It's Not Over - Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Hey church, I pray that you and your family are doing well.

I want to thank you so much for gathering with us today.

No matter where you're joining us from, maybe from the living room with your family, or maybe you're you're at the gym, or maybe you're in your car and join us from the podcast, anywhere in the world.

We want to thank you so, so much for being with us.

I believe that there are no coincidences in the kingdom of God and that you are here for such a time as this.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of John, chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

Fairly familiar passage for those of us that have been walking with God for any period of time, but I want to approach it a little bit differently today.

Starting here at verse number one, the Bible says this A man named Lazarus was sick.

He lived in Bethany with his sisters Mary and Martha.

This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair.

That's in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Her brother Lazarus was sick.

So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, Lord, your dear friend is very sick.

But when Jesus heard about this, he said, Lazarus' sickness will not end in death.

Now here's what I want you to do.

If you have a paper Bible, digital Bible, whatever you have, I want you to highlight that.

I want you to underline that.

I want you to draw some emphasis on the fact that it says that Lazarus' sickness will not end in death.

No, it happened for the glory of God, so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.

So although Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.

We're going to skip forward a little bit and jump down to verse number 14.

Some powerful things happen in between that, but I want to draw his attention right here to verse number 14 where it says this So he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Did you catch that?

Verse number four, these are the words of Jesus.

He says, Lazarus' sickness will not end in death.

But verse number 14, that same Jesus says this, Lazarus is dead.

I feel like my assignment today is to talk about those moments in our life where we have this conflict where we know what God's word says, but our reality only seems as if it's getting worse.

If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down because I think the title in itself should be encouragement for you.

It is not over.

Let's pray.

God, I thank you so much for your word.

I thank you for every opportunity that you give us to come and gather in your name because your word declares that where two or three are gathered in your name, there you are in the midst.

So Lord, wherever we are gathering, in our living rooms with our family, in our cars as we're going back and forth, running errands or going to work, maybe in our gym, taking a walk, wherever we're gathering around your word, I pray that you join us where we are.

And Father, I pray that you give us open eyes to see you.

I pray that you give us open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive everything that you want us to deposit into our souls.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray and believe.

Amen.

Now, I'm not sure about all of my people out there that are that are checking this out, but I can speak for myself.

I am not a big fan of cliffhangers.

And I'm talking about cliffhangers in the context of movies, TV shows, or anything along those lines.

In fact, I don't remember the last time I watched any TV show live if it wasn't something connected to sports.

Truth be told, I think we live in such a binge watching culture that I love the fact that whether it's an episode, that I could just move on to the next one, or even a season, that I have this ability that I can just binge watch through everything and get clarity and some form of finality so that I don't have to sit on the edge of my seat for weeks, months at a time.

That seems exhausting, and I know that seems like such a first world problem, but I think there was a that's a reality that I think we can consider when we begin to measure and look at the way that we process the reality of the situation we may find ourselves in.

You know, I I love this show Popeye because Popeye was super simple.

Popeye, you knew that was gonna be, you knew it was a guarantee that Popeye was gonna get beat up, you knew he was gonna eat some spinach, and then you also knew at some point he was gonna come back on top and that he was gonna be victorious.

We knew that that was a guarantee every single time within that 18-minute time spans because you had to consider commercials.

But I think for many of us, our lives don't look anything like Popeye.

We wish that it would be one of those things where we find an obstacle, but within 18 minutes it all works itself out.

But the truth of the matter is, I think our life looks a lot less like Popeye's and a lot more like the Avengers.

I'm talking about that moment in between Avengers Endgame versus Avengers Infinity Wars.

You know that moment where things are disappearing, and you know inside of your mind that there's gotta be a way to fix it.

There's gotta be a way to resolve it.

But you have to wait and sit on the edge of your seat, maybe even for years, until you get the closure that's gonna come within the next film.

That's what life seems like for us.

And unfortunately, when we're in that in-between season, that season of this is not gonna end in death, and that season of, but no, there's death, what do we do when we see that the word of God is conflicting with the reality of our situation?

You know, what I realize about all of this is this there are times that we allow what we see to shape what we believe.

What we see shapes what we believe.

We see something and it begins to shape our beliefs, but I believe the people of God are supposed to function a little bit differently.

I don't believe that we're supposed to allow what we see to shape what we believe.

I believe that the followers of Christ are supposed to have a different perspective, that we're actually supposed to be a people that we allow what we believe to shape how we see it.

This is why I think Paul's writings are so powerful in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 55.

1 Corinthians 15:55

The Bible declares that death, where is your sting?

Grave, where is your victory?

That Paul had such a strong faith that even he looked at death a little bit differently.

Paul tells the Thessalonian church that we don't grieve as those who have no hope, but we have a different perspective even when we look at the things of death.

Here's what I want you guys to know: that when we have a strong faith that's rooted in Jesus, we can look at obstacles, but we look at them way differently than everybody else does.

We can look at a setback and we look at it differently.

This is why the Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight.

Because sometimes our sight can begin to shape our faith, but God has called us to be a people that looks at things a little bit differently.

I believe that this passage that we're looking at, not only can it unfold so many things about the character and nature of Christ and his people, but I also believe there's some principles that we can extract from it that could be so encouraging for us when we're in these seasons where we're looking at the reality of God's word, but we're looking at the circumstance we find ourselves standing in, and there seems to be some grave inconsistencies.

If you take a note, I want you to write down this first point, this first observation that I think to be something we can take away from this.

First thing we have to do whenever we find ourselves in a scenario that doesn't seem to match up is we have to take it to God.

Take it to God.

Now, I know that seems so simple, but but let me let me let me unpack a few things that's going on right here.

Now, in this culture, it was very common for people to get sick.

And so they had home remedies and and and things that they knew to do in order to try to nurse someone back to health.

But I often wonder what was the threshold, what was the breaking point when Mary and Martha realized that in their own strength it wasn't getting better?

What was that moment when as they were looking at their brother?

Was it the day that the cough began to change?

Was it the day when when he didn't get up after the third or fourth day?

I don't know what that threshold is, but there's a moment when they recognize that in their own strength they didn't have what it takes to handle it.

I think for some of us, we could find ourselves in that moment where we're trying to figure out the threshold between, okay, I know that I'm capable of putting my hands to this and hopefully moving the needle just a little bit.

God has graced us all with an ability to do some things.

And so sometimes I think what can happen is we begin to work in our own strength.

We begin to work with our own ability, and we've missed that moment when we should be inviting God into the situation.

See, I realize that miracles happen when we put it into the hands of Jesus.

And what we see with Mary and Martha, there was this moment when they recognize that our brother is not getting better with our own strength.

We need to get Jesus involved.

This is an invitation for us to recognize that there's moments where we've got to analyze and discern that this is a moment that my skill set, my degree, my background is not gonna fix this, but I need to get Jesus involved.

Listen to me, church, it's not over, but we have to take it to God and invite him into the process.

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter chapter 5 that we are to cast our cares on him because he cares for us.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

That casting is an idea of shifting the weight, the burdens, the things that we need God to move in.

It's us moving and putting it into his hands.

But here's what I know about our culture because I fall victim of this myself.

There are times that I can overthink and underpray.

I think about things a lot, I analyze things a lot, I process through things a lot, I research things, I Google things, I look at everything in my own strength on what I can do to move the needle forward.

And here's the thing those are resources that we should use.

But if we don't surrender and submit it to God and invite him to breathe on our thought processes, we will miss out on the activity and the miracle that God can take place.

See, I realize this that what you hold on to holds on to you.

And as long as I'm holding on to this situation, it's holding on to me.

You know, when I'm holding on to fear, fear is holding on to me.

When I'm holding on to rejection, rejection is holding on to me.

When I'm holding on to anxiety, anxiety is holding on to me.

When I'm holding on to all these other barriers, they're holding on to me as well.

I believe this is why the life of Jacob is so powerful, because there's that moment when he's wrestling with God, so to speak.

And he says, Lord, I will not let you go until you bless me.

He made up in his mind that I'm gonna let go of my past and I'm gonna hold on to Jesus.

I'm gonna begin to cast my cares on him.

And my challenge and my invitation for all of us that are watching right now is stop holding on to your pain and start holding on to Jesus.

What you hold on to holds on to you.

So if you can hold on to Jesus, guess what?

Jesus is holding on to you.

If I can hold on to my faith, then my faith is holding on to me.

If I can hold on to what God's word says, then I know that God's word is going to sustain me.

But the only way that takes place is if I put it into the hands of Jesus.

The Bible is filled with these instances of people putting things into the hands of God.

We see that Peter and his mother-in-law were sick and they put her in the hands of Jesus and she she was raised up.

I believe that we see the story of the fish and loaves that by themselves, these were these ingredients that would never be able to satisfy the appetites of the people.

But when you put it into the hands of Jesus, miracles can happen.

I want to encourage every single one of us, no matter what's holding on to you right now, if you put it into the hands of Jesus, I believe that miracles can take place, but it only happens when we give it to God.

Here's a second thing that I want us to write down and take away from this idea that we see in this text.

We have to wait on God.

Now that's the challenge.

I think that's the part that, if I can be honest, that that even I get a little anxious about sometimes because we realize that I've done my best to cast my carrots, but now I have to wait on God to move and respond.

Let's look at some of these variables here.

See, Mary and Martha, the text begins to help us to understand that they have a relationship with Jesus.

That these aren't, these aren't just people who were passing by on the sidelines.

These aren't people that Jesus just happened to encounter while he was on his mission.

This isn't an instance where um Jarius is sees Jesus and he interrupts his movement and asks him to heal his daughter.

This isn't that.

This isn't the centurion who happens to see that Jesus is in the vicinity and he approaches Jesus and says, like, hey man, I have this servant.

Do you mind coming and sending your word to deal with it?

This isn't one of those instances.

This is actually people, I can put it this way, that have a relationship with Jesus.

These are people that are walking with Jesus.

Imagine the tension and the moment that I think all of us probably feel when we see the activity of God in the lives of others and we're thinking to ourselves, surely, surely God's going to show up on my account in this instance.

I've seen God do many things for people that may not even be as faithful as I am.

I've seen God move on behalf of folks that don't even recognize his authority, but but surely, this is why it's emphasizing the relationship that they had with Jesus to help us to understand the dynamics at play, because I think we've all played prayed prayers built on the foundation of our relationship with Jesus.

But nonetheless, the scripture says that even though he loved them, he waited two more days.

What do you do when you've casted your cares, but the things that you care about are still casting a shadow?

What do you do when the Bible says that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strengths, but you've been waiting for so long that it seems as if your strength has not showed up?

Those moments where you feel exhausted.

Well, I believe that the Bible tells us is that we're to trust in God and not lean on our own understanding.

In always acknowledge Him.

That's challenging for us.

That's challenging for me.

When you're in a season that doesn't seem as if there seems to have any expiration date, but yet I find myself praying and doing the best that I can, but now I have to wait for Jesus to show up.

I put my weight on Jesus.

I've been waiting on Jesus, but I think there's a component that's so important is that we have to continue to do our best to wait to serve.

If Scripture says that God orders our steps, then we have to be in a position of servanthood in order to hear what he's instructing us to do.

I've learned that the best meals aren't made in microwaves.

I've I've found that that it's it takes a process of preparation and patience in order for you really to get the results that you're looking for.

Just yesterday, for instance, I decided to make my wife some sweet Thai chili wings for her birthday.

That's kind of how we celebrate it.

And what I realized is that this was a process for me.

Now, she was able to enjoy the end result.

But what I knew is that when I decided I was going to make these wings for her, that started actually two days ago, where I got the wings.

I had to let them brine for over 24 hours, and then I had to season them and let them season overnight.

In addition to that, I actually made the sweet Thai chili sauce from scratch.

Y'all didn't know that y'all passer could throw down, but I want to let y'all know my website's coming soon.

But but I had to make the Thai chili sauce from scratch.

So I had all these ingredients.

The kitchen was messy, stuff all over the place.

But I knew that all these ingredients, in the time that it took in order for everything to fall itself into the proper place, it was going to create an outcome that was going to make it so desperately worth it.

What I realized for many of us is we want to get to the microwave end result.

But we can't do that until we allow the seasoning to really grab a hold.

You see, what I discovered is this.

There's many times that we want to have an insta-pot approach to our faith.

If I could just take what's here, quickly get the end result and hoping that the ingredients are going to run deep.

But I found that when you allow things to marinate, it allows you to recognize that even if you bump up against it, that even if some water hits it, the seasoning has gone so deep to its core that it's not easy to just wipe it away and rinse it away.

What I believe that God is showing us in these seasons where we're being seasoned is that we have to wait on the Lord and allow the faith that He that we have in Him to go so much deeper.

It's not meant for us to have a surface level faith, but as to have something that goes a little bit deeper than what we even we could ever imagine or think.

I look at the children of Israel, and the Bible tells us about them that where they are leaving out of the out of Egypt and they're standing at the edge of the Red Sea, and the Bible declares that as they're standing there with all this vision and excitement of what the future is going to hold after 400 years of bondage, there is no clear direction forward.

They're standing at the edge of the Red Sea, but now they are aware that Pharaoh has changed his mind, and now the past, the oppression, the pain, the suffering seems to be closing in on them.

That may sound familiar for some of us, where we find ourselves at a place where we're standing where it's not clear on what my next steps are going to be.

But when I look in the rearview mirror, it seems like everything that I've been trying to escape is closing in on me.

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

But I love what the Bible says that Moses says.

He says, Stand still and see the salvation of God.

For the enemy that you see today, you are never going to see them again.

I believe that there's many times that God leads us to a place where not only is he deepening our faith, but he's also allowing the enemy to get put into a position where you're never going to have to deal with that enemy in the same context ever again.

The Bible declares that the children of Israel that passed over on dry ground, but when the enemy pursued them, they were all completely swallowed up and consumed.

That the children of Israel, they went into the Red Sea as slaves, but they came out as an army.

What I'm trying to help us to understand is that some seasons when we're waiting on God, it's allowing the grace of God to take such deep root in our souls that when we face obstacles in the future, we have a well of experience to pull from.

I think about my mother and how she is such a profound woman of faith.

She didn't get there yesterday.

She didn't get there through a microwave process, but she endured some setbacks and some struggles.

So that now when I talk to her about any struggle that seems to be in front of us, she has this well of experience that she can pull from because the season in which she was being seasoned, it went deep to her soul to the core, and it couldn't be wiped away just because an obstacle or there's a season of opposition.

What I believe God will do in us in some instances is that we will go through seasons where it seems as if things are being prolonged, but it's allowing the grace of God to go deeper.

It's allowing the word of God to go deeper, it's allowing our dependency of God to go deeper so that when we find ourselves in a storm, the season won't get wiped away.

When we find ourselves with a setback, we won't lose all of our hope and our faith because we've been through enough things to know that even if I lose my job, God is still my provider.

That even if I'm sick, I know that he still is my healer, that even if I have a setback that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I can ask or think.

You may be in a season where you're being seasoned, but I want to encourage you, you allow yourself to marinate in the word of God.

You allow yourself to marinate in the presence of God.

You allow to go deep into your core.

And when you come out of this thing, when you face another obstacle, you'll pull from that experience and you'll say that flavor of faith is still there.

It wasn't washed away because a storm came, but because of who God is and what I've been through, I know that God is surely with me.

We have to be people that wait on God.

Here's a third thing that I want us to that I want us to write down and take away from this.

We have to listen to God.

Not only do we have to take it to God in prayer, not only do we have to wait on the Lord, but we also have to listen to what he is saying to us.

See, the Bible declares that when Jesus shows up on the scene, that that Martha approaches him first.

She finds out that he's coming close and she leaves her town and she meets Jesus where he is and she approaches him and she says, Lord, if you just would have been here, my brother, my brother wouldn't be dead.

There's such cultural significance to this.

I want to pause and unpack this for a moment.

You see, for for Mary and Martha, they both understood the significance of their brother.

Not only was he a beloved brother, a loved one, a family member, their brother, but he also was a representation of leadership, of covering.

See, the text in no way ever mentions their father or their mother, which means that likely they had died.

So now Lazarus in his patriarchal system was the one who was responsible for serving as a covering, serving as a provider, serving as the person who would be responsible of even negotiating the terms of when they get married and move on.

In that culture, if a woman was left completely uncovered, she was very vulnerable, vulnerable to attacks and the desperation and things that they would have to do just to survive.

So now think of that when they begin to consider for a moment their brother takes his last breath.

They don't just see their brother dying, but they see their hopes drying.

They don't just see their brother dying, but they see their dreams dying.

They don't just see their brother dying, but they see any idea of them having a future dies right in front of them.

So when they approach Jesus with this question, it's so much deeper than just I miss my brother.

It's more so, Lord, when my brother died, so did my dreams.

If you just would have been here, I would still have hope.

If you just would have been here, I would still have faith.

If you just would have been here, I would still have a vision for the future.

I think all of us at some point have run scenarios in our mind where we've run the Lord, if you just would have been here scenario.

Lord, if you just would have been here, then I would still have my family.

Lord, if you just would have been here, then my bank account would look a little bit differently.

Lord, if you just would have been here, then we wouldn't be dealing with this pandemic.

Lord, if you just would have been here, we wouldn't be dealing with the division and the racial tension and all the conflict that we're dealing with.

We find ourselves in these places where we do have this encounter with God.

We're saying, Lord, if you if you just would have been here, things would be different.

But I love how Jesus reorients her focus.

He he hears what she's saying, but he immediately begins to shift the focus from the pain point to who he is.

Watch this.

He says to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Remember, Mary's complaint, Martha's complaint was that they were dealing with death, but they were staring at the author of life.

Isn't it interesting how Jesus can be right in front of us and we can't see him because we've magnified our suffering beyond what he can do?

They couldn't see that Jesus was the one who could fix their broken situation.

All they could see was their broken situation.

But Jesus shifts his attention from her brokenness and establishes who he is.

I am the resurrection and the life.

If death is the issue, life is standing in front of you.

If finances is the issue, then your provider is standing in front of you.

If sickness is the issue, your healer is standing right in front of you.

You see, I believe that there's times where our situations they can leave us so deflated.

But Jesus provides all the air supply that we need.

He has this ability of inhaling our pollution and exhaling solutions.

This ability of hearing our pain and exhaling the very solution.

But the thing is that we have to do is we have to stop looking at our dilemma and start looking at our deliverer.

We got to stop focusing so much on what the problem is and start recognizing who the solution is.

Jesus is able to heal.

Jesus is able to redeem.

Jesus is able to fix.

And while it's important for us to recognize what those barriers are, it's also more important for us to recognize who Jesus is in that situation.

Jesus tells her that I am the resurrection and the life.

Do you believe this?

And she said, Absolutely I do.

Martha leaves, but then Mary comes and she poses the exact same question.

Lord, if you just would have been here, I would still have dreams, I would still have hope.

And then he poses this question to her.

He says, Where have you laid him?

Now I'm confident.

Jesus is familiar with this terrain.

So I'm pretty sure he knows exactly where Lazarus is likely laid.

But he says to her, Where have you laid him?

Where have you laid your dreams?

Where have you laid your hopes?

Where have you laid your vision for the future?

I believe that there's these moments that Jesus shows up into our lives and he asks us this question: Where have you laid it?

He wants to know, are you willing to take him down the boulevard of your pain and be a tour guide of your brokenness?

Lord, this is this is the place where I was rejected.

Lord, this is the place where I sustained such heartbreak that it's really it's really hindering the way that I trust people.

Lord, this is the place that I had this encounter that radically changed the way that I see the opposite sex.

Lord, this is the moment where I've had this encounter and it changed the way that I even look at marriage.

Lord, these are these moments that I've had that have caused me to shift my perspective on so many things.

See, I learned that if we don't engage the pain, it will forever change the way that we walk around it.

You guys know that.

I've told the story about how I broke my ankle several years ago.

But after I got surgery, I began to go to physical therapy.

And I was fascinated and frustrated at every time when I would go to physical therapy, they would often put me in these positions and ask me if it hurt.

And I would say, no, that doesn't hurt.

And then they would push me again to get me to a point where I would admit that it hurts.

Now it frustrated me to no end.

I'm thinking, if I explain to you that I'm good here, why are you pushing me beyond my comfort?

Well then that's when I learned a valuable lesson.

If I didn't learn how to engage the pain, it would forever affect the way that I walk.

And here's what that means for some of us.

If we don't learn how to engage the pain of our past, it will affect the way that we walk around things in our present and it will change our perspective of the future.

Listen, if you don't engage the pain of that rejection, it's gonna change the way that you walk around trusting people in your present.

If you don't engage the pain of that of that moment where you've dealt with so much setbacks and struggles, if you don't engage it, if you don't really deal with the pain, it's gonna change the way that you walk around it.

And then something that should have gave birth to wisdom actually ends up just becoming baggage.

Jesus wants to know, are you willing to walk me down to places that are uncomfortable so that I can show you exactly who I am?

Scripture tells us that, that Jesus weeps.

This man who is capable of resurrecting the dead, the Bible declares that Jesus he weeps.

I think the reason why he did that is because he wanted to make sure that we understood that he's not this distant savior who can't relate to the circumstances that we've been through, that can't relate to what we're walking through.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15 tells us, speaking of Jesus, says that for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

How encouraging is it for us to know that Jesus is not a distant high priest, an intercessor for us who can't relate to what we're walking through, who's sitting on a throne of judgment, so when we make a mistake, he can't relate to it.

The Bible declares that he's walked through everything that we've walked through and yet was able to do it with perfect strength.

So here's what that means.

Because he walked through it, he knows how to lead us through it.

Be encouraged, my friend, that Jesus knows what it feels like to be rejected.

He knows what it feels like to be misunderstood, he knows what it feels like to be ignored, he knows what it feels like to have someone betray you.

Jesus has walked through it all, which means that he can lead us through it all.

When he gets there to the graveyard, he makes the statement remove the stone.

What a powerful thought, considering that at this point, Lazarus has been in the grave for four days.

He began to decompose.

There was an aroma that was there.

But Jesus said, Remove the stone.

Now we know that there is no limit to what Jesus is able to do, but I believe there's a symbol of what he's trying to help us to understand.

Because he knew that he was about to speak a life-giving word, and he didn't want it to get, he didn't want it to get muffled out because there were stones in the way.

Think about this for a moment.

Jesus is about to speak a life-giving word, but before he spoke the word, he wanted to make sure that the stones were removed so it could come through with crystal clarity.

You know, Jesus gives that illustration of the parable of the sower, of how some goes on good ground and some goes on stony places.

You ever been in any environments where you've heard someone speak a word?

Two separate people with similar situations walk away with completely different perspectives.

One can receive it and walk away feeling encouraged and filled with hope.

Another one walks away filled with bitterness and discontent and frustrations.

You know the difference?

It's that there's probably been a stone that's been developed as a result of the past situation and they couldn't receive the truth as it was being delivered.

Jesus said, Remove the stone because I'm about to speak words of life, and I don't want this, I don't want you to miss out on it.

But here's the thing that I think is so crucial.

Here's the thing that I think is so powerful.

Lazarus was the one that was on the inside of the tomb.

Lazarus was the one who was about to receive this word, but Lazarus was not the one that was responsible for removing the stone, the community was.

Come on, I want you to catch that.

Lazarus wasn't responsible for removing his own stones, the community was.

That means that the people that were around Lazarus were the ones who had the responsibility of removing the stones and the barriers.

I want you to catch on to this church.

You need to be surrounded by a community of people that are in your life that are willing to help you to remove the stones so that the word of God can be delivered.

It can produce a fruit that's going to allow you to be fruitful and go in the direction and the things that God has called you to do.

This is why churches like ours, we emphasize the importance of community.

Yes, we want to have community and friendships and have people that we have common ground with, but it's also to have people that can come alongside us and they can come and make sure that we don't allow stones to develop over past experiences that can hinder us from hearing the word of God.

If you do not have a Christ-filled community around you, begin to get connected, get connected to us as a church, get connected to people around you, get connected to your community, get connected to your deacons, whatever you have to do to get connected to people who will come alongside you and remove the stones because in your own strength you can't do it alone.

Lazarus is inside of the tomb, but the community is the one that removed the stones so that he could hear the words of life that Jesus wanted to deliver into his soul.

Who are the people that's in your life that help you to remove the stones and the barriers that can keep you from walking and acting in the way that God has called you to act?

You see, what happens with community is they can keep our complaints from turning into concrete.

We should have a place that we should process.

We should absolutely have a place where we can vent.

But true community makes sure that we don't allow that venting and that frustration and those complaints to turn into concrete that can then limit the activity of God in our lives and other moments.

The Bible says that after the stone is removed, that Jesus says these powerful words.

He says, Lazarus, come forth.

Lazarus, come out, depending on what your translation may say.

Isn't it powerful to know that as Jesus is standing in the graveyard, he calls Lazarus by name?

Now I like to think the reason why he had to say Lazarus by name is because of the amount of power that emanates from Jesus, that if he just would have said, come out, that every dead person there would have got up.

But he wanted to be super specific on who he was talking to.

And I believe everyone that is under the sound of my voice right now, you can insert your name right there.

Come out.

I believe that God is leading you to come out.

So, Josh, I want you to come out.

Vinny, I want you to come out.

Jen, I want you to come out.

This is specific for us right here, as I believe it's specific for those who are watching us at home.

He's calling you by name.

He knows exactly who you are, he knows exactly where you are, and he's inviting you to get up and to come out of the situation that you may find yourself in.

One word from Jesus can radically change everything.

One word from Jesus can change your perspective, one word from Jesus can lead you to a place of hope and from freedom.

But here's a couple of things I want us to consider.

Lazarus, up to this point, he has been in the grave for four days.

We established that.

So let's let's walk this through a moment from Lazarus' perspective.

He's on his deathbed.

He knows that his sister sent word to Jesus.

And I can imagine in those those those last moments, did you hear from Jesus yet?

Did you hear it if he's coming back?

Where's Jesus at in this moment?

He had to deal with the idea that they sent a prayer to someone that he knows loves him and who he loves, and he had to die wondering why Jesus didn't show up to do for him what he's been able to do for so many other people.

He takes his last breath, and what the Bible declares is that prior to Jesus dying and being resurrected, that those who died, that they were kind of in this holding place, this paradise place.

So now Lazarus is in this holding place.

It was often referred to as Abraham's bosom.

He's there.

And here's how I like to think of it.

I like to think that as he's there, he's getting acclimated.

Day one, he's there and he's probably seeing some familiar faces.

Oh man, that's that's Moses.

And oh look, there's there's Noah.

Day two, he's probably connected to community and learning how to hang out with people and getting acclimated to what this whole Abraham's bosom spot is supposed to all be about, right?

I believe that when he gets to day three, that maybe at this point he's had a chance to connect with Abraham and so many other heroes and prophets of the faith.

But then day four arrives.

He's probably a little bit comfortable there.

He's like, man, I I feel so rested.

I feel so peace.

There's the pains and the processes of life, man.

I'm I'm I'm actually okay with it now.

But then there's this moment where even though he has experienced death, the words of life begin to call his name.

Lazarus, come out.

Imagine being in a place of death, but then you hear the words of life calling you by name.

Jesus, I've gotten a little bit comfortable now.

Lazarus, come out.

But Lord, I've been dead so long and I've been decomposed so long, I'm content with where things are.

Lazarus, come out.

I believe that there's these moments where Jesus is leading us from a place of comfort, even if it's dysfunctional, to a place of grace and life to its fullness.

You know, I remember back in the good old days when we'd actually go to the movies.

I love to go to the movies and watch um and watch matinees.

That was one of the things that my family and I love to do.

And here's a fascinating thing about that, because if anybody knows if you go to a matinee, that the moment that you come back outside, it's like you're almost surprised that it's daylight.

It's like the bright lights hit you when you become so disoriented because the lights are so bright.

Isn't it interesting how quickly our bodies can adapt to being in the darkness?

So now being in the darkness is more comfortable than coming out into the light.

I'm preaching to somebody right now.

It's possible for us to find ourselves in places where we become so comfortable with our brokenness that we don't even try to look for wholeness anymore.

There's moments in our lives that we become so content with where we are that we don't even begin to consider what it looks like with us moving forward because our identity has been so attached to our brokenness, we can't even relate to being something other than the way that people seen us.

I try to think about the woman with the issue of blood.

She was known for her issue.

That is what she was known as.

But she had an encounter with Jesus, and she went from being the woman with the issue of blood to being a daughter.

I think about blind Bartimaeus, who was used to sitting out and not having sight and crying out and having people to give him hands out.

But there's that moment when he had an encounter with Jesus.

I'm no longer blind Bartimaeus, but I am Bartamaeus because now I have sight.

I think about people like, I think about people in the Old Testament who've had their names changed, people like Abram going to Abraham.

I think about people like Israel before his name was changed and he was Jacob, which meant trickster or deceiver.

There may have been people that are like, no, you were Jacob, but he had to make a decision.

No, I've had been upgraded by the person of God.

I am no longer going to respond to my past, but I've got to step into my future.

And I believe that there's many of us stepping into our future is unknown.

At least when I was broken, I knew how to function within my dysfunction.

But when God begins to call me into something greater, it requires faith.

But what we see with Lazarus is that he is called, even though he was dead, he comes out and it wasn't an easy endeavor.

Please understand that Lazarus was mummified.

He was wrapped up from head to toe, because that's what they did when you died back in those days.

But now Jesus called him by his name.

This man who was once bound had to get up and respond to Jesus.

Did you hear what I said?

That this man who was in bondage had to respond to Jesus.

There was nobody in the tomb with him except other dead people, but he had to respond to the fact that Jesus had called him by name.

Let's go ahead and personify this for a moment.

There may have been other dead bodies, and they may have said, Who do you think you are that you think you can get out of here?

I don't know, but I just have to respond to Jesus.

Where do you think you're going?

Why are you stepping on people's toes trying to get out of here?

I don't know where I'm going.

I'm bumping up against things, but I've got to respond to Jesus.

I'm ducked down a little bit lower because the tune would have been a little bit lower than his height, which means that he would have been in a position like this.

It's not comfortable to walk into places of freedom.

It's not comfortable to come out of bondage, but it still means that I've got to respond to Jesus.

I'm tied up right now, but I'm going to respond to Jesus.

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going to respond to Jesus.

It's not clear, but I'm going to respond to Jesus.

And what the Bible says is that Lazarus, even being tied up, even with them not knowing where he was going, but just responding to the voice of Jesus, he emerges from the place of darkness, death, and bondage into a place of life where he has an encounter with God.

Please understand me that freedom is not always easy, that responding to the word of God is not always easy, but I promise you, on the other side of that is life and life to its fullest.

Jesus tells the people around him, remove the grave clothes.

Oh, I wish I had more time to unpack that.

Again, Lazarus was not responsible for removing his own grave clothes.

The community did it for him.

Who are the people that are in your life that are willing to look at your wardrobe and say, Man, that is outdated?

You're still wearing the garments of unforgiveness when Jesus has forgiven you?

You're still wearing the garments of depression when God is giving you joy?

Are you still wearing the garments of your past when he's leading you into a future?

Who are the people in your life that are going to come into it and say, you're wearing garments that are no longer a reflection of the reality?

That's out of season.

There is a season when it was appropriate for you to wear the garments of death when you're in a tombstone.

But now you're walking in the newness of life.

And there's an expectation that you're going to change the way that you used to walk, change the way that you used to talk, change the way that you used to do things and begin to walk in the newness of life that God has provided for you for the future.

This is a challenge for us, friend, to surround ourselves with people that are willing to tell us the truth and to help us to find the new wardrobe that we have in Christ.

You may be in one of these seasons right now, but I want to encourage you right now, it is not over.

Your situation is not over.

You may have breathed your last breath, but it's not over.

The setback may be strong, but it's not over.

You may have breathed it all, but it is not over.

That God is still involved, and I believe that right now He is calling your name and saying, Come out.

It may be scary.

It may require you to have to think through what it means for the future when you've been so comfortable in the past, but it's time for you to come out.

It's not over.

I want to read this passage to you in Job 14, and we're going to close with this.

The Bible says in Job 14, verse 7 through 9, even a tree has more hope.

Job 14:7–9

If it is cut down, it will sprout and grow new branches, though its roots may have grown old in the earth and its stumps decay, that at the scent of water, it will bud and sprout new seedling.

At the scent of water, that even if something is cut down, that even in the natural world, at the scent of water, there is hope that it is going to grow.

And what I suspect there have been many of us who have been cut down, there have been many of us who have had some setbacks, but I promise you, at the scent, at the mere aroma of water, that God is not done, it is not over, He wants to birth something new in you.

You know, I think about I think about the Popeye story I told you guys about.

And I realize that I'm talking to a demographic that ranges in age.

So if you never heard of Popeye, Google it.

And I'm not talking about chicken.

But look it up.

Here's what I'll tell you.

Popeye, no matter what the circumstance was, we knew that he's gonna get in a fight with Brutus.

Now here's the thing we gotta ask ourselves.

Brutus, this bully, always was messing with Popeye.

And do we know the reason why?

Do we know the reason why?

I'm gonna I'm gonna look out here at the people that are here with me right now.

Vinny, you know the reason why, right?

Josh, you know the reason why, right?

Jen, you know the reason why, right?

I can't see her, but I believe that she knows the reason why.

She gave me a thumbs up.

We all know the reason why, it was over the girl.

It was over the girl.

And the girl's name is olive oil.

Y'all better stick with me.

I'm about to go, Vinny.

Popeye was being bullied because of the olive oil in his life.

Olive oil in scripture, it represents anointing, it represents favor, it represents power.

So Popeye was being bullied because of the olive oil in his life.

And what I truly believe is that many of us may find ourselves in scenarios where we're being bullied because of the anointing that's on our lives.

It's fascinating to me how the adversary can see the anointing on your life, but also loses the fact that the Bible declares it's the anointing that destroys the yoke.

That means that the anointing that's on the inside of you can't come on the outside of you until there's a little bit of pressing that takes forth.

Do you know that with the life of Moses, he should have been murdered as an infant?

All the opposition that he faced, but it actually activated the very thing that he was called to do.

When I look at the person of Jesus who was tried to be murdered as an infant as well, but all the opposition, even the death on a cross, it activated what his purpose ultimately was.

Instead of us believing that the adversary is all-seeing and all-knowing, I believe that we have an ignorant foe who doesn't even recognize the more pressure that he puts on you, the more anointing it activates and it actually puts him in his proper place.

I've seen so many ministries birth as a result of opposition.

I've seen so many people move forward as a result of the opposition that they face.

And what I believe for us as a church, as a community, as an individual, as a family, that we may face some opposition.

I know that we may feel like the enemy is closing in, but there's an anointing on the inside of you that will activate, that will absolutely destroy the enemy, and your pain becomes your platform to declare the goodness and power of God.

Don't you be afraid, not one moment.

Don't you believe, not for one moment, that just because you're looking at death that there is no life available for you, it is not over.

But we have a part to play in this.

You know that this entire miracle takes place in a town called Bethany.

And verse number 30 tells us that when Jesus was closing in on Bethany, that he stayed outside of the village.

Why would scripture give us that detail?

So, what the Bible tells us is that Martha comes outside of Bethany, meets Jesus, and then goes back into Bethany.

Mary does the same thing.

She comes outside of Bethany to meet Jesus, and then he goes inside of Bethany.

That seems like an insignificant detail, but let us close out with this.

You know Bethany, it means house of misery and depression.

That means that they were asking Jesus to come into their situation, but they first had to be willing to step out of it.

Are you willing to step out of your misery in order to invite Jesus to come in and bring healing?

I believe every single one of us has a step that we need to take that creates space for Jesus to step in.

And I believe that sometimes that's salvation.

I believe sometimes that's a prayer, sometimes sometimes that's forgiveness.

It takes on many forms.

And I believe that even right now the Holy Spirit is stirring all of us and recognizing and revealing to us what is the step that we need to take to get out of our misery so that Jesus can step in and bring wholeness to us.

I know that all of us have a next step.

And my prayer is that with boldness that we can step into it.

Church, I love you.

God bless you, and I believe that this Holy Spirit is working right now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Wow, what an amazing and powerful message by Pastor Keith.

I mean, how true is that that sometimes we have to step out of some things in order to step into a relationship with Jesus?

Now that may be, that may be something for one of you out there right now where you're saying, I need to step into that relationship with Jesus.

Well, don't let this moment pass you by.

Don't let another moment continue without stepping into that relationship with Jesus.

And so I'm gonna just pray a very simple prayer, however, a very powerful prayer.

And trust me when I tell you, this decision that you're making right now is the best decision you will ever make for the rest of your life.

So let's pray.

God, we love you and we praise you, God.

Thank you so much for saving my soul.

I believe you.

In fact, your word says that if we profess with our mouth and we believe in our hearts that we are saved, then we are saved.

And so in this moment, I turn away from my past and I look full on to my future.

And for that, I thank you.

And I thank you for dying on the cross for me.

Amen.

Hey, we love you so much.

And if you made that decision, text the word decide to 25101.

Again, that is decide to 25101.

Hey church, we we love you so much and we cannot wait to join you again.

Guess what?

We have new service times happening.

So 10 a.m.

next week and 8 p.m.

next week, we'll be joining you in service.

It is going to be powerful.

We are so excited and we cannot wait to join in.

But before we do that, we have communion happening.

That's right, communion.

This is where we all gather around together and we really join in and sit at the Lord's table.

So make sure you get those elements together and we'll take communion as a family.

As you look around this table, I'm pretty sure you won't it won't be beyond you to recognize that there's many different people that are sitting here.

And what I imagine is those moments where Jesus was sitting with his disciples, recognizing that he had people who had different belief systems, different backgrounds, different journeys, and yet somehow when he was at the center of the table, they were all able to be there together.

You know, the first century church and in the early church, they had these powerful moments where they would gather together every time and they would take communion together.

And I want us to get a visual of this.

There would be a Roman centurion there sitting with a Greek scholar, that Greek scholar sitting right directly next to a Jewish person, a Jewish person sitting next to a person who had just been delivered from varying demonic spirits, but they were all sitting at the table together.

This could have never happened if it wasn't for the precious sacrifice of Jesus.

The thing that I want us to understand is that even though we may be in a season or in a culture in a world where there's a little bit of division and we're trying to figure it all out, not only does the broken body of Christ and his shed blood reconcile us to him, but it also reconciles us with one another.

It's the ministry of reconciliation.

So you at your homes, you may have a whole lot of things going on, you may have little ones around you.

But what I want us to do is I want us all together as a family, as a demonstration of showing.

Not only are we reconciled to Christ, but we're also reconciled to one another.

If you have your communion elements, I want to invite you to go ahead and grab a hold of those.

Me and our family members here, we're going to partake of communion all together.

So as you're getting your elements, I'm going to go ahead and get the bread and break it, and we're going to distribute it here, and then we're all going to take it all together, believing that this is going to be a powerful demonstration that's going to be incredibly transformative.

So I'm going to take this bread here.

And we know that Jesus, his body was broken on behalf of his people.

So this is a symbolic gesture of the broken body of Christ that makes us all whole.

So what I want to do now is I'm going to pass it down to our family members here and ask you to just go ahead and break off a piece for yourself.

He said that this is my body that was broken for you.

I want us all to grab a hold of our bread or whatever it is that we could grab a hold of, recognizing that the body of Christ was broken so that we can be made whole.

His broken body, as the Bible declares, that by his stripes we are healed.

That means that we can heal not only the sickness of that's going on inside of our own bodies, but it also means that it can cure the sickness of racism and division and all the other things that are perpetuated in this society.

So as a family, as a community, I want to ask us all to take this bread, recognizing that we are reconciled to Christ, but we're also reconciled to one another.

Let's take the bread and eat.

That means that regardless of whatever the pain points may be, regardless of whatever brokenness that we may have walked through, it's the shed blood of Jesus that gives us access to the throne of grace.

With his disciples, he said, I want you to take this and remember that my shed blood gives you access to my presence.

You're reconciled to me, but you're also reconciled to one another.

So as a family, I'm going to ask that all let us take this drink together.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for the broken body of Christ.

We recognize that by his stripes we are made whole.

We are healed.

So in this moment, God, as a family, as a community, we are demonstrating, Father, that we are in unison and connected to you.

Father, your prayer to us was simply this through the person of Christ.

You said, allow them to be one as you and I are one.

So Father, I pray for oneness in your body.

God, I pray that we can recognize that through the broken body of Christ, that you can heal our land, heal our land of division, divisiveness, God, heal our land.

But Father, we also recognize the shed blood of Jesus.

That is through that, Father, we have undiscriminate anything, there's nothing that can hold us back from the throne of grace.

So Father, we take this as a family, recognizing and celebrating the finished work of Christ, recognizing that the things that sought to divide us, God, can no longer keep us because we're reconciled to you, but we're also reconciled to one another.

So, Father, as a family and as a community, we're grateful for what you've modeled for us because it allows us to demonstrate it here on earth, on earth as it is in heaven.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening.

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