Belong Launch Sunday

[Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what you're here to go [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh there's a rainbow in my hand full of colors that are bright they remind me of this savior who was born on christmas night he left his throne in heaven to give the sins of man the candy from this egg will reveal his mighty plan purple reminds me of the sun that's in my heart it separates god from man it drove them both apart the red candy reminds me of the blood that jesus lost when he went up on the hill and he died upon the cross then sunday morning came and the stone rode away by the orange side of sunrise christ was on easter's day green is the color of the new life of spring it tells you the new life that knowing jesus christ brings yellow is the color of the gold that lightens the street and heaven up above where jesus we will meet the rainbow in my hand says that jesus died to me the savior of my life said that now my heart is free easter [Music] how has the process for building balloon been so far as this is lunch sunday come on pastor tell us this has been probably one of the most joyous processes i've ever been in i think we've ever been in as far as it pertains to starting and building something with church it has come with its challenges and in the midst of anything great being erected i think it always has bumps in the road and challenges in its beginning but it has been beautiful to watch a community of people come together from us starting with healing conversations to several weeks of pre-launch services to where we are today there are people literally on every corner of the world that are calling themselves belongings global and yeah it has been i mean people been coming into my uh boutique saying i'm from out of town i had a couple come in from new orleans and they said i belong and it it's happening every week and it is just a beautiful thing to see that people really feel like this is a place where they belong i think it's important for especially as we build a church that is going to have a reach all over the world to understand that there are many people that have been de-churched there are people that have just run away from church period all because of the way that we framed it and we have made very exclusive the grace of god i think it's significant and important to understand who jesus went after and who he would ask us in 2021 to go after a community where every person has a place it simply says that no matter where you are in your personal walk in your private walk right now we're called to be a bridge our commitment is to bridge people from one space to a future space in christ and in being that bridge every person has a place because every person needs a place so from your perspective what would you say the future of the law will look like i would say that the future of bloom looks like a place simply and i know we said it seems so simple but just a place where everybody belongs for so long we have felt excluded because of i don't worship this way or i don't dress this way or so many different things that kind of makes a uh church or what we feel like we should look like or act like or what you always say smell like and so this is simply a place where you belong what i love is we have already experienced people from different nationalities different backgrounds even people that have worshipped different gods coming in to surrender their heart and their life to god our god i think that it's important in the future of what revealed to be a place where everybody and anybody can belong and i think that that is the place that i was we were created to build and curate for others that regardless of where you've been and regardless what your background is there's one god that we all want so guys listen we just say thank you thank you thank you for taking this journey with us listen from starting out to where we are now but we are officially here guys and we just want to say we are launching today and we are so excited to have you with us come on we're about to enter into sir so we don't know what's going to happen in these next few moments but what i do guarantee you is this you open your heart you will meet and encounter the god of the resurrection today welcome to the law good morning good morning we are so excited y'all how y'all doing today y'all it is officially launch sunday jessica we are launching a whole church today i'm so excited y'all go ahead drop it in the comments let us know how you are feeling this morning we are so excited to see you guys y'all we are launching a whole church today a whole church i'm about to collapse i'm about to run off this stage but listen not only is it lunch i'm going to fall in the dishes okay are y'all in the dishes are y'all excited that jesus got up for you this morning i know we're in a different context you might be at home in your living room but you've been rolling in your nightgown or whatever but you're still getting excited that jesus got up for you absolutely listen y'all wherever you are right now we want to make sure that you are ready to worship with us so whether you're in your kitchen you're in the living room you're in your bedroom we just encourage you to get up this morning and celebrate the fact that he is alive he is risen and we are so excited to worship he had a little something he said he's alive he's alive absolutely and i belong what so we're so excited so we're about to we're excited about worship yes so we want you wherever you are now to bring your mind there today that yeah supernatural something who'll come and visit them no matter where they are for an outpouring of your spirit of your glory today and we give your name out of the glory jesus name amen god bless you belong happy resurrection sunday happy long sunday listen if you know that jesus is alive and you belong can you clap your hands like this come on come on come on let's celebrate jesus all right i want to teach you this easter song that says this he has to overcome the great he has overcome the grace for our sinner's life he gave for our sin his life death could never keep him down death could never keep him down for the cross but where's the crowd for oh death where is your [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] he has overcome the grace for us in his life [Music] he has [Music] oh is come on [Music] let's do that again [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] he lives forever hallelujah [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we can get up [Music] because [Music] because [Music] his name is the resurrection [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i'm alive [Applause] [Music] hey i wanna say this one i am saved because he's alive i am saved because he's alive [Music] just a couple more i said i am whole because [Music] he's alive let's get out of here everybody everybody's telling me come on everybody's telling me everybody's showing up everybody's hello everybody celebrate everybody celebrate everybody celebrate everybody celebrate celebrate celebrate celebrate celebrate celebrate celebrate shall i pray celebrate that's what's coming celebrating celebrating [Music] celebrating [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on last time [Music] hallelujah hallelujah and because he lives we know that there are things that god has in store for us and if you believe that your breakthrough could be in the room your room wherever you are i just need you to take a moment and give god the praise he deserves he died years ago but still and steal and steal and steal and steal he makes ways out of no way so we're going to praise them this morning [Music] i give you glory for all you brought me through and i'm believing whatever you wanted [Music] whatever [Music] [Applause] we want you lord like never before your presence is an open door [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] i know a breakthrough is coming [Music] [Applause] [Music] declare that wherever you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i see my healing [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] every single thing that you promised me my blessing every single thing that you promised right here in front of me in front of me i see my [Music] your presence we want you lord like never sing that from your heart wherever you are you're [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] lord [Music] it's an open door and we're here to receive you our hearts are open our hearts are open we make white for you jesus in our hearts and our minds we make way for you jesus you can have your way we make way for you jesus you're an open joy or an open joy if it's joy that we need it's an open door if it's love that we need it's an open door [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is your presence [Music] is [Music] you're [Music] [Applause] you can have your way you can have your way we're not too proud to make room for you [Music] she's yeah so i can recall a time that i was really in a broken place you know i come from a family of eight seven sisters and one brother and i am the only girl in the family that have never really brought forth a child that lived and i tell you this was a time that i was very broken and really inquiring of the lord asking lord what is it about me father that i've not been able to bring forth a child and you know i don't know where you are and what your struggles have been but there are times that we go through things that we really are asking the lord you know what is it god why god why why am i going through this and why did it have to happen to me but i tell you it was during these times that i really uh leaned into who god is as a father and really receiving myself as a daughter of the most high god and i tell you my faith was strengthened during these times yet i did not bring forth any children but i did find my way to the father and you know again i don't know what it is that you may be struggling with but i can tell you faith in the father and the almighty god will bring you to a place where you really come into knowing who he is as a father and so you know faith is it it's real it's something that uh we're strengthened by and so you know continue to lean in and press into god no matter what it is that you are going through and there are times that you may even be disappointed as i just shared my story with you but even in times of disappointment know that he is right there with you and that he is waiting on you and you know he asked us to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us and see him as a loving father one that truly does care for you and no matter what it is that you are going through uh faith keep your faith in the almighty and the all-wise god because he is the one that will bring you through no matter what your struggle in life will be in thinking about a time when my faith was real low [Music] on april the 15th 2004 i received a call from my daughter's doctor that said she had a disease that was uncurable i'm an associate pastor at a church teaching preaching helping everyone else but to receive a call saying your daughter's kidneys are not working and she needs a transplant what's the hardest thing that i had ever gone through i began to question god why is this happening to me you start telling god all of the things you've done i pay my tithes i go to church i try to live right i teach the people i do what i'm supposed to do why is this happening and the people around me became very mute no one could tell me anything i felt like i was the lady with the issue of blood and there was nobody around to help me i began to talk with god even though my talking with god was more questioning and not listening to what he had to say then in may the doctor says your child needs a transplant and if she doesn't get it she's not going to make it to the age of 16. i became very weary and it was it took the word of god that brought me up i had to focus on the word no one could tell me anything i didn't want to go to church i didn't want to do anything but see my baby live a life that the other two children were living i began to really dig myself out of this hold on my own by praying i lived a life of fasting for about six straight months because i wanted something for my child we went my church went on a 30-day fast every day for my baby in december the doctor says there was no hope because they did not know what was going on but on january the 30th of 2005 i received a telephone call from a doctor that says we have a kidney fabrianna do you want it i said yes i want the kidney she received the transplant that very next day january 31st 2005. the kidney lasted until she was in the 12th grade and it stopped working again so now we're at that same place again of believing this time is different because i trust god and i believe the word of the lord that she will be healed and so we are awaiting a transplant again but my faith is so much stronger because the word of god tells me that all i have to do is believe and it shall come to pass so i believe that she will still at the age of 26 be healed of this disease happy easter happy easter happy resurrection listen i i know we launching a whole church but whole church can we take just a couple minutes even in this room and thank god for the power of the resurrection listen listen listen this morning i i was in my study time and usually when i'm doing my makeup i i i have the bible out praying and this morning i was reading something and something just stuck out to me can i just read it in your uh in your hearing and uh let me see if i can go back and find it well it just says that while jesus was reclining it's out of chapter 26 of matthew while he was reclining with the disciples he said to them i know that one of you will betray me and i said lord while jesus was reclining he said i know that one of you will betray me i i don't know what season you have found yourself in i have found myself in a season of one of the biggest betrayals of my life but as i began to read that scripture jeremy it said that the lord was reclining even when he knew what was about to happen and so i want that to be a sign to you listen something is on the break of when betrayal begins to step in the room but it's all about your posture and as we begin to celebrate the resurrected one i don't know what it is that you're facing this morning what you feel like you don't have who you feel like walked out on you who you feel like talked about you who you feel like left you for dead but i tell you you better just recline right there because on the backside of that we saw the greatest demonstration that we've ever seen in the history and listen on the back side of that betrayal as they're talking you keep reclining as they're whispering about you you keep reclining if you can get past the whispers if you can get past the lies if you can get past the stairs and you just keep reclining while they talking you recline while they talking you recline why they talking you recline because you know that there is a god he said if this if this club could pass for me not my will god but but your will so so he he he knew they was going to betray you he knew they was going to talk about you you just reclined because god already took it he already took it when they drug him on the cross he already took him when they hung him up between two knees and he hung his head and he died he already knew so you reclined you reclined let that be your word let that be your word in this season so i said for nika you know what you're going to recline you're not going to worry about it you're going to you're not going to cry another tear about it because god did it all and what does it point back to right to the cross so god we thank you so i don't think i need to preach today i'm just going to let pastor fenika go with it there's no need it's resurrection sunday and we reclining as we consider the power of the resurrection right here at belong church i don't know where you're watching from literally people are all over the country all over the world tuning in to this i want you to just put it in the chat recline wherever you are i mean lean back at it and trust the god that brought you this far is not about to drop you right here he's going to carry you to the other side of your resurrection this sunday we are excited to be official somebody shout officially special like we we've done all this prep and all these these moments where we've got ready for today we're actually here we are officially relaunched as belong church and i want in this welcome i just want to take a couple moments thank you all who've been tuning in following with us all this time i want to thank this amazing team from pastor brittany pastor broderick pastor jeff everybody that has played a intricate role from our singers our worship everybody i want to say thank you all for helping us to even be here and those of you that have been praying on the backside i mean i think we've got more private intercessors than just a few so for all of you that have been praying for this moment and for what god is about to do with belong church we want to say thank you thank you and listen can we just encourage our pastor today can we just put in the chat build builder come on put it in the chat build builder come on put it in the chat build builder build builder build builder build builder peel can we just say that in here come on chad come on build builder build builder fill builder build [Music] so we believe in god that we are but we haven't seen everything that god is going to do and that we are just on the brink of the amazing things that god is going to cause to happen in this season listen real quick we're gonna get out your way we're gonna keep going forward in worship we're gonna bring the girls up later on so hang on till the end listen real quick if you want to give today if you want to partner with us in giving on this resurrection sunday i want you to type or text belong atl to 77977 it should it's right there on the screen bottom of the screen belong atl to 77977 you can partner with us in giving it's very very simple we thank god for the hundreds who have already partnered with us faithfully over the last few weeks and we thank god for you as you prepare to come along on this journey as well we're about to go a little bit further in worship you all hang tight we've got a word today i think it's gonna help all of us reassess where we are and who god's called us to be let's go further in worship god bless [Music] you [Music] miracles [Music] you're the god of miracles signs and wonders [Music] signs and [Music] we believe in your power me [Music] supernatural [Music] [Applause] you can do this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] me oh [Music] [Music] today [Music] you're a [Music] is is [Music] still [Music] [Applause] see [Applause] you're a miracle worker [Music] [Music] we believe [Music] in your power we believe in your powers [Music] [Music] and there is nothing that's impossible and we're standing here only because you made a way and we're standing here only because you made away and we're standing here only because you may say and we're standing here [Music] [Applause] only because you were standing here [Music] don't know how but you did it don't know how but you didn't don't know how but you really don't know why but i'm crazy [Music] don't know [Music] don't know [Applause] [Music] don't know [Music] only because you made away and we're standing here only because you made a way and we're standing here only because you may [Music] hallelujah right there can we release our praise but we serve the god who has perpetually always and forever makes ways he is the waymaker can we release our praise right there hallelujah we thank you father for making ways for making ways for making ways for making ways for making ways for making ways for making ways and because you make ways we now know you as the miracle worker because you make ways we know you as the resurrected one and because you make ways we know you to be the waymaker we know you to be the door opener we know you to be bread we know you to be water we know you hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah it is now time for us to partake of the lord's supper if you are at home go now get some crackers get some bread get some juice as we sub on the lord's body first corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 the writer says for i receive from the lord but i also pass to you the lord jesus on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is broken for you eat in remembrance of me let us eat together can we just release praise for the breaking of his body because he willingly allowed his body to be broken [Music] we are in perpetual places where we will always be mended and put back together hallelujah the scripture says on the same wise he took the cup and he said this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood do this and whenever you drink it drink in remembrance of me let us drink together [Music] there's a scripture that tells us in the book of revelations that we overcome the enemy by two things it's the blood of the lamb and it's with the word of our testimony so we just partaked of the blood but now can the redeemed of the lord say something can the redeem of the lord release the praise right here we thank you jesus for the shedding of your blood we thank you jesus for allowing them to break your body we thank you jesus for willingly taking the nails for willingly taking the spear for willingly taking the crown of thorns we thank you jesus for taking the humiliation on our behalf just release your praise right there in your homes [Music] four years ago i got a notification from my job that it was time to relocate never shut an hour center down or either you know you can take a severance package at the time i i was just out of it to be honest with you from a church church perspective just my walk at the time it was a total disconnect i mean even at that time it was so bad to where my wife would be taking the kids to church i'm literally sitting on the couch just no energy no desire to even go and i would turn td jakes on when she left you know get my servants i don't even know she even knew i even just you know watched the service or not when she returned but i felt a push but i just didn't know how to handle it i maneuvered through it at the time so i prayed a prayer the night before i made the decision to relocate to georgia and i just said god this is yours i mean give me some kind of sign which direction i need to go my family were excited because it was a possible opportunity that i could relocate closer to home so i felt pressured there that i needed to make a decision that everybody would be happy with you know and i prayed that prayer that next morning something came over me i couldn't explain and said go to georgia and i called my dad delivered him the news just let him know i'm like man i'm going to georgia i don't know what part but i got to go to georgia i said i know it's something you guys don't understand i see now later down the road hopefully everybody have an understanding on why i made that decision so i made that decision and i was fine with it and then within 24 hours pastor posted a post on facebook said they were getting ready to plant a church in georgia and i'm like okay so i sent pastor a message said hey i'm getting ready to relocate to georgia i'm gonna come by a seat you know check on you guys leave the family at the time i'm not even thinking about joining church i was happy that i feel i'm gonna have some family in town so he said okay i'm looking forward to seeing you all and you know he's always been a big part of our our family anyway so i went to church the first time i went i was thinking i was coming to visit see the kids family and all and i know towards the end of service something just came over me that i can't describe and i'm just in tears and they opened the doors of the church and i just [Music] took off i didn't even talk to my wife about it we had me had a discussion and i just walked and i know when i turned around my family was there and i'm like wow what just happened i couldn't explain it so i'm like here i am joining this church okay so i wasn't flattered on this i didn't know how this just happened so that happened and from that point on when i made that initial walk i'm like god all right what now and he said serve and i'm like sir man i never served at church you know i was the athlete i showed up at church just thinking i just show up i really have to do a lot of things maybe sit there and look cute with a girlfriend or something so i was that that athlete so i just started serving and i just started with setup breakdown next thing you know he said do more i started ushering i'm like huh okay then i have help with all the call i'm like okay are you really doing a lot now it's time to settle down here i got control of me now i think i can you know maneuver this and and uphold what i've committed to and then the next thing you know after those paths have been crossed i started traveling with pastor and i found myself in all of it which was very important and learn how to find christ for yourself i mean pops taught me how to navigate that search on your own because that's very important because a lot of those tough times you're going to be by yourself you can't just depend on somebody just to always be there at that time in the darkest moments that's when you got to pull something from within to help lead you through so i mean i owe them everything so that's why it's nothing i wouldn't do for them i mean you call me i'm there so they literally saved my life and gave me the best opportunity for me and my family also i remember moving to georgia from indiana about nine years ago and i didn't want to admit it to myself but i was running away from my reality i found myself in my mother's one bedroom invading her space i had a two and a four-year-old and i was pregnant again i felt like i disappointed my parents i definitely didn't expect my life to be that way and at that moment it was like what have i done with my life i have no idea of what my career is i have no idea how i'm going to get out of my mom's house i have no idea what i'm going to do this was not my plan my mother raised me in church but you know i wasn't thinking about it but one scripture that i stand on is train up a child and the way he should go and when he's older it won't depart he won't depart from it i stand on that because i did whatever i wanted to do um i made mistakes i you know just lived my life the way i wanted to but because of my mother raising me up i knew i could call on god i knew even though i didn't have a relationship he was there so when i found myself very low literally at my lowest and i remember saying specifically god let this pain go away within two days please i'm human i understand i might have to deal with it but please don't let it be no longer than two days and one thing that built my faith was it literally took me two days i'm not saying that you know it's going to be that fast for everyone but that literally took me two days and that's what i asked god and after that all of that pain left i was able to you know breathe and i remember a song the song i trust you um even though i can't see and i can't feel your touch god i trust you and i just remember playing that song over and over again and one day god says study love and i found out angela not only were you not loved in those relationships you didn't even give love i understood at that time what god's unconditional and true love was and i believe he wanted me to know that for now for the place that i'm in now just he needed me to understand that he needed me to understand that he is my foundation and in that season of my life where i was low god showed me at your lowest he is the closest and that built my faith up because one it took me two days like i asked him two he showed me something and gave me a foundation of him and love and i was able to build my relationship with him from that and my faith i feel like now is not small mary mary got a song and they say your faith ain't never small that's how i feel now my faith is not small because no matter where i'm at no matter what life has brought me over the last nine years i stand on my faith i stand on what god did for me back then i stand on his power and his love and that changed my life ultimately so anybody if you're at a place where your faith is low i'm telling you god is right there with you he wants you right there he wants you to seek him he wants you to know that he's right there and i thank him for doing that for me [Music] well again happy resurrection sunday to each and every one of you i don't know but these testimonies have built my faith listening to these men and women share their stories of their journey that we're going to tie into today's message honestly have built my faith so before i turn to what it is we're gonna discuss today i want you wherever you are to take one more moment and thank god for the power of his resurrection i'm just grateful that he's not a lukewarm god that he's not a god that halfway does anything and i'm i'm gonna try to sit here and handle this but i'm glad that he's a god that always does exceeding and abundant that he goes over and above anything that we could expect and because jesus got up out of the grave i believe it's a guarantee that wherever you are this resurrection sunday morning you don't have to stay there i want somebody that has found themselves in a dire strait or in a space where you've been wondering if god is still with you to celebrate the fact that if he got up i'm gonna get up too i will get up there will be resurrected matter of fact there will be glory after this god is gonna prove himself over and over again these testimonies were not just to put people on a screen they were to build your faith that there are men and women that have walked and are walking right where you are and god is faithful enough to never leave you where he found you but to take you further in your journey to prove to you that he is the god of resurrection and the life and that he's going to do more in you than what you could have ever expected lord have mercy can y'all just say he's done more than i've ever expected already but there's still more to come all right so let's go let's go to the word uh so i can do this hopefully in like 20 25 minutes let's see what we can do here it is go to john 20 john 20 i'm gonna read verses 24 through 29 and y'all know i've been going back and forth on whether we read it first or we just kind of jump into it we're we're streaming from three different platforms so if you're on church online you know all you got to do is click a button you've got your bible application right there facebook youtube you know what to do open your phone open something just not an android and get to it real quick john 20 verse 24. i think i'm gonna read from the message version and then i'll drop some little nuggets in it from amplified but i'm going to read from the message version it says but thomas sometimes called the twin um what the scripture tells us is that he was called didymus or the twin one of the twelve was not with them when jesus came the other disciples told him we saw the master but he said unless i see the nail holes in his hands put my fingers in the nail holes and stick my hand in his side i won't believe it eight days later his disciples were again in the room and this time thomas was with them and jesus came through the locked door stood among them and said peace to you then he focused his attention on thomas take your finger and examine my hands take your hand and stick it in my side don't be unbelieving everybody shout this belief thomas said my master my god and jesus said so you believe because you've seen with your own eyes even better blessings are in store for those who believe without saying this resurrection sunday morning i'm i'm taking one word and i'm gonna really dig into this text and we're just simply calling it believe and i want you wherever you are to have the type of faith to know that this is the sunday your faith can go to a whole nother place in not just the power or the strength of the resurrection but in knowing that god is faithful enough to always show you who he is when you need to see him the most for most of us over this last year we have found ourselves in very challenging moments where we have questioned ourselves we've questioned god we've questioned our purpose our destiny we have wondered if god who started us out and began this journey with us was going to stay with us the whole time more than many of us are probably willing to confess we know what it's like to live a life like thomas and i'm gonna really what we're gonna do today is a character profile of thomas and i'm gonna parallel our lives together but we know what it's like to love god with all of our heart yet still find ourselves wondering if the god who started us on this journey is actually going to stay with us to the completion today i want to talk to several groups of people i want to talk to the group of people that have lost faith but you keep showing up you you keep showing your face but you don't even know why you're coming anymore you've jumped on live streams you went from service to service and you said god i need to hear from you but i'm wondering if you're still even talking god i love you and i know i love you because i came this far with you but i don't know where my faith is i've wanted to leave the church i've wanted to walk out on everything but something keeps compelling me back every time i want to say i've written it off forever i'm talking to a group of people that loved god vigorously this time last year but in a 12-month period of time it's made you wonder why would god leave me like this this long but i'm not just talking to those i'm talking to those of you today that are on this stream and you stumbled upon it somebody shared this link on facebook or you had a family member say hey jump on this real quick and you have completely uh un declassified yourself from anything that smelled like religion you have been turned off from everything the church has ever looked back you have almost become agnostic in your faith system almost atheist in what you really think is there ever a god or is god really real today i want to talk to your faith and say this give god one more try i'm crazy enough to believe that in giving god another chance and another try in a moment where you think he's not going to show up in a moment where you think he's gone silent and mute you will hear the voice of god clearer than you've ever heard it before and you will see god show up in the midst of uncertainty and what seems like your impossibilities because so was it with thomas can we break this down and bring thomas into your house and into our lives we don't know a whole lot about thomas i believe if i'm honest with you that thomas gets a bad rep we call thomas the doubting apostle we often denote him as the apostle that doubted jesus but i think that if we leave thomas's life and his testimony as the downing apostle we really miss the strength of what god tries to show us through a man that walked with him but lived in the midst of two realities thomas's name or thomas was called didymus which means twin all right it means twins some historians would say that he had a twin brother that was one of the apostles others would say that he had a brother that we never met and that never showed up on the scene all we know is that when he's referenced several times in scripture he is called didymus or he's called twin and i want to pull for just a moment of that reality because i want to show you all a couple of things in scripture that we may not pay enough attention to as it pertains to thomas thomas in one moment i don't know if y'all remember this john chapter 11 jesus homeboy lazarus died and when jesus got word that lazarus was dead he was explaining to his apostle to the disciples what was about to happen and then he says look he's sleep he's dead but i'm going to resurrect him thomas said to the other disciples let us go with him so that we can die too i think it's very interesting that we call somebody a doubter that was willing to go and die with jesus in one moment in one second he says listen if he's going to die we ain't going to let him ride out by himself we going to go die with him all right so that's one aspect of thomas but then if you jump over to john the 14th chapter when jesus starts saying i'm about to go to heaven and you know that i'm gonna go thomas says look we don't know where you're going we don't know the way we need you to explain to us what's really about to happen so watch this it's a duality in one aspect he's full of faith but in another aspect he's got a lot of questions i need somebody on this chat right now that can be honest with yourself and say i'm living in the middle of two very real realities on one side i got a ton of faith and on the other side i got a lot of questions on one side of who i am i love god i trust god i believe him to be my lord and savior but on the other side of it god i don't know why you brought me this far and i don't understand anything that's going on in my life i'm tired of being lonely i'm tired of having anxiety i'm tired of being depressed i'm tired of reading self-help books and feeling like my life is getting no better i love you but i'm struggling between the very real realities that are coexisting at the same time well i think church has jacked a lot of people up if we have made people think that if you're going to be full of faith you can't have any doubt at all and i want you to understand something you can love god with all your heart yet in the back of your mind still be questioning god are you really for me god i don't understand the season god i don't know why you have brought me here and nothing going on in my life makes sense i want to kill the notion that for you to be a faith-filled believer it means that there's nothing in you that questions your current circumstance i want you to understand that you can be living in the midst of two very real realities at the same time it is very possible for you to in in one sense to say god i love you and i trust you and in another sense say god this don't make no sense whatsoever can we bring it even further i'm going to illustrate it in a moment y'all know his resurrection sunday i got to show it to you jesus did the same thing jesus said lord if you can let this cup pass he said lord if i'm honest with you i don't want to drink this cup let me be real if you give me the option i do not want to drink this cup my honest reality is i don't want to do it but nevertheless not my will but your will be done who right now is living in your nevertheless i i'm struggling with everything around me but nevertheless i don't understand anything that i'm going through but nevertheless nothing that's hitting my heart or my life makes sense right now but never the less y'all come up here real quick let me let me show it let me show it let me show let me show it to you y'all come on up come all the way up come all the way up come up on stage yep come all the way up come all the way up and roger kd y'all go to either side as far as you can there you go and you all right a.d stretch your cord out as far as you can pastor roger stretch yours out as far as you can and what i want y'all to do for one moment i want y'all to play tug of war with rotus see what many of us don't realize is that rodis is you you are rotus pastor broderick has one side of your decision making pastor adrian is another side of your decision-making and you love god but it's very possible to love him but be struggling between two very real things feeling pulled in one direction in one season feeling pulled in another direction in another season and everybody around you has called you crazy said you've lost your mind and you feel like you're bunny hopping in this thing called life that nobody's got you and you hear god whispering but in the same sense you hear yourself whispering at the same time and how many of y'all have ever lived in the place when you could hear you and god at the same time and couldn't discern the difference how many of you all have ever been in a space where you knew you knew the voice of god but his voice found sounded so faint that you couldn't discern what was you and what was him you full of faith you just tied in between two decisions and really your heart is in the middle of the tug-of-war match of your life in one instance you know you're called by god and you know that he's calling you forward and you know that he's calling you to do something great but in another real instance you know that you don't can't do it on your own and doubt is speaking louder than your faith am i talking to anybody this resurrection sunday that's know what it's like for your doubt to sound louder than your faith and it's easier to lean into what's familiar than it is to venture into the unknown and some of us have been married to doubting ourselves for so long that we feel doubt is comfortable enough for us to do one more time i'm tired between two opinions i'm torn between two thoughts and the whole time i'm making no progress whatsoever i'm just in the middle i love god and i want to do right but i'm just in the middle if if that's anybody in the chat today i just want you to just type it in there be bold for a second and just shout i'm in the middle i'm in the middle i love god but i don't know which way to go i'm just torn i'm stuck in the middle and it's not that i want to live here i just haven't figured out how to get out and the one that i thought would direct me out has gone silent have you had a moment where the god you trusted went mute on what you thought was the biggest decision of your life and now you're torn between should i stay should i go should i do it or should i be still i don't think i got the skill but i hear god telling me that i can go a little bit further i don't think i'm equipped to handle it but i hear god saying if you trust me i'm going to take you further i'm torn between two very real realities this sunday morning this resurrection sunday i don't want you to think that you're by yourself because you're torn i don't want you to think that the thomas that's rising in you means you've lost your mind you are living the reality that every one of us are in right now we love god with all our hearts but we don't know if in us we've got what it takes to get to the next place we love god and we trust him and we've seen him break other people through we just don't know if that's gonna be our testimony we love god with everything in us but our struggle our complexity in this season is that i'm still tied to me so much and i haven't seen him in so long i don't know if he's going to show up i'm watching him break everybody else through but i don't know if that's going to be my story can i amplify it just a little bit jesus comes out of the grave the women see jesus out of the grave jesus shows himself to the other 10 disciples but thomas wasn't present have you had a moment where everybody else got it but you didn't when you felt like god showed up and whispered to everybody else's story but you when you heard that we saw him the grave is empty and they didn't steal his body we saw him the women told us first peter jumped off the boat to go see him he walked through the wall he met us on the road to emmaus he came in a room with a locked door we saw him for ourselves he said peace be still and we felt the peace that we felt every time he said it before and thomas walks in the room to testimonies and he's got nothing to talk about he hears everybody else say we know he's real and he's got nothing to say have you ever been in a space where everybody else had something good going on y'all had been through the same stuff and everybody else had something good going on except for you everybody else had a story except for you everybody else got a breakthrough except for you everybody else felt peace except for you and you've watched others with the glimmer in their eye again you've seen their joy restored like they headed when they first met him you see the glimmer in their eye again but yours are still dull your vision's not as clear they were made privy to something you weren't a part of matter of fact how many y'all have ever said this he came in the room and he left me out he came to see everybody but me am i judas was he talking about me at the table was i one of the ones why would he leave me out i was ready to die with him yeah i've been on the run since they put him on the cross but but i was ready to die i told him i didn't know the way so why would he leave me right here some of y'all said i told god i didn't know what my next step was and i still haven't heard him say anything he's given everybody direction but me he's giving everybody insight but me i don't know what my next step is and because i don't know let me lean into me i'm not gonna believe it until i put my hand in his hand i won't believe a thing until i can thrust my hand in his side forget this faith thing he gotta show me who he is and then day one comes and he doesn't show up day two know jesus day three silence day four nothing day five ain't heard a thing and how many y'all have ever gave god a deadline how y'all have ever said god if you don't show up in the next 2.5 days i don't know if i'm y'all heard it in a faith testimony just a few moments ago god i don't know what i'm going to do if you don't show up here day six comes and there's no jesus we end a calendar week and jesus still hasn't shown up at the end of seven days i made one request he came for y'all but he didn't come for me but on the eighth day i need somebody to put your hand on your heart and make this declaration i'm in my eighth day [Laughter] in a moment where i didn't think i was gonna see him on the eighth day in the moment where i had given up all hope of him ever showing back up and i'm just coming in the room because everybody's gathering not because i'm full of faith i'm here because they told me to come not because i was expecting him to do anything but on the eighth day all of a sudden i'm gathered with my brothers we chomping it up like we usually do i'm listening to their faith and trying to feed myself off of what they feel when all of a sudden unexpectedly with a locked door he walks into the room i want y'all to hear me i'm crazy enough to believe that wherever you are right now this is the day he's gonna walk into the room he's not gonna kick down the door he's gonna walk through it i know you've locked the door to your heart and you've said what's impossible but god's not gonna have to pick it he's gonna walk through it i know he can climb mountains and i know he can leap over walls but this time he's walking through it for you i know that he is the god of the impossible and he's about to prove to you that you've locked the door to your mind in your heart against me doing anything else powerful or profound in your life but today i'm about to reignite your faith because i'm gonna do something for you i didn't do for anybody else when i showed up i made you wait for a reason i didn't make you hate wait because i hated you i made you wait because when i came for you this one was going to be personal i showed up to them in the crowd but today i'm coming for you i walk into the room jesus walks into a room filled with people but he doesn't address the crowd he walks up directly to the one they're having their fanfare as he shows up and jesus is unmoved by the words of the other ten but he walks up directly to thomas he knows thomas has been torn and today this resurrection sunday he knows you've been torn he sees the scars that others don't see because some of the deepest scars and wounds are not external they're internal he sees where you have felt abandoned and alone and he shows up to say to you take a look they saw me and they believed but this one is personal i i need you all to put it in the chat if this is if i'm talking to you i need you to put this in there this one's personal he he he is not showing up just for the long no he's showing up for you he's not showing up in western church in eastern church for the fanfare no no this one's for you he this is why this one has to happen in your house it couldn't happen in the crowd it had to happen in your home because today he was coming just for you and he shows up to a doubting man and he gives him the thing he's prayed for publicly and silently he gives him his hand because the beauty of what god does is when he shows up he always extends himself he didn't make thomas find the wound he showed it to him the beauty of god showing up is that he'll always over extend himself just to get what you need he shows up his hands and he says feel it no one else is getting the privilege to do what you're doing today feel there but don't just do that i've got another wound in my side feel my side let your hand feel what you questioned if it really happened because i refuse to have you torn between you and it another day what if i told you that in this moment god was coming to untie you from you he was coming to release you from the thoughts in your head and in your heart that you had about who he was what he was going to do how he was going to do it and when he was going to show up i know you've questioned but i came here to answer the questions feel me walk with me because you'll never have to walk between this opinion ever again now blessed are those that didn't touch me and didn't see it and believe but thomas i showed up just for you this resurrection sunday i'm i'm crazy enough to believe that god is showing up just for you we're still in a quarantine so he could show up just for you he didn't want you distracted by fanfare he didn't want you distracted by the other disciples he wanted to show up just for you and i'm crazy enough to believe that right there in your room in your car some of you in your living room some of you are casting this on a big screen in your home crazy enough to believe that he wants you to believe and that he's going to carry you deeper further stronger than you've ever been before but he's doing it just so you will believe this sunday is for those who feel like your faith has been on a roller coaster one moment up next down taking curves and corners that you never expected you've been on the ride of your life and you're wondering is he gonna show up for me i've heard him show up for others i've listened to their stories and their testimonies but when will it be my turn this sunday is yours [Music] right where you are lord i feel the presence of god even here i believe that same presence that's here it's right where you are and right where you are i just want you [Music] one moment just put your hand on your heart i'm gonna pray a prayer of faith for every part of who you are and who you're called to be [Music] father today i thank you that we walked in down ink but we're walking out filled with faith our hearts have vacillated back and forth on if and when and where and how but today you're coming like a whirlwind to settle every thought to blow away everything that doesn't look like you and to bring us into the reality that you're god you haven't dropped us you haven't forgot us and today you're coming in the room just for us you're coming just for us you're coming just for us so today father i thank you that across the globe across this country and every corner of this country in every nation where this word will be graced to go i thank you that you are robbing hell of doubts and men and women who are afraid that you're not going to show up and today you're proving yourself as the god who will in jesus name we're going to lift this song for one moment i'm coming right back do not leave i feel the presence of god on this just lift it for one second [Music] just for me [Music] just [Music] just for me [Music] jesus came handed just for me just for me just for me [Music] jesus for me [Music] and today we believe that wherever you are that he's coming just for you so i want to do this very very quickly if this was your first time worshiping with us if today you design your prayer either one of those matter of fact if you desire your prayer and you're on your our church online platform you can raise your hand right now one of our online hosts is ready to serve you if you believe today that god spoke to you for the first time and that you want to give your heart completely to him and you want to be saved you can on church online platform you can raise your hand one of our online hosts is ready to serve you but for everyone if today you want to partner with what god is doing with malone you want to accept jesus christ into your heart you want to let us know that you're visiting with us or if you just want prayer i want you to text belong atl to 9400 that's belong atl to 94 thousand and you're gonna get a list of problems there'll be several options that can come up that you can choose from first time visitor uh you want prayer you want a partner or you want to receive christ as a matter of fact if you want to receive christ for the very first time today i want you to pray in this prayer with us and we're all going to pray it together i want you to just take a moment and pray this prayer lord today i confess that i have fallen short of what you want for my life i confess that i'm a sinner but i believe in the saving grace of jesus christ today i confess with my mouth that jesus is lord and i believe in my heart that god raised him from the dead today i accept jesus into my heart and into my life if you prayed that very short prayer i want to say congratulations welcome into the body of christ it is not difficult at all with the heart man believes and with the mouth we confess and we believe today that just by praying that prayer you have now joined the body of christ so listen if you break that prayer today i just want you to text that number belong atl to 94 thousand help us stay in touch with you in the days to come so listen we we're about to celebrate i i want to call i want to call pastor finica i i wanna i'm gonna call the girls up [Music] i mean they got easter sunday come on come on y'all got to come out front come on that i mean they are easter i mean good good good easter sunday ready for nikki i don't care what you do she said you put on your little track suit if you want to my girls gonna be easter sunday red i mean dressed within finica's boutique and dressed in vanica's boutique junior i mean they is ready to go there is red tickle everybody is ready to go fenika no funica junior asriel anything you want to say yo when he got up and said that it was personal that thing could have like took me down literally because he was saying that like for others he's gonna address it in the crowd but for you he's going to make it personal my god my god hello thing just like me recline baby anything katie nothing anything lily beautiful sunday baby i'm so full i don't want to talk i get toed up so lately i can see your hand already your hands are in um so so this is we celebrate jesus we are celebrating the official relaunching of the long church atlanta this is the first sunday you can actually partner to be a part of what it is we're doing y'all ready we're gonna do it together uh on three lord y'all just ready to go i don't know what's gonna happen ready why two not not this way let's go high you try to put your daddy's eye out i gotta preach ready one two three [Music] please [Music] me i see you [Music] me [Music] it's gonna work in your favor it's going to work in your family [Applause] i believe i see you do it again [Music] do it again do it again [Music] is [Applause] around [Music] going is [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Applause] i'm still in your hands this is my conflict [Applause] this is [Music] no [Music] oh

Channel: Belong ATL

Views: 3,897

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Id: ygbQBSijMxc

Length: 110min 20sec (6620 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 04 2021