Something In Between

Published Apr 1, 2024, 12:50 AM

Jesus can meet you in between.

In “Something In Between,” Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that we serve a Savior who is greater than the guilt, grief, or grave that can keep us separated from God.

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Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You can feel it right. God is up to something today. Hey, welcome Happy Resurrection Sunday. Everybody all over the world. We greet you in the name of Jesus, the name above every name, Jesus who is seated at the right hand of God, Jesus who was laid down in grief and awoke holding keys. May he unlock prison doors in your life today. We believe He's going to do something awesome. Tell your neighbor, I believe God is gonna not going to gonna do something awesome in your life today, spectacular in your life today, mind blowing in your life today. And now look at him and say mine too. I'm getting in on this. Another stone is rolling right now? Is it you? Is it you he wants to call out of depression? Is that you he wants to call out of despair? I'm looking for me. God gave me a word for this Easter Sunday. This is my nineteenth Easter preaching here at Elevation Church. I would like to say, and I hope that I don't jinx it by saying this before the sermon. It's the best Easter crowd we've ever had on the Easter Sunday. Now live up to that, all right, it's a lot of pressure. Don't be acting all stuffy because Aunt Susie came to church with you today. Act how you always act. I know you will. So I want to share with you from the Resurrection account in Matthew chapter twenty eight, and offer a fresh perspective that the Lord shared with me. I think one of the greatest blessings God can give you sometimes is a fresh perspective. You know, just where you look at things different. Sometimes He changes things. Sometimes he changes the way I see things, and then things change. So the perspective on the Resurrection. You know, nineteen years of preaching this thing, you would think I knew what was in it. But God is so great and his word is so awesome. It's just the most remarkable he ever told, the most remarkable of an inhuman history that Jesus rose from the grave. But let's go back there for a moment into a flashback in Matthew chapter twenty eight. I'm going to read verses one through four for context, but my lesson really picks up at verse five. The Bible says, after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Verse five. Pay attention. The angel said to the women, do not be afraid. Really, so the guards are over here dead, These big Roman soldiers are like dead men, and the women are supposed to not be afraid. Okay. But the angel said to the women, this is this guy, this stone rolling, This is a ba right here, a big angel. I don't know what you what. Okay, it's easter, it's easter. I will think for you. The angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. I need you to say. The keyword was verse six. He is not here. He has risen. All of that already happened. All of that already happened. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you verse eight, and will stop here for now. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. I want to use as a subject for this sermon today, something in between, something in between. And would you look at your neighbor real quick and say I'm something in between. Look at your other neighbor, the one you rejected, scorned and bypassed the first time, say I'm something in between, and you may be seated. Wow, something in between. I'm so excited to pre man. I know I was excited because I was having weird dreams three in the morning, four in the morning, about four I woke up. I was dreaming about Clemson. I reckon I fell asleep when they were losing their game. They made it to the Elite eight, but then they lost. So I think that was in my subconscious and so was the excitement of like Easter and anything as possible. So in my dream, listen to this. I was at Clemson as a student, as a forty four year old man, and I was going to football practice to see if I could walk on and play. That's how excited I was. I didn't even play little league football. I've never played football in my life. That's how excited I have been to be with you. I was dreaming about Dabbo, and of course that has everything to do with Matthew twenty eight. But I'm just excited, you know. And when I get excited, I'm an extreme person. I am. I'm going to get excited about something that I'm all in. I sell everything, buy everything, sell everything, and then buy everything, buy it, and then sell it. I'm very extreme. So for me, it was a real insight to realize that everything in this text, which is about as extreme as you get angels, rolling stones, earthquakes shaking the foundation of the planet, dead men rising, that's as extreme as it gets. A crucifixion where the innocent son of God was treated as a common criminal. That's as extreme as it gets. And yet everything in the text, everybody say, and yet everything is in between. One man said, life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. And as the women are bringing their spices to anoint Jesus, he's already taken a stroll on a Sunday morning. So we love this text because everything is in between. But just reading it for the exclamation point of the resurrection misses some of the intricacy. First of all, let me give you this in a few different ways. The ministry of Jesus in Matthew chapter twenty eight is at an in between moment, in that he has already fulfilled his earthly mission, which is to save us from our sin by dying on a cross, so that everybody who puts their faith in him, and that could be you today could be saved in his name. And then after he did that, suffered a horrible death that we could not abide. He rose again with all power in his hand. He's done with that now, but he has not yet ascended to the right hand of God. So his earthly mission is complete, but his heavenly ministry, where he sits at the right hand of God, what he's doing now has not yet begun. He's in between. One thing I was tempted to skip over, but when I slowed down and read it became very important is that the Bible says it was after the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week when the ladies found the tomb of Jesus empty. So think about that. Not only was the ministry of Jesus in between, but this is an in between moment as well. The ministry is in between. The moment is in between. It's dawn, not exactly morning, it's not exactly night. It's something in between. That's why I wore this today. It's springing Charlotte, and it's not exactly cold, and it's not exactly hot. It's something so I've got coverage and ventilation. It's something in between. Graham was picking on me. I had this shirt that I thought was really cool, and I bought like fifty of them because I'm extreme, and he said, I hate tell you this because I then he got fifty. I did not get that shirt. It's not a compression shirt, and it's not fashionable. It's got a scoop neck and it's too tight, and it's not an athletic shirt you can work out in, and it's definitely not something you need to wear on stage. It's something in between. Some of y'all came to church today with your they're not exactly just your friend. Little dtr might happen in the car on the way home from elevation today. I'm here to serve you know well, no, we're not dating, but not evangelizing her either. I invited her to church with maybe some ulterior motives. There's something in between. It's dawn, it's morning, it's night. The night is losing its grip on the morning, but it is just peeking through the shades of pink. The sky is not yet blue and clear yet, it's just a little bit of it that I can see as the night relinquishes its whole. Is something in between, you see what I mean. It's a beautiful text, a beautiful text because not only is the ministry of Jesus in between, not only is the moment in between, but the messengers are in between. The messenger the angel. The Angel is not Jesus. The Angel is not God. But the Angel is not a human either. The Angel is Maybe if I preach this till Christmas, y'all will finally get my call and response Kate and say it is something in between. Put it in the chat. It's something in between. Now look at your neighbor and say, you're not an angel. Tell him, but I don't think you're a devil either. Now repeat the next line. You're something in between. I need everybody in this church that is not an angel. But you're not a devil. I'm not the best Christian in the world. I'm probably not the worst one either. I've seen how some of y'all drive with your elevation stickers on your car. I didn't know that was a worship signal when you did that one finger up in the air. Does that mean something in between? We all are pink, purple, indigold, blue, violet. I don't care what you wore in here underneath that is your flesh. And although you may be ready for heaven when you die, because Jesus Rose, don't you need him in between? Come on, don't you need him in between? Wave at me if you need him in between? I mean Lord, I appreciate one day you're coming to get me up out of here and take me to a place where there's no more tears. But there's tears here, and I need you in between. So the ministry of Jesus is in between, the messenger is in between, the moment is in between. And then you have something that the angel says to the women. And it is like these annoying parents that try to coach their kids from the bleachers. When I go to watch my kid wrestle, they'll say things to the kid that is probably the right thing to say to the kid, but it's not that easy to do when you're out there doing it. I heard one parent say to a kid who was wrestling the other day. His kid was getting beat and he said, that's the wrong move. That helps dad, Thanks, I let you know the right one. And here's the angel. Look what he says to the women. He says, don't be afraid. And that's easy for you to say. You're an angel. You're big angel, a ba a bold angel. You've been in the presence of God. You weren't there when we watched him die. You're not bound by this flesh. Don't be afraid, and the Bible gives a very, very instructive phrase. And this is where I want to teach you today. I'm gonna teach you a lesson today. If you are gonna look this good to come to church. We are going to get the most out of your outfit today and teach you something. All right, because it was crowded when you came here to Valentine today, right, and you had to fight through some things to get here. Now, I don't worry. Next week, there'll be plenty of room for everybody, So come on back. I'm probably gonna start a new series next week, an eight week series, so you should come back next week. But look what the angel said. He said, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for verse five again. Please Jesus who was crucified. He is not here where you expected him to be. He is not dead, which is the last way you saw him. He is not lying in this place anymore. He has risen just as he said. Won't he do it just like he promised? Now, come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you. Into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you verse eight. The women were full of faith and doubted nothing, and so they did what the angel instructed. Is the way this should read. If we were angels. God's got me and it doesn't matter that they're laying people off in my division because God's my provider. Is how it should read if we were angels. I know that God's going to bring my kid back, so I'm not going to spend all of my time worrying about it. I'm going to turn it over to the Lord and do the best I can. Is how it should feel if I'm an angel, And if I didn't believe in God at all, then I would have complete despair. But I believe in Him. But yet I have to be in this body, and so I'm something in between. Like the women in this passage. It says verse eight, look at this police they hurried away from the tomb. And I love this phrase because this is how I feel, afraid yet filled with joy. This is not a translation error, by the way, because most of us think like you're either gonna be afraid or filled with joy. I had somebody ask me the other day, I was going to do something that was a big deal, and they said, are you looking forward to it or are you dreading it? And I was like, are those the only two options? Because I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I'm not exactly dreading it. I'm something and it can change from moment to moment. I'm like, really grateful for this life God has given me and this influence that He gave me. And then sometimes that anticipation feels like anxiety, and sometimes my anxiety feels like anticipation. And sometimes listen to this. The difference between anticipation and anxiety is the way you label it. Some of the things in your life today. Now I'm going to talk right to where you live. Let's get away from two thousand years ago history and bring it right into your current situation that I'm saying, I'm anxious. If you look beneath the anxious feeling, there is actually a future that you are anticipating. And every time you step forward, you shake a little bit. Every time you reach for the right thing, it feels a little foreign in your hands because you've been reaching for the wrong thing. But the Bible says that you can be afraid yet filled, that you can be empty in your energy and filled with God's spirit. That you can be empty and not know the solution of how this is going to work out, but yet somehow have complete confidence that He who began, he who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it. Somebody say, I'm yet filled. I like the way that felt when I said it. I'm yet filled. I don't have all the money I need to start the business, but I'm yet filled with faith that if God wants me to do it, the supply is on the way. No, I don't know how this is gonna exactly turn out yet, but I'm yet filled with the knowledge that the God who was with me before in the previous season would not abandon me between winter and spring. At this point, if you interviewed these marys, they would say, our minds are back and forth. We're grieving. I want to put these on the board so you can see it real quick. Put the first ones up. I'm grieving, but I've got good news, and I know that it's going to be good in the end. But my grief didn't go away just because I got good news. This is why you can throw up your hands and worship God even while you're going through hell. That's how you reach for them. Now, let me make sure I'm making this clear, because I get so worked up and I start moving too fast. Their grief over the depth of Jesus did not disappear to make way for the good news that he was risen. And in the text it says a little conjunction. It says afraid yet filled yet is a conjunction. Jesus is my conjunction. Jesus is my in between thing. Jesus is how I can say. You know, how people say it's all good. I can't say that. I got some habits that are not good. I've got some people in my life. I must skip that one. I'll come back to that next week. I've got some things I'm dealing with that are not good. So it's not all good. How are you doing? It's all good? We say that all the time. I don't say that. I don't say that anymore because it's not all good. But it's not all grief either. And you got to remember that when you're going through a dawning season where it's not exactly dark, it's not exactly light. My marriage isn't exactly back on track, but it's not yet falling apart. I haven't yet lost my mind, but I'm not really that same yet either, So don't test me, because I could pop loose real quick. I'm something in between. But I read a Bible verse I want to give to you from the New Testament in Romans eight twenty eight. Romans eight twenty eight says that in all things God works for the good of them that love Him and our call according to it purpose. It doesn't say everything will be all good. It says, even when it's not all good, it's still all God. God, help me shout. That's what I want you to say about your life today. It's not all good, but it's all God. Somebody shout, is all God. That's how I made it high. Find somebody say, oh God. I wouldn't dismay if I did not believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord, that I would see it. Can't see it right now, can't prove it on a charge, can't draw it on the ground.

So I got God, God, God, I shout a God, and I got grief.

Are you grief? Ask your neighbor? Are you grieving? Or are you good. Tell him I got something in between. I got something seek. God is my in between. God will take whatever happens. If it's bad, he'll make it good. If it's good, he'll get glory out of it. If it's bad, he'll make it good. And they'll no' live.

Look God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, oh God.

So if you see me play in Division one NCAA football, you know it was Oh God, something must have happened in between. Now watch this? Can I give you more? There is a quote that changed my life from the Austrian psychologist Victor Frankel. He wrote the book Man Search for Meaning. It is one of the best selling books of all time. And I know why from this one quote. Put it on the screen. Look at this goodness what he said, between stimulus and response. There is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Wait, I should have told you more about him before I read what he said. He was a Holocaust survivor. So Victor Frankel didn't say it's all good. I don't know anything about his religious belief, but I found this to be true in my life. Sometimes the only thing I have is that space between stimulus. Do you know what I mean by stimulus? Not the checks they gave to everybody over the age of three or a while back. But what happens a stimulus like bop, you hit my hand, I'm gonna slap your face, or and this is where he talks about the space you slap my hand in between my slap back is a space, somebody say space. Look the quote again, between stimulus, between stimulus and response. The women were afraid, yet that's the space filled. And so they ran on the revelation that they had, even though they didn't know what the result would be. Now they only have to go about a mile to get to Jerusalem, where the disciples are still saying, But there's eighty miles to go to Galilee, where Jesus said he would meet them. Keep that in mind. As important as we talk about space, stimulus, response, let's talk about God. Let's talk about Jesus. Since this Eastern the cross was God's response to your sin. The stimulus was your sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and God's response to your sin could have been wrath. Instead it was grace, the distance was fixed between me and God so that I could not come to him. His response, he came to me. The suffering was the stimulus. Forgiveness was his response. You're starting to see what I'm talking about. That space in your life right now is what happened to you and what you will do next. And the resurrection speaks to that. Because if there is a space, put it up one more time between the stimulus and response. And if that's space, is my power to choose my response. I know one thing about me, Okay, I don't do very good with that space. I had one this week. This guy texted me something crazy. I hadn't heard from him in eight years, and he just decided to text me something crazy out of the blue. Happy Easter. Here's something stupid, antagonistic, irritating, ignorant, all of it. Now, what I want to tell you is I prayed for him and sent him some boots, some pink boots for Easter. I made the best text. And you'll know I'm pretty good with words. I put every word I've ever learned in seminary and in seventh grade in a text. I tried seven different drafts. I typed them all up and I deleted him, and then I typed another one, and I deleted and everyone I typed up got better than the last one by the time I finished texting him back. By the time I finished texting him back, now this is important, By the time I've ended up texting him back, I didn't send it all right, I'm gonna save you a lot of trouble. Look at your neighbor and say you need space before you hit sind What in the world would we have paid to know that earlier in our life, not just on a text, but on a response. A response, and thankfully, if you are too weak in your own strength to make the right response, Easter comes to say that you have a savior who emptied the grave, and all power is in his name, and that same power is in you. What am I trying to say? Your Savior is a space maker? How many need a space making savior in your life today? To see the good I want to do? I don't always do it. And this is why this church is so excited about Jesus in case you're a first time guest, because our Savior is our space maker, because we were bound in sin, we were wrapped in our past, we were trapped in our trauma, we were locked in our loneliness, we were down in our despair, and the space maker came to show us that all things are possible. I five me and say, I got a space maker. I'm praising the space maker. Now, let's contrast this. Victor Frankle said there is a space between stimulus and response. The other philosopher, Willie Nelson, said, I got to give you what Willy said. Y'all. I go over to my mom's every Wednesday night for dinner and she picks out different I got a record player, and I asked her to pick a record every Wednesday, and lit's listen to music and eat, and then we watch will of Fortune and Uh, pass a Jack. I still want to meet you. If you ever watched me preach, that would be a real bucket list for me. I love pass a Jack. I pray for him every time before he goes on. But uh, I came in the other night and my mom was playing a record by Willie Nelson, and it got my attention. I thought I would use it in my Easter sermon. Willie says this, Well, I gotta get drunk, and I sure do. Dread it because I know just what I'm gonna do. I'll start to spend my money calling everybody honey and wind up singing the blues. I'll spend my whole pay check on some old wreck and brother, I can name you a few, but I gotta get drunk, and I sure do dread it because I know just what I'm gonna do. I researched it, and Willie said, that's the dumbest song he ever wrote. He said, it's a good song, but it's a stupid song. But it was true at the time. I gotta get drunk. I gotta go off. Did you hear what they said about me? I gotta go off. I gotta do it. I gotta do you disrespect me like that, I gotta do it. I think this Easter the space Maker wants to change your gotta watch me from I gotta do it to I gotta God. Somebody say I gotta God. I don't gotta do it anymore because I got a God who made space, who shed blood. And if I call on his name, and if I stay in his word, he can change me from Simon to Peter. He can change beauty out of ashes, he can turn graves into gardens. So I've got a grave. Watch this, but I've got a god who can turn it into a garden. Put it in the comments right now. I got a god. I got a god. What I used to have to do, I'm not powerless to do anymore. Because he got up. That's fifty percent of a shout that should have happened there. I'm gonna give you another opportunity.

I don't gotta steak down.

Does he got out? I got a god, give me my next set. So they're standing at the tomb the next worse and they're standing in a grave. But the angel says, go to Galilee. And they can't stay at the grave because he's not there. Somebody say, he's not here. He's not in this depression. He's not in this giving up. He's not in this failure. He's not in I mean, he's in it to help me, but he's not in it to leave me. He's calling me forward to Galilee. And so the women, all the women make some noise. They did it, and it's annoying, right because where are the guys. The guys are eating fish and chips and protein bars and Monster Energy drink and they say, now we got to go stop by and tell the guy that Jesus is gonna meet them in Galilee. I'll probably have skipped it and just went right on the Galilee myself. This is eighty miles, Benn, take like three or four days. So let's get ahead start because we want to see Jesus. Somebody say, I want to see Jesus. So what they do? They're afraid? Did you notice Vers? Eight? But they ran. They used their fear for something productive. I know you've been through some things. Use them. I know you got something on the inside of you chasing you. Well point it in the right direction and let's go. You've been an attic helping at it. You've been through horrible abuse. Put your arm around somebody. They need to hear that God can do a miracle for them. I'm leaving this grave. Everybody in here has got a grave. God is calling you away from everybody in here's I got a place in you, a place in life, a place you can't stay, and a long way to go. Oh, it's a long way to Galilee. I don't know if we can make it eighty miles to Galilee to see Jesus again. I don't know if I can make it through this season. I don't know if I can do it at this stage of my life. I don't know if I have the fuel left to do it again. I don't know if I have a repeat performance in me. The first time we followed him, it was hard, but then he died. I don't know if I have a second wind in me. But they're running, and this whole Sunday hinges on a word in Matthew twenty eight, verse nine that God brought you to this moment to show you. As they are leaving the graves and eventually going to Galilee, the Bible says Matthew twenty eight, verse nine. Suddenly, because not only do I have a space making savior, but I have a suddenly savior. Shout suddenly, come on, shout it with your lungs, baby, say suddenly suddenly? What suddenly Jesus met them? Oh? You mean they didn't have to go all eighty miles nah, because while that angel was still talking about Galilee, the Savior was headed your way. No, I need you just say this my thing. He's coming my way.

He's headed my way, He's handed my way.

He's headed my.

Way, I'm leaving this grave, and the Lord wants somebody to know.

You are not going to have to go all the way to Galilee to get to him. He's coming to you. See the scene with me, See the scene with me.

They're running, they're running, and maybe between the two of them they're sharing.

I don't know if we should trust that big man sitting on the stone. He said he was an angel, but who knows. You can't trust any men. And the other sister says back, the other Mary says back, well, what are we going to do?

We can't stay at the grave. We've got to go. We can't stay in this dead place. We've got to go. If we stay here, it will only ever beat dead. We's not coming back to the grave. We've got to go. And so they're going, and they're going, and they're calculating all the distance between them and Galilee.

We got seventy miles left between where we can't stay and where we want to be. And somebody is there right now. You're calculating the distance between where you are and where you think you need to be. But put my verse back on the screen.

The Bible says, suddenly Jesus met them and on their way from the grave to Galilee, they hear something in between, greetings.

Could that be greetings? It sounds like him, greetings. Yeah, that's his voice. I thought we were gonna have to go all the way to Galilee, but suddenly somebody shouts, suddenly, I see something in between. Jesus met me in the middle of my mess. Jesus met me on my first mile. Jesus is gonna meet me in this moment. What a savior, I said, What a savior? Not only is he a space making savior, not only is he a suddenly savior. Do you understand the power of the savior suddenly that a lifetime of sins can be washed away with one call upon his name, with one mention of his name, with the bowing off your knee, Everything that speaks the name of Jesus will be saved because he's a suddenly savior. And the thing that you're so stressed about, if God is real, what makes you think he isn't already planning to do something in between, because that's how the devil will get you. I was talking to somebody the other day and they said, I'm so worried about my kid going to college and this college and that college. Their kid is in the seventh grade. I said, don't worry about that. Worry about something else. You can worry about stuff, but don't worry about that. So much could happen in between. You understand, you think you are going to just be lonely the rest of your life. God could have one greeter out those doors. And in between the time I say Amen and the time you try to eat some ham for lunch, God could do something in between. That's all that. Holly, she was traveling through Monk's Corner. I listen, she was living. She grew up in Miami, Florida. She was traveling all over the country doing ministry with this team, this ministry team, and they would ride around in an RV and do ministry. And their travels brought them to Monk's Corner. All right, So you got Miami, you got Monk's Corner, very different, very different. And she saw a very handsome young man at the church where they were no she did, and listen how good her game was. She comes up, She's like, I'm homeschooled, and uh, I need to take the act. And I was wondering, maybe if you could go to your guidance counselor and get me an act prep pack. That is the most masterfully understated pickup line in the history of great romances. Could you go to your guidance counselor? And when I looked at her, I was like, Oh, I know another guidance counselor that I believe. Come on, somebody, you got a guidance counselor. Because while I was growing up in Miami, in Monk's Corner six hundred and fifteen miles away in Miami, Miami, two months corner, if God could do that from a grave to Galilee and everything in between, you don't even know what he can do in between. All right, preach it to your fear for a minute. Let's talk to your fear of say, God always does something in between. So the outcome you're dreading is based on the events that you are hypothetically creating. What if God does something in between. What if it doesn't even go to trial. What if you get through it. What if you get through it and it ends up being the best thing that ever happened to you? What if God does something? What if God does something in between? He must be doing something in between. He did it for Daniel. Daniel spent the night in a lion's den, but their teeth never touched him. There must have been something in between Daniel and those lions. He did it for the three Hebrew boys. They were thrown in a fire. The fire was heated up seven times hotter than normal, but they didn't smell like smoke when they came out. I mean, if you even get close to the fire, you're gonna smell like smoke. So if they came out of the fire and didn't smell like smoke, God must have done something in between. Will not this same God, will not this same Savior who met the women, not when they got to Goalie. And now I don't feel sorry for them anymore because the boys had to wait. They got to see him first. I stand before you today, excited and afraid. I stand before you today a sinner and a saint. I stand before you today a flawed man and a child of God. And I'm never all of both. I'm something in between. What Jesus said to those women will touch you so deeply. He said, I'm going ahead of you, but I met you on the way. I'm already in your tomorrow. But I'm going to show up right now to remind you who you're walking in. Thank you, Jesus. Say thank you Jesus. When you talk back to the preacher in church, don't talk to the preacher, talk to God. Say thank you Lord for that word. Thank you Jesus. I received that coming to me right now on this first mile of my eighty mile journey. I got to get to Galilee, but I'm thankful that you met me in between. And he tells them, go, I know you're afraid, Verse ten, but go go tell my brothers. You still calling them brothers after they left you at the cross. Every single disciple except John went away, and Jesus called them brothers. Every person in this room today, if we could look inside your heart, you are carrying the guilt. Put my final slide on the screen, because I want to give an invitation to you now of what you did, the guilt of who you think you are, the guild of what you failed to live up to that you meant to be. And then there is the glory of God, who is Jesus Christ, who is the righteous one who knew no sin but became sin that we might become the righteousness. Of God. All have sin and fall short of the glory of God. You're not the best Christian that ever lived. His name is Jesus. But there is nothing so wrong with you today that the Savior, who is perfect and pure, cannot redeem it. Why are we surprised to see him? Why are we surprised to hear him in between the grave and galilee. We shouldn't be surprised that he met us in the middle. We shouldn't be surprised when he shows up in our shame. Wouldn't be surprised when he gives us mercy for our mess and righteousness for our rags. We shouldn't be surprised to see him in between because the last time we saw him on the cross, Look what John nineteen eighteen says Jesus was doing there. They crucified him with two other men, one on either side, back on the screen, and Jesus in between. I see Jesus in between today. There's an anointing on this word to bring you out of your grave, to bring you out of your guilt. For wherever there was guilt, grace was greater. Grace was greater whatever you did. Wherever you've been but gone is breaking good morning. He is risen, and his grace is greater.

Your sin has separated you from God, but your savior is greater than your sin. He is Jesus in between, making you right with God. You could never be right with God in your own righteousness. You don't have to. You've got Jesus in between.

Right now, while the presence of God is standing on this road in this moment, what Jesus said to the women, he says to you, greetings, be not afraid, but go.

It's bowt eyes closed. Everyone standing at every location, no one moving. This is a holy moment. This is an in between moment. For though our sins where a scarlet, he washed them as white as snow. This is an in between moment. He is a stretching savior. He is a suddenly savior. He is a space making savior. And there is room at this cross for you, for everyone online and at all of our locations who wants today to meet Jesus. I want to tell you the great secret of the mystery of the Gospel. While the women were looking for Jesus, Jesus was already looking for them, and he desires to meet you in this moment. Right now, I'm going to pray a prayer. If you've been far from God and you know it, and yet today he calls you brother, sister, friend, child of God. If your sins have been weighing heavy on your heart and you haven't known what to do with them, and shame is great, I introduce you now to the Savior, whose name is greater. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Won't be a magic trick, but it is an act of faith. The Bible says that if anyone calls on the name of the Lord, they will be saved. It is by grace that you are saved. Your guilt is great, his glory is great. But His grace is greater than your guilt, and you can receive it right now. Suddenly you can be a brand new person today this day. So right now, if this message was for you, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. You're coming to Jesus. He already came to you. You just repeat after me and let him into your heart and turn from your sin, and he will make you a brand new person. We're praying out loud as a church family for the benefit of those who are coming to God. For the first time or coming back to God. Repeat after me, this is your moment, Heavenly Father. Today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of the world. I believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the counter. Three shoot your hand up if you prayed that boldly. One two, three.

We celebrate your resurrection today. We celebrate your resurrection today.

That is what it's all about. Today. That Jesus met me, that Jesus changed me, that Jesus is with me, and I'll never be the same. I need everybody who believes Jesus is it give him a great sound of lives.

Wait a little better than that.

Makes such stay on the side of and yet myself. So thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevation Church dot org. Slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

Elevation with Steven Furtick

Welcome to the weekly podcast of Elevation Church led by Pastor Steven Furtick. To learn more visit  
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