen he puts these things into our hearts and into our

minds and he tells us that we're not good enough he tells us that we're not

worthy enough he tells us that God can't do it we must become decided men and

women we must hallelujah decide to stop hurting and stop allowing the hurt to

hindrance our lives we've got to quit focusing on that relationship and we

have to look forward we have to start to focus on the relationship that's going

to come someone say amen now when you come to God you've got to tell God your

pain you've got to tell God your pain so many people come to the altar and they

stand and they weep and they cry and they're crying out to God and they're

asking God to take away their pain and they're standing there and they're

waiting and they're waiting and they're waiting and they're waiting and then they

walk back to their seats and they sit down the pain is still there they still

feel broken and they're sitting there thinking why do I still feel this way if

how many of you have been in the house of God how many of you have been in a

powerful service and experience a powerful move of God and you go back to

your seat and you ask yourself why do I feel the same how come I don't feel like

that did anything for me it wasn't God it wasn't God I want to remind you of the

two blind men that were sitting on the roadside and they heard that Jesus was

coming by these blind men from where they were at in the midst of their

blindness in the midst of their darkness the Bible says that they shouted Lord

son of David have mercy on us the crowd rebuked them and they told them to be

quiet but they shouted all the louder the Lord son of David have mercy on us

and Jesus stopped and he called them and he said what would you have for me to

do for you Lord they answered we want our sight Jesus had compassion on them

the Bible says he touched their eyes immediately they received their sight

and followed him you know that sometimes your cry has to be louder than your

pain you have to stop worrying about what people are going to think and say

about you you've got to be able to stand in the presence of God and say Lord I

need you right now God the pain is so intense I can't stand it anymore

your cry has to be louder than your pain we have to understand that if we

don't confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts God says that if you

believe in your heart amen if you believe in your heart he will do it that

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your

heart he will do it confess and believe and you have to wonder why the enemy

tries to shut you up with your pain he tries to lie to you and tell you to

keep your mouth shut just like the crowd did to the two blind men because he

knows amen he knows that death and life are in the power of your tongue that if

you keep your mouth shut nothing will happen that if you don't call out the

name of Jesus in the time of your disparity in the time of your need

nothing will happen

oftentimes we are counseled amen because of what we carry amen and what we go

through and ultimately the answer is prayer right but that's not what we want

to hear sometime but Lord I am praying what are you confessing but Lord I am

asking what are you desperate

it's two different types of prayer

confessing and believing if we don't do these two things we will remain crushed

and broken

our second point is that pain that you're experiencing that pain that you're

experiencing is going to give God glory now now I know we talked about the pain

I know we talked about the experience of pain and what we have to do to relieve

that pain but do you know do you know that what you are going through that

what you are experiencing God has a purpose for that do you know that every

failed relationship is not a failed relationship do you know that every

broken relationship is not a broken relationship that sometimes God will put

people in your life for a moment that sometimes God will allow things in your

life to happen so you can learn that we don't want to hear that fruits of the

spirit love joy peace what about temperance long suffering how do we learn

if we don't experience pain when Jesus heard that he said when Jesus heard that

he said this sickness when he heard that Lazarus was sick he said this sickness

is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified

thereby it is hard to imagine that the pain that you carry in your experience

can somehow have a purpose and it is intentional and that one day that this

purpose will give God glory see we have to understand that he already knew

Lazarus was going to be sick he already knew that Lazarus was going to die

Jesus already knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead we serve a

God that knows our start and our finish and everything in between he knew that

the situation that you were in wasn't going to work out he knew that the

relationship was going to end in heartbreak he knew we weren't going to

listen so he let us do it anyway that love that we talked about at the beginning

of this sermon that love that unconditional love do you know that

God loves you so much that if he sees you heading for heartbreak he'll step out

of the way because God has given us free will and we are free to make our own

decisions and sometimes the Lord is saying you're asking you're asking you're

asking fine there you go because that is the only way sometimes that we were

learned and because we are we are because are you excuse me because we are

habit in nature right we are habit in nature sometimes we continue to make

the same mistakes over and over and over again and the whole time God is

standing there and he's waiting and he's waiting and he's waiting and there we are

carrying our heartbreak there we are trying to make the relationship work if

we understand that he is the author and the finisher of our faith and that he has

plans God has plans you know he has plans for you he has plans amen he

declares it in Jeremiah he said that he has plans to prosper you and not to

harm you but plans of hope and of a future so what happens amen when we

allow ourselves to go through the process eventually he will bring you that

person eventually he will bring that someone that's going to amen your soul

may he's gonna bring the one your rib he's gonna bring your Adam he's gonna

bring your Eve and when he does he's gonna bring it together and it's gonna

be so beautiful because what God brings two people together at the right time

it's a good thing and there's a plan of prosperity and hope for each and every

one of us he says that it is good it is not good for man to be alone and I will

make a helper suitable for him he knows that while you're sitting there in your

pain wishing and wondering he knows it's not good for you to be alone but we

keep making the same mistakes we keep going to the same person because it's

convenient it's almost like going to the stove and your mom telling you when you

were small don't touch the fire you're gonna get burned don't touch the fire I

remember one time my mom kept telling me my mom kept telling me and my stubbornness

and my hard-headedness I'm still the Lord's working on me on those things but

I went and I grabbed a little stool and I stepped up and I grabbed the pot and I

picked it up the steam hit my face I dropped the lid of the pan my arm just

bubbled up I mean you know how like when when you get a tortilla and you flip it

you know the bubbles that pop up right when you know that it's almost time to

slap some some butter on it and go to right so that's how my arm look my skin

just started to bubble and my mom says I told you David I told you David God is

saying the same thing sometime I told you son I told you daughter

because God is saying and God has said that it's not good for man to be alone

from this we can see clearly that God created man and woman to be together for

companionship for love for friendship and relationship God has a good plan for

us all everything that is good comes from God James 1 17 reads whatever is good

and perfect comes from God but we mess it up we don't want to learn we think

that we know more than God because we're in love love can get you to do some

really dumb things I'm speaking from it can get you to do some really

dumb things but you're in love everything's great everything's awesome

you're floating on cloud nine you don't need it you don't even need to drink

coffee in the morning you're fired up on love man nothing can get you down

nothing can mess up your day and then she stops calling you and then she

decides to put you in the friend zone and then your text messages go on red

come on you'll know what I'm talking about huh but there's hope for every one

of us because God can take a bad relationship and create a greater

relationship and this will bring him glory for we know that all things were

together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his

purpose he will use your pain and the bad relationship he will use them for

two reasons two quick reasons number one to refine you Isaiah 48 10 see I have

refined you though not as silver I have tested you in the furnace of affliction

in the furnace of pain a test is a situation that God sends or allows in

our lives with the intention of revealing our loyalties our motivations

character commitment to him helping to purify strengthen and mature us when

successfully pass this refining this test will glorify God someone say amen

number two to keep you he views chapter 12 verse 6 for the Lord disciplines

those he loves and he punishes each one he accepts as his child punishment God's

way is building us up and training us to keep us in his will help us to learn

from our mistakes this is not necessarily a sign of his displeasure but

of his discipline punishment is not the same punishment as we believe that it

is punishment is correction that will not crush you why won't it crush us

because he loves you through this pain and suffering God will be glorified by

your healing because you're made whole again he will be glorified through your

repentance because you have been made well again he will be glorified through

your resurgence because you have been made strong again and he will be

glorified through your deliverance because you have been made free again

all of these things will bring him glory at the right time and the right place

but who here truly believes that it's easy to trust God's timing show of hands

no takers it is the hardest thing for us to trust God's time especially when

you're in pain especially when you're longing for relationship when you're

longing for friendship we all keep praying it'll happen me ha keep going to

church keep wearing your velo at the top of your head so the brother could see

it and he knows it you pray keep going it'll be okay it'll be keep going we

don't want to hear that we don't want to hear those things now when Jesus Jesus

the Bible says that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so when he

heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days two more

days in ecclesiastics the Bible says that there's a time for everything amen

there's a time to heal a time to cry a time to die not in that order but a time

to laugh but there's a time for everything but it doesn't tell us when who or why or

even how it just says that there's a time this is where we find our struggle

Jesus love Mary and Martha Lazarus so much that when he heard that he was sick

he stayed where he was in today for two days now that might sound like a

contradiction contrary to his love for them why would he stay why wouldn't God

rush to their aid why wouldn't God drop everything as soon as he found out that

his friend was sick why didn't he rush to him well so I thought about it and I

figured well he already knew this was gonna happen so why go but then God

already knew that Lazarus was sick and God already knew that Lazarus was going

to die so on God's time there was no need to rush but because Mary and Martha

were in pain their time was we need God now we need him we need him to come

right now now how do we think Martha and Mary fell God didn't move he didn't

punch they were upset they might have been mad they might have been walking

away talking to each other see we wasted our time why did we even bother

coming to tell our friend he's not worried about us he's not concerned

about Lazarus he's not really our friend they don't really love you you don't

need to go to church on Sunday don't need to read your word you don't need to

pray it's not going to work and Jesus when he arrived when he finally decided

to when he showed up he arrived he found that Lazarus was already dead in the

two for four days logistically it makes sense he knew he was gonna die he

waited then I remembered in Matthew 1425 when the disciples were on the boat and

they were being tossed by the waves and the wind was contrary and the Bible

said that on the fourth watch shortly before dawn when the storm was at its

worst Jesus showed up on the fourth day Jesus showed up in Jewish culture they

believe that after the third day when somebody has died it is impossible for

them to be brought back it is impossible for someone to die and three days be

dead and on the fourth day rise again it is impossible by the fourth day the body

is already decomposed medically it says that the inside of the body is already

starting to deteriorate and eat the bacteria is already starting to eat

itself from the outside from the inside out by the fourth day there is no way

possible that a man or a woman can be resurrected but I thank God that I serve

a God that can do the impossible I thank God that I serve a God that can do the

impossible the reason why he showed up on the fourth day was so that he would

not only receive the glory but that the testimony and the words that will come

out of Lazarus mouth as we heard later was that it is undeniably God that we

cannot credit or contribute our own actions or our own words or what we read

or what we heard to the healing of our heartbreak God shows up when we feel

like we are out of time but God shows up on time our trust must be firmly on the

word of God and we must stand on his promises because God is faithful to his

word now that God has showed up the Bible says that Rick you come up the Bible

says that God had a heart-to-heart with Martha through the pain through the

agony the Bible says that when he showed up that Martha ran to him and she

said God if you were only here if you would have just showed up a day before

if you would have just showed up an hour before if you would have just showed up

last week when I was in church and I was crying my eyes out and everybody was

looking at me and and my eyes were swollen from crying and I was giving

you all that I had that's right that's what it sounds like if you would have

just been here God my brother he probably still would have been alive and

the Lord said that when he saw her he saw her distress he saw her pain the

Bible said that he wept

he cried you know that sometimes or I shouldn't say sometimes because God is

close to the broken hearted do you know that your pain will cause God to weep

because it's not his will for us to hurt

he made heaven for you we understand that he said I go to prepare a place for

you

God hears when you cry your pain can cause God to weep and he says where's

Mary because when he showed up she didn't get up

mama says she stayed in the house you know sometimes God is calling and

talking at your heart but you won't move because you're mad why is he gonna show

up now my brother died already why is he gonna show up now the relationship is

over that person left I'm already hurt the Bible says that when she heard her

name she ran but when she got to God she fell to his feet she was exhausted she

was tired and the Lord turns to Mary excuse me Martha hey you know I don't

know about you but when I read this portion of scripture it reminded me of

the countless times where I had these hard to heart conversations with God

being in the car brother Mario by myself driving to work driving home I

don't know what to do with this pain I'm gonna wait for you but I don't know how

much longer I can wait it turns to Martha he tells Martha Martha do you

believe specifically he tells Martha I am the resurrection and the life the one

who believes in me will live even though they die

do you feel that the ones that believe in me will live and whoever lives by

believing in me will never die do you believe this Martha Martha says yes

Lord I believe that you are the Messiah you can stand Martha says I believe you

are the Son of God who is to come into the world after we come to God we confess

to God and we understand that one day our pain will be used to glorify God the

last question that God has for us is do you believe do you believe that I'll

heal do you believe that I'll answer you know sometimes going up I would often

wonder why things in my life were so extreme how when things would happen to

other people it just happened but when it happened to me it was like everything

happened it just wasn't one thing it was one thing and then something else and

then something else and then something else and you know sometimes I thought

that maybe there was something wrong with me maybe I'm not doing this right and

as I matured in the Lord and as I learned to understand these things that

things will work out for the good for those who love him that even the bad

things that happen eventually God is gonna use him for our good as I

understood this and I and as I begin to grow into a young man and then now tell

finally a man I now understand because you know gentlemen we pray for someone

that God will bring us someone to help us in ministry but where do you think

you're gonna find her in ministry she's gonna be busy working gentlemen women

you say the same thing you want a strong man of God a man who prays a man who

loves you a man who throw out the trash without you asking him a hundred times

to do it what do you think he's going to be in ministry so I say all of that to

say this because of those extremities because of that pain and because of that

heartbreak I now understand that because of those experience God has given me the

insight the understanding of how to reach the person who's addicted because my

father was addicted and God healed him I can speak to the homeless because for a

long period of time I didn't have a home to call my own I can speak to the

person who has nothing in the bank account because most of my life that's

just how life was and I can also speak to the person who has plenty because now

my cup runneth over I can speak to the person who's been praying for a blessing

because now my life is blessed I can pray for the person that needs to hear a

word from God because now his word is hidden in my heart so as you stand there

and close your eyes with me if there is pain in your heart if there is broken

relationships in your past and maybe these things you haven't confronted maybe

these things you haven't dealt with maybe it's just easier to ignore these

things God is making an invitation to you today come on to me I'll heal your

broken heart I'll remove the pain I'll remove amen the suffering of those past

relationships and I will prepare your heart for a new one I will prepare your

mind to receive what now you will no one understand it's true love I will give

you the wisdom to deal with difficult people and at the same time love them