← ONE | A Potter's House Church
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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from One in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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I'm gonna have y' all sit just because this is a lot of Bible. Amen. But we gonna read it. Amen. We're gonna be reading out of John, chapter 11, and I'm gonna be reading unto your hearing several verses because it's important for you to understand the story. See, sometimes as a preacher and as a minister, there are certain passages where you can choose two to three verses. But what I have found is that we sometimes, particularly in this store, would do it at the expense of. Of the story that God is trying to teach us. And if we miss out on certain points in that story, you miss out on certain plot points and indicators in your own. And so it's important to have the full context. So I'm going to read and we're gonna jump right in. Amen. Musicians, stay with me. In Jesus name, it says now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, and her sister Martha. It was Martha that anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him. Thank God for women who will send after Jesus. Amen. Footnote and thank you for the men who need Jesus and are willing to cry out as well. And it said, saying, lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. This is not just somebody that is randomly asking for you, no, Jesus, you know this person. But what ends up happening is when he said, therefore. Okay, there it is. Yes, that was sick. When Jesus had heard this, he said, the 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 when he had Heard therefore that he was sick. He abode. Another translation is, he waited two days and still in the same place where he sleepeth. There's an emergency. I need the Jesus ambulance. I was going to call it a jambulence, like, I'm in my. I'm in my dad joke phase of life. It's horrible. It's really horrendous. I need your help. It's really painful. But have you ever cried out to God and said, I need you yesterday, I need you now. But then two more days pass. In other words, he sits on the prayer and the request that you have in a moment in which you need him. I just want you to hold that. We're gonna get to that today. But it says, he abode two days where he was. These things, said he. And after that, he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. So he's talking to his disciples, but I go that I may awake him out of his sleep. Then the disciples, being super basic, said, lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. In other words, he needs a nap. That's not what we're talking about. But how be it? Jesus spake of his death, but that. But they thought that he was speaking of him taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, lazarus is dead. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Martha sat still. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give thee. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know he shall rise again in the resurrection. In other words, I know that he's, you know, in the by and by, that something's gonna change. See, she went from a place of grief to a place of religion. Hmm. Footnote. Sometimes the trauma response that we have to a loss that we have is to lean into religion rather than to be in the presence of Jesus with relationship. And God is saying to you that there's a natural circumstance and a natural transformation that's gonna take place. But because I'm so hurt, I can't see or acknowledge even what you're saying. Because the truth of the matter for some of you in this room is God has been speaking to you specifically about your circumstance, but you're religizing it because that's the only language that your heart can hold. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection. Ah. And the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? In other words, do you believe this? She said, yeah, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which has come into the world. Then Mary, almost done, was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. This is the sister saying unto him, lord, if thou had been here, my brother would not be dead. Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping. They came with her. He groaned in his spirit and was troubled and said, where have they laid him? God will always pause and invite you in a moment of great loss to the place where you experience the loss. God will always pause in your pain to acknowledge it, but also to direct it. See, in psychological terms, we call this spiraling. If you're not careful where you stay in this loop in this loop in this loop of grief. And God is saying, I want you to come out of the tornado of confusion that the enemy wants to say you in. Because I can do two things at once. I can acknowledge your pain, but then I can speak to my promise. I can acknowledge your pain and then address my purpose in it. But he says, take me to where you have laid him. They said unto him, the Lord, come and see. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. In other words, they interpreted his pain as love. We'll deal with that in a little bit. And some said to him, could not this man have opened the eyes of the blind, have caused this man that she had not that he should not abide? In other words, dude, you have this power over here. Why doesn't it apply over there? That's called doubt. Amen. We'll leave that there. Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the stone. In other words, I need you to remove the block for the thing that you buried. In other words, there are some things that we experience in life where, if we're honest, we don't deal with it. We just bury it. We're gonna thank God PDA is a therapist. Cause we gonna have to unpack some things later on. In Jesus name. But Martha, the sister of him that was dead, say unto him, lord, by this time he stinketh. In other words, it took so long for you to get here that it's rotten. In other words, there's nothing to see. Let's just deal with this together. You're here now. Let's cry with you. But. But Jesus had a different plan. For he that hath been dead for four days, Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee. If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. In other words, it's not over. And if that's the only thing and you gotta go to work and leave right now, that's your word. It's not over. They took away the stone from the place where he laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father, I thank thee that thou has heard me. And I know that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said, in other words, God, we got an understanding. What I'm about to say ain't even for me. It's for them. There are some sounds and things that God will speak not because he needs to, but because he wants you to hear it. He loves you that much that he will visit his voice upon you such that you can believe that this is not arbitrary, that this directly comes from Jesus. And God is saying to you that I'm gonna be speaking to your sit in a way that is direct. I'm going to be speaking to your circumstance in a way that does not necessarily confirm my power. It confers my compassion. I know thou hearest me that they may believe and that you have sent me. And when he had spoken that to God, he cried with a loud voice, lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. Sometimes God will revive a situation, but it's still bound up. It ain't fully loosed yet, but at least it's back to life. Because there's a process to being able to be loose. And his face came and was bound with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto him, because God is thorough, loose him and let him go. I want to speak to you today from the thought. It's time to live again. It's time to live again. Let us pray. Spirit of the living God, I thank you for the opportunity to speak and declare your word. I pray, Father God, that you would illuminate your text such that we can receive revelation and be able to search the unsearchable riches of Christ through this time, through this moment, God, I pray that you would allow me to shrink back and let your word to step forward. All of you and none of me, Lord, in Jesus name. And we all said, amen. Amen. We're going to go to work today, but before we do so, I as you get Older. Your hairline continues to recede. Some of you, not all of you, brother, you look blessed. It's not fair. I'm looking at you. You know, I'm talking to you. It's not fair. Yeah, it's fine. Just look away in humility. This is not glory. This is a reflection of my forehead. As you reflect on your life, you begin to experience different things through hindsight. You see, I had the privilege of growing up in a neighborhood, in a community where there were different types of cultures. And one of the cultures that I grew up with was Jewish culture. You see, my neighbors, the Brandt Fennell family, I call their. Have you ever had parents? You know, like, you have friends who become like family and people like, that's your brother. It's like, not my brother, brother, but, like, that's my brother. Like, it's confusing. You know what I mean? Friends who become family and you call their mom, you know, mom, and so on and so forth. This is very similar for me. And so I grew up having a different understanding and experience of Jewish culture, which impacts my theology, because I didn't just read about Passover, I participated in it. I didn't just read about the seders and the high holidays. I got to experience them. And what's really interesting is many Jewish theologians, when you think about creation. See, we read the Bible and the Torah and the Tanakh, but in different Jewish traditions, they actually sing it. That's how sometimes they're able to memorize scriptures in psalms. It becomes a song, quite literally. There are different theologians that talk about how when God created the heavens and the earth, that he didn't speak it. It was words, but it came out as a song. Can you imagine God singing creation? See, there's a different passion that I have around music because of this, because there's a different understanding and revelation that we have around the power of music. Some of you in this room are artists and singers and composers, and you understand the power of this. And one of the things that I love about music is symphonies. A little bit. You know, I don't know if that's nerdy. You know, there's a lot of things. I've just come to terms. It's a little bit. Yes, Just. Okay. Just a little bit nerdy. Amen. Jesus. I'm not going to talk about the pants that I had with the crease in them. It was really terrible. A lot of trauma, a lot of therapy. But the point is, when we understand symphonies, for those of you who are classically trained, there are three but up to four different movements that you begin to see in a symphony. There's the first movement, which is allegro. There's the second one, which is andante. There's the third one, which is the trio or the scherzo, or there's the fourth one, which is presto or rondo. And I want to look at this passage through the lens of a symphony, because there's different movements that take place. There are some that are very exciting, and then, in contrast, there are some that are very low. There are some that finish with great confusion. And then there's the final movement, which leads you with a feeling of resolve in the peace that you experience. I cite this because your life is the same way. We experience different movements of life. Moments where it's very exciting and other times where it's very low, other times where we do not understand how all of this composed together could write the story that God wants to write in my life. And if we're honest, some things in life feel disjointed. But I hear God saying, there's a harmony that is coming. You see what ends up happening in this passage of Scripture. And it's very important to understand the context is we come to John chapter 11, which is widely accepted to have taken place in 33 A.D. the reason why this is relevant is because Jesus literally splits history. There's BC which is before Christ, and then there's AD which is after Christ. And Jesus died when he was 33 years old. We are in year 33, which means this is the year that Jesus dies. We come to a moment where we are present with the last moments of Jesus in the form that we have come to know him. And it's really important because albeit the three years of ministry, what we begin to see and understand is that Jesus moved in power. Mm. Jesus was not the only rabbi at the time, but he was one of the only rabbis who was moving with power. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Have you ever had somebody who had the title but not the authority? Mm. Have you ever had somebody who was in the position but didn't have the power? And the problem is, you step into the place, and though you don't have the title, you've got the grace, and they don't like you because you have something that their title, but not their suffering purchased. See, there's an anointing that is on you. See, there's a challenge when you're walking with authority and anointing, because when you walk into certain places in spirit that God has given you authority. Over people who lack the authority that is from God. See the authority that is on you, and then become aware of the authority that's not on them. And there's what we call jealousy. Jesus dealt with a lot of jealousy. Uh huh. See, what ended up happening is Jesus would do so many different miracles that in the early part of his ministry, he would quite literally say, don't tell nobody. That's not how Jesus said it. That was. That was. I had a little flavor on that. But Jesus in so many different words, would say, don't speak of this. In other words, don't speak of this. Because then Jesus would also say, it is not the appointed time because Jesus still had more work to do. But we come to this passage where Jesus, towards the end of it, says nothing about. Don't say nothing. Because the time had come. The challenge some of you are facing in your life is that your time has come, that there's a shift and big moves that are taking place in the calling that you have. And if you're not careful, you do not recognize that because you don't have the title, the pay, or other superficial things, that suddenly you are misreading the authority and the anointing and the power that God has called you to have. See, David was an anointed king before he was appointed. There's a distinction between the anointing and the appointing and the delta between. That is what you have to navigate. Well, because as pt, our founder, says, you can't give up before you grow up. The challenge that some of you will face in that is you're walking with authorities. What if some of the things that you're facing have nothing to do with who you are as a person? Maybe the way that you said something, it has everything to do with just the authority that's on your life. And Jesus struggled with that because that was the challenge that he was dealing with. And we come to the text in a moment where history is being impacted because you have. I'm gonna walk carefully here. You have a high priest and a group of high priests that are torn and split between their loyalties. Mm. This is what happens when you have people with religious title but interested in political affairs. You start getting into what we would call in the old church in the Bible, strange fire. Mm. Because what ends up happening is the high priest, Caiaphas in particular has the title of high priest, but really what he is is just an ambassador for Rome. He has a tension around where his loyalties are because he's trying to preserve the interests of his people, while also protecting the state. And there's a difference between having loyalty to the kingdom and a nation. I love this country, God bless it. But the kingdom of God always comes first. The kingdom of heaven always takes over anything red, white and blue. I am not for the elephant or for the donkey. I am for the lion and the lamb. And when you have a conflict that you use your spiritual appointment to speak to natural issues as if you have divine authority, as if God came here to be some prelate as opposed to Christ the King. But what happened in that context is they don't like Jesus who's bringing the kingdom because it interferes with their territory. They don't like Jesus who's bringing miracles because it exposes both their faulty theology and their divided interests. I'm gonna leave that there. Point is, we come to a moment where Jesus is being requested. Jesus, the one you love, is sick. They even go so far as to say, lazarus, the one you love is sick. Now, when I initially read this, I thought this was like, you know, if you don't read this properly, you can kind of think that's manipulative. You know what I mean? It's like your homeboy, you know, your friend, like, he's sick like the one thou lovest. That's not the case because when you study the text, Lazarus was actually a popular name at the time. So in my view, these sisters who have relationship with Jesus knew that they maybe should speak more specifically about the Lazarus that they were sending after. Uh huh. Jesus knows you by name. I want that to sit because for somebody who has not experienced that personally, oh, it's coming. And that day is here. If you would receive it and welcome it with open arms. Insofar as understanding that he knows my name, that he's not some distant Jesus off somewhere in the distance, that he in fact cares deeply and intimately about the issues that I am experiencing right now. But what ends up happening is Jesus hears that Lazarus, whom he loves, you know, homeboy. Amen, friend, compadre. He hears this and the Bible says that he abodes, which is old school King James language or chills. That's my generation. I don't know what y'. All. What do y'. All. We won't go there. That's fine. I'm not. I heard clock. And I was like, what's the time? The point is, again, dad jokes. What ends up happening is Jesus lingers for two days. Mm. Now here's the thing that I want to point out. Jesus in verse 4 says, When he first finds the news that this will not result in death. Jesus hears the problem, issues the response in the promise, and then sits. I want to challenge you in your walk with God, if you're honest. There are some situations that catch us off guard. Mm. But by and large, in different moments, when you look back, God kind of gave you a word for that situation that you're going to be in. If you pause and really reflect, God will send you a heads up on some things. Mm. He'll let you know that something's coming. The problem that we have, however, is we don't want to hear it. Mute psych. Or the best thing that most of us do. And the most common thing that we do is we hear what we wanna hear, not what he said. You see, Jesus said that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. They got the message and they're like, oh, he's not gonna die. I'm not mocking that. Have you ever received a word from the Lord? You're like, oh, this is the solution. Thank you, Jesus. You know, you have a Prince of Egypt moment. You know, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. Everybody comes out Israel Gray. You start spinning around and things feel real good. The problem is in our humanity. Our brains are hardwired to fill in the gaps with knowledge because we don't have capacity for revelation. Ha ha. And God has spoken to some of you about your situation and about what he's doing. But you've already arrived to a particular outcome. And for some of you, I want to brace you for this so that way you can understand the move that takes place on the other side of this. When we determine how God is going to move and the result that it should have. You are playing spiritual Minecraft. Go with me. I have an 8 year old Jesus. Sorry. I love her dearly, but if I see one more like block something, I'mma be triggered on the block. Okay? But the point is, what ends up happening is in Minecraft, you can create your own world. Yes, you can. And in our own minds, have you ever created your own world. The breakup doesn't hurt because he was that good. The breakup hurts because you created the dress, the honeymoon, the name of the kids, the places you would live, what the baby's first name would be. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being real. The trauma that some of you are facing is there's a bulldozer that comes and hits all of the things that we built in our own mind because we speak and think in terms of filling the gaps for God rather than creating space, leaving space for revelation. And this is a hard saying, but there's a spiritual maturity that we must walk in here at 1. Because in order to be sent, there's an understanding that we must have because we can actually prepare ourselves to not be disappointed. Not because we don't create anything so much as we're mindful of the things that we do and leave room for mystery. But the problem in the text is they assume that what Jesus meant is that he was going to fix the problem, he gonna get better, one of two things. He'll come and do it or he'll send a word. But the problem is, have you ever been in a situation where you know that God received the word, that God heard the word? You heard my prayer, I felt you there. You heard it. You even responded. Where you at, though? You know? D'oh. It's doh. It's an eclectic term. Oh, God. But I'm sorry. Eclectic. Not eclectic, you know, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Too soon. Too soon. I love him. He's a man of God. I love him. Point is, what happens is Jesus sits for two more days because there's glory attached to the miracle. The challenge that most of us have is we don't understand glory. We understand outcomes, we understand results, we understand things that we can hold. But because if we're honest, we have to be careful. There's a tension in our theology which suggests in different moments, and all of us are guilty of this. There's certain things that you can do that you do for me, because it's about my expectations, it's about my needs, it's about my proximity, it's about my relationship with you. And the challenge that most of us experience is we get to a place in God where there's things that he's done for us, there's fellowship that we've had, but there's some glory moments that necessitate a different kind of dynamic, that necessitate a different kind of experience. And the problem that we have in those moments is we forget about the word that God spoke at the time that he spoke it. And we get lost in the disappointment of everything that we have not seen him do, knowing that he responds. It's different when you don't have relationship with Jesus, when you were in a season of your life where you did not operate and know God. If we're honest, we really didn't have many expectations. Actually, I had that one coming. Some of us had a different kind of Philosophy. But when you start to walk in relationship with Jesus and he disappoints you, that hits a little different. See, I have a best friend. His name is Blake Olson. I call him Balake for obvious reasons. His middle name is Aaron. It's even better. It's Balake a a Ron. It's amazing. It's so fantastic. I was like, thank you. If I call my friend and I say, I need you to pull up in Jesus name for spiritual reasons, some of y' all got triggered. This is not a spirit of Nuck. A few buckilations. This is not that. Okay? But if your friend is called upon and you need them and they don't show up, you question the relationship. Respectfully. Don't pull up on either one of these two in this front row. Don't do it. I'm 220, and I like to have some fun. Okay? Amen. Don't do it. I'll pray for you. Lay hands. But, you know, and then we pray after, like, you know, good morning. How you doing? Wake up. Like, you know, the video where they come. Point is, if we're honest, we have this relationship with Jesus where I know you, I've sat at your feet, I've worshiped you, I've been present. I know your teaching, I know your ways, and you're still not here. And not only am I hurt, but I'm sitting here watching the effects of your absence. See, the Bible doesn't begin to annotate this portion of the story, but I feel a pregnant pause here to sit here with you all in this space, because some of y' all are looking at the thing. Die. You're looking at your business. Die. You're looking at the relationship. Die. You're looking at the opportunity. Die. You're looking at family members who are struggling, situations that are real hard. And you're wondering when God is going to move. See, it's a really hard thing when you have to observe the suffering, every last breath that Lazarus was taking. And they're like, he's gonna be here. He's gonna be here looking out the window. They're looking at the lattice, looking for Jesus to come. But what ends up happening is he doesn't move fast enough. As we begin to wrap and kind of transition. See, the first move that we see is allegro, which is a fast and dramatic thing we see about the issues that come. And Jesus, we need you. Jesus, we need you to come. But then the symphony shifts to andante, which is a moderate response that produces contrast. The challenge Is we assume, because God can, He should. Mm. Mm. Most of us, if we're honest, we confuse God's capacity with his timing. Just because God can doesn't mean that he should. And it doesn't necessarily mean that he should, particularly at the time that you think he should do it. And somebody in this room and watching online, you are in a moment where you are waiting, and the enemy has said so many things to you in the course of your waiting to discourage you, to try to make you disconnect from Jesus. And he always attacks. The enemy always attacks with what did God say? There's a word that some of you have been holding on since you were children. Mm. There's a word that you have been. That was released over your life, that you've been holding onto. And God is. And God is not moving fast enough. And you're in a space where you're starting to question what you heard, and you're fighting for that word. I want you to understand that Mary and Martha were in the exact same place. And here's the thing. No matter how discouraged you are, even if it fails and it crashes, the. The God of our salvation has the power to bring it back to life. Hallelujah. You see, the challenge was when the sisters encountered Jesus. Mary assumed that Jesus presence at the time of the problem would produce the promise. Have you ever invited God into a situation and you assume that his presence equals solution? Conversely, his absence communicates that it won't be fixed. See, there's many challenges that we experience in life, but the thing that we have to understand is there's something powerful about what God does in the interim. See, Jesus waits two more days. That still feels rude. I'm just gonna process that my own myself. He's like, word great, sits for 48 hours and then comes after Lazarus had been buried for four days. The reason why this is significant, and some of you know this, some of you don't. In different Jewish traditions, again, the way that I grew up, you understand that there's a perspective and a theology that was held by some at that time where they believed the spirit of a person would hover for three more days. So I want to bring you into this moment. Imagine being Mary and Martha, and you see that your brother has died, but it's day one, and you're still looking for Jesus, and his spirit is still kind of maybe hovering in the space. And you know that God is able to do it because Jesus had already performed two resurrections. Resurrection was not a new thing for Jesus. The Difference with this one is how long it was taking. Mm. Uh huh. See, he had raised somebody from the dead. So day one, they're waiting for Jesus. Day two, they're waiting for Jesus and they're anxious and they're watching the sunrise and the sunset. Have you ever been in a season where you are so anxious and so overwhelmed and so completely. Mm. Where you are in a situation where, for all intents and purposes, literally every second feels like a lifetime, where every gap and absence, every text message you're hoping is the one that you need for breakthrough, where you're trying to figure out how you're gonna pay the bill, where the bab is sick, but you're not sure if you can take them to the hospital, where you're trying to navigate the fact that your car no longer starts, but you still gotta go to work. Have you ever been in a situation where God brings you down to a place where it feels like there is no hope, but you're still holding on to hope, but then you hit rock bottom and there's absolutely no hope? Day three becomes day four and somebody in this room, you have accepted the results. Mm. If you're honest, you still believe in Jesus, but you've accepted the results of the situation being lost. You've accepted it being gone, you've accepted it being over. You're now actually in the process of trying to grieve. You're going through the six stages and you're trying to manage that while also still maintaining your faith. And God is saying to you that there's something that I'm going to do in your life to revive something that you thought was gone. And God says, I just need a flicker of hope. I just need you to lean into a moment where I say to you, do you believe that I can do this? And God is asking somebody in this room, do you believe that I can do this? Do you believe that I am the resurrection? Do you believe that I am the life? Do you believe that this thing can specifically be brought back? Do you believe that there's no limitations? Do you believe that exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you think, can ask or imagine that there's a power and not a limitation around your understanding because you're no longer filling in the gaps with your imagination. You're creating space for revelation. You see, God did something really incredible in this space. You see, resurrection, as I said, was not new. The difference was same God, same power, same results. But the timeline may vary. As we begin to wrap today, I want to ask you Some questions, but I want to pose some different thoughts to you. You see, Jesus speaks to Lazarus and he says, lazarus, come forth. Question. What's the thing that you need to name and tell come forth. And I mean name. See, the challenge with some of us is when we're in a place of discouragement, we lean into religion and it's God, whatever you want to do. And that's not a bad thing. Hear me? That's wonderful that you open it up. But if you're honest, there's actually some spiritual self protection underneath that. Mm. Because I don't wanna be vulnerable about the thing that I actually wanted you to do. Mm. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We've, we've found the room. See, vulnerability is some of your biggest struggle in this season right now. Because you're here but you're not there. You're not available to God and if you're honest, you're too scared to tell him the things that you want because you're too afraid to be disappointed like the last time. And so you shrink back into a younger version of yourself that had to self protect because nobody was listening. No was available, nobody cared in the way that you needed at the time. And if you're not, if you're honest with yourself, you've regressed into a maladaptive self protective behavior because you're an adult right now, paying taxes, but you're really six years old and you're struck and you're frozen in this place, in this experience that you had because at the end of the day, you love God, but you don't trust God. You love God and you trust Jesus and you're close to him, but you're not willing to be close enough to give him your disappointments. And the challenge with not offering God your disappointments is the devil's right there, willing to receive them too. To commiserate with you. To say that God isn't faithful, that God doesn't love you, that God turned his back on you, that matter of fact, there's some people that he loves, but then there's some people that he really doesn't love. Isn't it interesting that they described him as the man that Jesus loves, But God acts in a way that comes across as unloving. And if you're not careful, you will confuse the state of your circumstance with the glory of God and miss out on the fact that his love can hold tension in both places. You can be going down and God still love you. You can be in a place where there's death and there's destruction. And God can still love you. You can still be suffering, but God still loves you because his love for us is unconditional. Beloved, why would we condition our love about our circumstances? God is growing some of you up because the word that he spoke over your life. If you do not have the maturity to understand that his love for you supersedes your circumstance, the weight of the promise would make your knees buckle. You would crash underneath the weight. Because you haven't established a foundation that is greater than your circumstance and the things that you are experiencing. Because God has to be somebody that is far greater than your feelings. And I mean that in the way where you can still, like the sisters, come to Jesus and say, lord, if you had been here, see the space that creates for love with Jesus. You see the space that God gives, the safety that God offers. They roll up on Jesus and literally say, with an attitude, dude, if you would have been here, it's too late. But then Jesus asked them a question. He says, do you believe? Do you believe that it's time to live again? It's time to live again. It's time to live again. I know you're disappointed, brother. I know you, you're upset. I know I'm speaking to the men specifically, and I'll switch the I know man of God that you wish you were further along. I know that the society is telling you that if you're not six foot, six figures, all the weird stuff, that you are nothing. And then we start discussing this in our own communities and we bring in the toxicity and the dysfunction, the brokenness of people in the world who are not referencing scripture but are referencing their trauma and made it their own gospel. And then we put that perversion on men who are called, far be it from sisters. I'm telling you, not as a warning, but understanding that culture is not helping either one of us. It's telling men that women are after this. It's telling women that men are after this. But when we think about God's resurrection, power and his authority and who he is, see what ends up happening is these women stand in the gap for a man, their brother. And I'm so thankful for women who stand in the gap. I'm thankful for women who, when they don't know what else to do, they cry out for Jesus. I'm so thankful for women that understand that that's the first place that you should go. I'm so thankful for women that don't post and do all this dramatic stuff but seek first the Kingdom of God that rise up and are called blessed. And I'm so grateful for. For men who are willing to step forth after being resurrected, to untangle some of that trauma, to untangle some of the things that you've experienced, to walk in resurrection power. You see, this thing is so powerful because before there was a problem that had fully gotten worse, there was a word. And I want you to pause there and ask yourself, is there a word that God gave me before all of this? I need you to sit with that when you leave today. That is your homework. And I promise you. Thank you, Holy Spirit. If you are obedient, there's healing in the awareness that God sent you a word. There's healing not just that God will do it, but there's healing in that he loved you enough to talk to you, that he loved you enough to warn you. Before the Israelites were sent into Egypt, he literally said that there was going to be 400 years of slavery. Read it in your Bible. On a personal note, before my father passed away last year, God gave me a word five months before his passing that it was going to happen. If we're sensitive, he's speaking, he gives us a warning. But the most important thing that I want to deal with today before we do our altar call, is this perspective around why Jesus wept. I've heard, Lord, if you've been in church any number of years, if you were a kid, you know, Sister Claudina, you had to pick something like. Not that Claudine's an old name. It's a wonderful name. Your name is Claudine. I don't mean anything by that, Gertrude. You know, some. One of them. You know, them praying women wear a white. Okay, I'm with it. I grew up in that church. That's my tradition. She would ask you, what's your favorite Bible verse? The easiest verse for you to say, Jesus wept and walk away. You did your homework. But it's two words. But I grew up with Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus. I listened to this passage no short of a hundred times. Read it no short of a hundred times, which is kind of, as I think about it. I'm like, lord, maybe I need to reflect on that. And the reason why is because I would listen to it. And I said, lord, I've heard this passage. And he said, listen again. And I said, lord, I've heard this passage. Listen again. In other words, take a lap. I'm an athlete, like, you know, take a lap. You know, I don't know why this. Like this Spin move. But some of us are taking spiritual laps because we're not listening. We're listening with our heads. But because of our disappointments, our hearts are not available. And what ends up happening is we miss the revelation about lap 99. You know what God said to me in the Holy Spirit? He said, do you know what happens to Jesus after this moment? The next passage talks about the high priests who were told by people who were in the audience about Lazarus resurrection on the fourth day. Because the high priests were able to kind of get a pass because of the fact that it's oh, well, he resurrected and the spirit was still kind of hovering. But because of the glory attached to this moment, that's why he waited, beloved. He wanted to leave no doubt concerning his power. He wanted to leave no doubt in the life of Lazarus. And I want you to understand right now, in2026, he wants to leave no doubt in your mind. Could it be that he allowed Lazarus situation to get so bad that even 2,000 years later, we're able to look back at a circumstance and there's no explanation other than the love of God and the power of God, that he is the resurrection, that he is the life and the light and the way and the truth. Because you live long enough, God's gonna have to revive something. You live long enough, God's gonna have to resurrect some something. You live long enough, God is going to have to pull you from your grave clothes. We call it sanctification, where you step into a place where the thing that took you down is now. The things that's bringing you back up, but it no longer serves you. So you got to unwrap this. You got to unpack this. That's why you are called to one. That's why you are here. But can I share with you something briefly so I want to be mindful of time? I believe that Jesus wept because he knew that he loved Lazarus. Yes. But I also believe that he wept because he knew that as he was walking towards Lazarus tomb, he was really walking towards his cross. That this act of obedience would be the final act for the symphony of his life. That he knew that it had come to a climax where there was no more places where he could run because there was the appointed time? Could it be that Jesus was weeping because he understood that to raise Lazarus would be to seal his fate? And in the humanity of Jesus, he felt it deep down in his spirit. Because he was 100% man and 100% God. He knew that this was not only an act love that it was an act of obedience. God is doing things in your life not because he just loves you any more than we should do things for God just because we love him. There are some things, beloved, that God is going to call you to do in the season out of obedience because there's resurrection power on the inside of your obedience. What if the challenges and the difficulties that you're facing, man of God, have nothing to do with you? But that's your father's devil, your grandfather's devil. But there's somebody that God is causing to raise up and to resurrect the calling, the family name, the family lineage, that you will be different than the father that you came from or didn't come from, that you'd be different from the household, that you would be different and step out into the calling. Young woman of God. Woman of God. What if the thing that you're dealing with really has nothing to do necessarily with you, but it's something that he's raising up because you said, lord, I'm willing, I believe this thing. I want to do an altar call moment for those people who know Jesus. And you sent for him, you asked for him, and the situation went from bad to worse. You're one of the people who didn't believe in God at all. And you had a moment and you had an encounter and you received the spirit of God. And that's undeniable. But your life got worse, harder, more difficult. You lost your friends, you lost the relationship, you lost the job, you lost the identity. You lost something in following Jesus. But I feel compelled to tell you that your loss was gain. You just don't see it yet because you're looking at the loss, not recognizing the life that stands before you, asking you, do you believe? And the beautiful thing about that is you don't have to do anything. You just have to trust something. And that something is Jesus. I want to call the next group of folks and you can come to the altar as you feel compelled. Those who God is saying, it's time to live again. It's I'm going to invite Jesus back into the tomb. I'm going to invite Jesus back into the space. I'm gonna invite him into the disappointment. I'm gonna invite him into the journal that I put away. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I literally saw that for somebody, somebody had a journal that you were writing visions and dreams onto, and you put it away. No longer relevant, no longer matters. No longer something you're believing in. You're in Relationship. But you're not walking in revelation. I see you, brother. I see you. Hallelujah. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. God sees you. It's time to live again. It's time to live again. For those of you who are watching online, God is saying, it's time to live again. It's time to believe again. It's time to trust again. It's time to surrender again. It's time to invite God into the space of our emotions and our soul. That affords us the ability to see that he sees, to know that he cares. And not only does God have care, I love people who care. I'm thankful for people who can change what I need change in order for something to take place. And that is Jesus. He is the resurrection. He is the life. The last group that I want to invite are people that haven't met Jesus that much like in the text. You were around the resurrection, but you haven't participated in it yourself. And I don't judge you. See, I grew up in a. My dad was, you know, an ordained minister. My mom had a different kind of perspective. She was Unitarian Universalist. So I'm familiar with some of you who may have grown up in different kind of faith contexts or no faith context. You think of the universe as a divine being as opposed to something that God divinely created. You think of created things as things that have created power. This is not this space. We don't judge that. You're giving your holy affection to things that are unfit for the worship and adoration that you're trying to put upon them. You were built to worship. You're just worshiping the wrong thing. Jesus is calling. Jesus is calling. Jesus is calling. I want us to pray into this moment twofold spirit of the living God. You would not have preached a message like this if there was not resurrection power. God, I thank you for your son, Jesus the Christ. I thank you that he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. The things that we endure as suffering are things that better equip us to walk in a calling, not convenience. God, I pray in the name of Jesus for everybody around this stage and those who. Those who are joining us online. Father, I thank you, Holy Spirit, for your transformational power and your transformational authority. God, I pray in the name of Jesus. I just. I see for some of you, this is a quiet moment with you and Jesus where it's like a child you're holding in your hand the thing that you were most disappointed about. The trauma and you're just offering it to him. I want you to offer those things to him. I want you to give it to him because his hands are too capable to fail you. But you have to be vulnerable and allow God to see. God, that hurt me. God, I sent for you and it didn't show up. God, I cried out to you and you didn't hear my voice. God, I sought after you. I applied, I did the thing, I was obedient and things got worse. And, God, I need you to show up. Jesus says, do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe? For those of you who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Lord has a different meaning than Savior. See, Savior acknowledges that he died a sinless death, that he was buried and then resurrected. It commemorates that. But Lordship, Hallelujah is the season that some of you are walking into where he governs your decisions, where he's in the driver's seat of your life. I want you to pray this prayer. Father God, I come to you now confessing. I need you, Lord, I believe in your son, Jesus Christ. I believe that he lived, that he was crucified, that he was buried and that he was resurrected for my sins and for the world. And I believe that he got up with all power in his hands, that Jesus is Lord of my life and over this earth. God, I pray to receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit. Fill me now. Fill me. Holy Ghost, I welcome you into my heart. I thank you for this free gift of salvation and of the Holy Spirit. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you, family. God bless you.
- [53:29]
B
Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's blessing people for over two decades and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast. You can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Ture Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.