In The Middle // Easter at Transformation Church 2020 (Michael Todd)

what's going on transformation church Natalie and I wanted to tell you from our family to yours happy resurrection happy res why you continue to abbreviate everything like that's just a new thing she's doing but we just wanted to let you know that we are praying for you yeah we want to thank you thank you for sticking with us thank you for sharing and liking and being on Instagram and watching watching your crazy lives and you've been consistent and we are just getting started because of your faithfulness because of what God is doing in this moment we are strengthening this movement and we just want to let you know that your best days are right in front of you stay plugged in stay planted where you are faithful God will make you fruitful and we believe that this is just going to be a testimony of God's faithfulness through the pandemic with everybody else stressing and worrying we know that God is going to protect us and today I want to preach a message to you that tells you what to do when you're in the middle I know some of y'all are feeling very stressed out and very um just unsure of what's to come but I know that our God has a plan for all of this so I want you to enjoy this message we love you and we cannot wait to see you and hug you again all right direction I said happy Resurrection Sunday hey I am so excited for what God is about to do for everybody that is watching they just told me there's over 50,000 people right now just on one platform watching there are families gathered right now there are people in hospitals there are first responders there are people right now that are watching alone and people watching with a group of people I want to say welcome to the biggest church service you've ever been to in your entire life the kingdom of God isn't expanding and I know this is a completely different way of doing this amazing moment of Easter but I want to let you know that God uses everything he's the only one that tells you that I'll take all the mess ups I'll take all the mistakes I'll take all the inconvenience and I'll turn them into a masterpiece so today as you are watching here with your family I'm gassed up because this is the Super Bowl of our Christian faith where we celebrate not just the death not just the burial but the resurrection of our Lord and Savior I dare somebody to say he lives come on out of your mouth just say he lives I'm looking at y'all right now in the chat come on somebody say he lives and that's why we celebrate today and I'm so grateful if you're wondering who is this black dude with a purple Barney suit on this is called Purple Rain um with this suit all yelling at me it's a dude who was broken lost jacked up addicted to all kinds of things and because of what I'm about to tell you about today the love of Jesus it transformed my life and today with everything that's in me with every fiber that I have going through technology I'm about to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ I don't want to sugarcoat it I don't want to act like I'm a preacher something else and come with a nice little hook at the end no no today my whole go I don't care what you did last night what you did today what's you're planning on doing tomorrow my whole goal is in this moment that you would find the cure for everything that humanity has been looking for and his name is Jesus and today I I'm I feel the presence of God because I'm in a big room by myself preaching to you but that's how intentional God is he cares about the details of your life and today I'm just grateful that you gave us an opportunity to present the truth to you I love you coz there's somebody that's right here right now this is just like I don't feel comfortable I want you to know I love you and God loves you and right now God's coming to turn situations around people who have lost jobs this week God's coming to turn those situations around people that have been hurting and needing hope I'm telling you right now that God is coming to turn that situation around somebody just say God's turning it around come on say it one more time God's turning it around and today I'm about to show you how to get out of the place in the spot that you've been in and for all of us the spot in the place is not the same but the God who's with us in that spot in the place is the same and today I want us to figure out what we do in the middle sea because the truth is this is one of the craziest moments in human history if we be honest this doesn't um account for what happened at the cross but outside of the cross I think this may be the craziest moment in church history that there is nobody meeting in buildings today and God has shut down everything to bring a word to you in the place where you're most comfortable wherever you're most comfortable you're at that place right now and he's trying to open your heart whether it's in your home whether it's in your bed he is opening your heart right now and he said can I tell you a message in the most comfortable place you've ever heard it and when I think about what God wants to do today he told me Michael my people the ones who've been with me are the ones who are just coming to me or the ones that have been running from me he said everybody is stuck in the middle and at this moment as we're sitting at home right now because of kovat 19 and some of us have lost jobs and things have been maneuvering I came to give a message of hope today that God has something specific and exact that he wants to tell you and he wants you to get out of the place that has had you stuck because even in this moment right now as we're standing in history it doesn't feel like history because it's our reality if we talk about it all the moments that are great in the world it's like oh you are a part of history no no no I was a part of my reality and my reality right now for many of us it's not good the reality for many of us is unsure the reality for many of us it's not knowing what's to come but I came to tell you that God is not just standing in your reality he's standing in eternity looking down at your situation he's looking at your pain he's looking at your family and he's saying I got it I'm Alpha and Omega I'm the beginning and the end but I still care about you in the middle so today that's the title of the message I just want to share with you for the next few minutes the middle because I really believe that if we don't take this Easter story from a perspective of a historical perspective like all the time we look at this story ins like oh yeah that was crazy what happened in history I want for you today to act like this is something that really happened like it was your reality like you were one of the disciples like you were walking with Jesus for all of those years and he just got crucified and if we take it from reality maybe we'll be able to understand some situations that can apply to our life right here in 2020 where many of us are stuck in the middle I want you to think about walking with Jesus giving up everything that you had leaving your business and your family I want you to think about being at the Last Supper eating with Jesus him actually saying hey this is my body this is my blood I want you to think about you watching Judas walk out the door and you knew he was about to do some of them and be a snitch and he was like I'll run over there I'll bust Judas in his face right now like I want you to think about being there in that moment I want you to think about when they came to get Jesus and they mocked him and then they beat him I want you to think about having walked with him and been around and heard all the stories and seeing the miracles not history come on coming to reality like this really happened right now I want you to think about it if you saw the man that you put all your time treasure and talent into hanging on a cross and you thought he was going to conquer the world and he ends up dying right next to regular people I want you to think of Easter in reality not let's no scripture oh he has risen no no no stay just lost who they thought was gonna save them and now this is where we picked the story in John chapter 19 and I want you to see something that maybe you've never seen before it says now this was the place of crucifixion and it was near a garden where there was a new tomb never used before verse 42 and so because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was closed at ham they laid Jesus there that is John chapter 19 okay John chapter 20 the very next chapter and the very next verse it says early Sunday morning while it was still dark Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found the stone had been rolled away hallelujah except hoto the end of John 19 said it was Friday they put him in a tomb and then it goes to John 20 and it says early Sunday morning okay Friday I'm in a tomb and you just skip to Sunday where he is resurrected let me put it a different way because some of you are dealing with this right now on Friday you're dealing with reality you're dealing with not being able to pay your bills you're dealing with the family who is dysfunctional you're dealing with having being molested when you are a young child and having to grow up with anger and rage in your life yeah I'm coming for real stuff right now you're dealing with the pain of not being supported you are in reality but then they just skip over and they say early Sunday morning and they say it's a resurrection what in the world do I do with the middle and that's what I came to talk to you about because many of you want to shout this morning but you have not gotten to the place of Resurrection yet you're still stuck in the pain you're still in the middle of the hurt you're still in the middle of not feeling like you'll be provided for and so many times in church we shout about the resurrection and we cry about the reality of the death but we don't know how to in the middle I'm about to preach in this place right now cuz I want to help you be able to figure out how to be able to conduct your life when you're in everybody say the meadow and I don't know about you but there's some areas of my life the pasture the one speaking that I'm still in the middle but this is the thing I found out about the middle it's the middle it's not for anybody else to be able to respond to the middle is your responsibility right this point down my response it's more important than the reason why when you're in the middle see your response in the middle it's more important than the reason why you're in the spot and many times we start complaining and get frustrated because our reality is not good and we get mad at about what happened to us what job we didn't get I didn't get it accepted into the school my family doesn't support me everybody looks at me I'm through the lens of my habit and not how far I've come that's the reality of it and we can't control the reality we can't control the reality of kovat night team we can't we don't know when we're going back to work going back to school we can't control the reality and we are not over the resurrection but we can do something about our response in the middle and somebody needs to hear me say this to you you're not helpless you're not hopeless you can't dictate what happens to you but you can dictate what you do with what happens to you and somebody needs to know who's in the middle right now I feel the presence of God coming in this place the person who's in the middle right now you need to make a decision my response is more important than the reason why because so many times the enemy tries to get us distracted and trying to figure out why it happened why did I lose it why did they cheat on me why did I lose why am i hurting like this and the enemy says yes great they're gonna keep going in circles in the thing that they'll never figure out when God did not send this but he's trying to make them in this situation and bring them to another place and I'm encouraging you right now no matter what you're feeling if you're in the middle in any area of your life in business in relationship in your marriage in your heart if you're in middle stop trying to figure out why you're there and start giving the right response while you're there Romans 12 tales tells us if you're in the middle you need to rejoice in our confident hope that's in Jesus be patient in trouble that means this may last a while that means I know I know that the disciples really wish it would have went from putting him in the tomb why didn't they just go straight to Sunday why did Saturday have to be there why did why did I have to go through those 24 hours of not knowing what was going to happen because there's an in deepening of your faith in the part of your life where you are not in control I just said a mouthful right now you're gonna grow more in the middle you're gonna love more in the middle you're gonna become who God created you to be in the middle but you have to go through the suffering of Saturday if you're gonna see the resurrection on Sunday and so many of us don't want to face the reality so we try to skip over Saturday and God's saying right now I don't know who you are but you may have to go to counseling you may have to be patient in this thing maybe in this season it's going to take something that you never thought you would have to do to be who God's created you to be rejoice and our confident hope which is Jesus be patient in trouble and keep on praying that's the right response Pastor Mike good that's the churchy thing I'm supposed to do well how do I really respond in the middle well this is the thing I've figured out about our response when we're scared when we're fearful when we're hurting how we respond in the middle shows what we actually worry about and the thing that I'm concerned with with everybody who's watching right now is a lot of us are dealing with worries we're not talking about a lot of us are silently suffering I know there's tons of people I can feel you right now you're pulling on me right now and I'm telling you you've been silently suffering with thoughts of suicide you've been silently suffering with thoughts of inferiority you've been silently suffering with hurt and pain and God's saying is I don't want you to worry about that anymore I did something for you that that would take away that worry you just gotta believe in me I didn't come so that you could have worry and have worry more abundantly the Bible says I came that you may have life and life more abundantly somebody needs to put in the chat I will have life oh I feel that thing in the middle even when it looks like it's dead even when the tomb has been put in somebody shout I will have life when your reality has not met up with the resurrection you still have to speak life while it's in the tomb some of y'all's businesses seem like they're in the tomb some of your relationships seem like they're in the tomb some of the relationships between a father and a son and a daughter and the mother seem like they're they're over but God said I need you to speak life while it looks like it's in the tomb and that's why Matthew chapter 6 verse 31 it says that's why I tell you not to worry this is Jesus talking don't worry about everyday life whether you have enough food and drink isn't that applicable right now during Corona don't worry about if you have enough clothes to wear isn't life more than food and drink and your body more than clothing look at the birds he gave us an eternal sermon illustration like today if you're in a place that's not raining I want you to go outside and I want you to listen for birds and I want you to see that God is telling you that no matter what you're going through I'm still providing for inanimate animals in the middle of this epidemic in this pandemic and you don't think I would provide for you and your family and your heart look at it I love the Bible I love the Bible it says look at the birds they don't plant or harvest or store up foods and barns they don't have 401ks they don't have retirement plans and he says and they don't plant or harvest or start foods and your heavenly Father feeds them I'm coming to tell somebody all the things you've been worrying about in the middle God say and I thought that I'll take care of that if you would just trust me and put your hope in me I will take care of you in the middle he says and by the way aren't you more valuable to him than they are I came to tell you that God cares about you more than he cares about the birds out there and the flowers on the ground he cares about you even if you're in the middle I feel the presence of God right now somebody's heart is coming back alive right now somebody's faith is being changed in this moment God is saying and why he said can all your worries listen to this add a single moment to your life what I'm what I'm a little afraid of is that the worry is actually depleting you of the life that you do have instead of you giving God the worry and living the life that you do have he says you can't add no time to your life he said and why worry about your clothing look at the lilies he gave us another example he said the lilies of the field and how they grow they don't work or make their clothing yep Solomon in all his glory or Beyonce and jay-z and all their glory or Kim and Kanye and all of their glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are and if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown away in a fire tomorrow he will certainly care about you the right response in the middle has to be anchored and who cares for you I came to tell you that if you felt like nobodies cared for you if you're in the middle thinking that you got to figure it all out by yourself to prove yourself that you're a real man or a real woman or you're a boss so you're an independent woman God says will you lay all those burdens down and give it to me because the only anchor you're gonna have in the middle is that I care for you that I was thinking about you when you wasn't thinking about me then I've made plans and ordered your steps and God saying I care for you and some of y'all are saying that's great Pastor Mike but how do I really apply that in the middle I am so glad you asked I like breaking things down to understand them so we can get patterns so I want to introduce to you something that I call the method of the middle because if you get the method of the middle then you'll be able to manage in the middle and what I found no matter if you're a CEO or you're you're somebody that's living on the street or in government assistance or you're somebody who's had a lot or somebody who lives with a little no matter what you're going through right now the middle still haves the same things happening in it let me prove it to you so everybody's middle and everybody's life starts with their reality so right now many of us are dealing with the reality that we don't like and can I just say to you that for every person who is struggling and you clicked on to this live feed as a last attempt to trust God I have not slept most of this entire week listening to God for each one of the people who were tuned into this message because God is so concerned about you he cares so much that's why I'm up here sweating in a purple suit with a turtleneck on in the springtime he cares about you and listen whatever your reality is you got to understand what comes after your reality because anytime you have a reality then you get presented with the dilemma and when you get in a dilemma this is where it's very important that you make sure that you are listening to the right things cuz in the middle when you get in a dilemma that's where the enemy tries to come in and he tries to present deception this is what happened all the way back in the garden with Adam and Eve remember they were in the garden in a perfect place and all they had was a dilemma that that honestly was protection for them but they saw it with the wrong perspective and when God was saying don't eat from this one tree they said why would God not let us lead from that one tree and it became a dilemma when it was actually protection and that's when the enemy came in with deception did God really say you were gonna do that did God really say your marriage was gonna last did God really say nobody really cares about you you're too fat you're too young you're too dish you're too that and when listen to the enemy's deception when you're in a dilemma it will make you make the wrong decisions and this what happens in everybody's middle it starts with something that that is reality to you and it's real and it hurts and it's frustrating and then it turns into a dilemma that turns into deception that turns into you making a decision now I don't know about you I'm a teller myself but if you are out there and you're watching this and you've made some bad decisions could you raise a hand right now come on right now if you make bad decisions I need you to raise your hand right now come on in the trap if you make come on somebody's raising their hands and they feed somebody did a herkie I see you right now you don't made a whole bunch of bad decisions okay the reason why we have to know what happens in the middle it's because anytime you make a decision the next thing that comes after any decision is death when you make a decision something's gonna die if you make the wrong decision purpose dies dreams die relationships die if you make the right decision pride dies preference dies your your your way of your plan dies and whenever you make the right decision a decision that lines up with God's Word the decision that that that seeks the kingdom then God promises there will be deliverance and this is what this Easter story is all about it's about how to navigate the middle like all of these disciples the middle had a dilemma in it the middle had had deception in it the middle had a decision in it the middle had death in it and the middle ultimately will have deliverance and there would be a resurrection but it only can be a resurrection if I outlast the middle and I know there's people here like Pastor Mike that sounds great but but can you give me some more than that cuz I'm trying to really figure out how to make this thing happen I love the Bible the reason I love the Bible is because God gives us examples of real people that were around when this happened that got caught in the middle let's use um Jesus his mom Mary for an example let me show you how this works Mary the mother of Jesus her reality at this moment was honestly a reality that nobody else could understand coz Mary's reality was her son was dead the same way that some of our dreams have been dead some of our business plans have been dead the thing that we thought we were going to do was dead and it presented a dilemma do you know what Mary's dilemma was what she had to work through in the middle her dilemma was this went against everything that God promised her do y'all remember in in in in the beginning of Luke I believe it was when when um Mary was minding her own business and and Jesus pop popped up not Jesus but an angel Gabriel popped up on her and was like hey Mary and she was like what you doing in my house he was like hey I'm about to let you know that you're pregnant by the Holy Spirit I ain't even done it with nobody and he was like yeah this is a miraculous conception and and she didn't the thing I kept thinking about is she did not ask for Jesus she was chosen to carry this and I don't know who this is for but there's some people right now who are going through something in the middle that you didn't even ask for I didn't ask to go through this I didn't ask to just start that business you gave me the business I didn't ask to be abused I didn't ask to be hurt like that I didn't ask for that and what the enemy tries to do is come in in deception like he did for Mary and this is the thing I need you to know that when you're in the middle the devil was trying to convince Mary that this was the end that God's promise wasn't gonna come to pass that her son was really dead but I came to encourage somebody who's in the middle right now in the middle the promise is not Boyd because of the pain somebody needs to understand that the promise is not void because the pain is real see if Mary would have gotten into this place of doubt right here she would have thought what God said to her before Jesus was born what's void but I came to tell somebody today that just because we're in the middle and it looks dead there is more to the story if it's not over that means God's not done with it that means there's more chapters to be written and I'm telling you right now God's trying to do a work even in the middle I thought about it my wife um she's the best person in the world that I know and I thought about how many times you you you never need to make a decision in the heat of pain and that's where people are right now somebody's about to close their business somebody's about to leave their family somebody's about to give up on the marriage and it's the wrong time to do that because you're still in the middle and you've listened you've looked at the dilemma you've listened to the deception and now you're about to make a wrong decision and I thought about this my wife and we have three beautiful kids and we've already always talked about having three or four children and one of the things that ended up happening is that when we went in to have our first daughter Isabella we were trying to have her naturally and then they came in and said something cannot happen um naturally so we're gonna have to do a c-section and I thought about this in the moment I was thinking about this that would have been the wrong time to bring up the promise hey babe I know you're going through the greatest pain that you've ever had right now but do you wanna have some more kids see I knew she wanted to have more kids but her vision and her perspective was blurry because she was in the middle of pain and some of y'all are making decisions right now in the middle of the dilemma and you've listened to the deceptions and God's saying don't make the decision now to abort the promise that I gave you you will produce fruit your family will be saved your business will be successful your life will be whole but you cannot make the wrong decision if you've listened to the lies and the deception and the crazy thing about Mary is that she wasn't the only one in the middle let me go back down here I love this Peter one of Jesus's disciples he was in the middle - yeah yeah Peter Peter reality was the only man Jesus who ever actually cared for him loved him and looked past all his faults and saw his needs is now dead that's his reality and the dilemma is is that Peter was a classic mess-up and I don't know about you but your boy has messed up tons of times like many people that are watching right now have you ever done something that you said that you would never do and you did it well you're in good company because Peter did the same exact thing see Peter's dilemma was that they were at a dinner table with Jesus and and Jesus told them what was going to happen he told them and that's the beautiful thing about it it's crazy that Jesus tells us in reality where we're at he's like hey you're gonna make it to the resurrection there's gonna be victory on the other side of it you're gonna make it but when it's real to us somehow that's not enough to carry us in the middle and Peter sat with Jesus was after less Last Supper he even cut um some dudes ears off he was like don't come at my god Peter was like a gangster like I don't know like I feel like Peter stood like this and was like what up full and like the guards came to get Jesus and he was like shank shank any shank - dude and she's like Peter calm down and he picked up the area's like my bad bro put it back on like cuz Peter was always messing up and that guy is dead and now he has a dilemma cuz when he was sitting with Jesus Jesus said Peter I know you arrived for me but um when it's all goes down you're gonna deny me three times Jesus don't even talk like that beau don't even talk like that be God you know I'm down for you ride or die ride or die and he literally said Peter calm down I know the beginning from the end you're gonna deny me three times he's like don't ever test my loyal to you like that on the set on this and he started seeing walking and everything right there okay and Jesus said we'll see and you know what Peters dilemma was as when they actually came and got Jesus when he was arrested Peter did what he said he'd never do and I don't know if any of y'all can relate to that in the middle but sometimes when you get desperate and sometimes when you get in the spot you never thought you would be in and sometimes when when when the the way money was coming in is not coming in no more and when somebody that old girlfriend from high school starts reaching out when you and your wife are in a disagreement or I'm coming to your house right now when you spending most of your time on Facebook and God's trying to tell you hey I'm trying to do something for you right now and you do the thing that you said you would never do see the problem with Peter is he now because he did it see some Christians and some people all of like I've never done anything that ain't my testimony I have messed up a million times and what the enemy tries to do in this moment of deception is he tries to make you think that your worth is connected to your works and I know that's how some of you feel that's that's why some of you have never come to an actual physical location because you know you've done some stuff that don't line up with what you really wanted to do but you did it because you were in the middle you were desperate you were searching and and now people have made you feel judged and I'm coming to tell you that the grace of God is available for you the grace of God is here right now for every mess-up for every person who's done what they said they would never do for every person who had the abortion for every person that cheated on their wife for every person that still takes medicine to go to sleep and abuses it for every person who's lived in a sexually alternate lifestyle for every person who has lied cheated see the enemy wants you to believe that there's degrees to sin but God said when I saw you I saw my passion and I said I was gonna take the punishment so that the enemy could not deceive you another day I feel the presence of God that somebody has been believing and I hear your heart beating fast and tears are flowing down some people's face right now because you've believed that you're only worth it if your works are good and Peter had to make a decision in the middle of what he was going through Peter had to decide I feel this so strong that he was going to focus on the character of Jesus and not focus on the concerns of critics and that's what you're gonna have to do in this season because some of you are about to make a decision to change your whole life in the middle of what you're doing in the middle of going the wrong direction you're about to repent you're about to turn I feel that thing so strong that some of y'all got plans to do stuff that you know goes against the will of God for your life that you knowing that is gonna hurt your family and God said this is gonna be the time where you repent and all that word means is turn somebody say turn I feel a turn in this world somebody your life because you clicked on this live stream because you're watching this rebroadcast everything is about touch art and the only way it can turn is if while you're in the middle you focus on the character of Jesus and not the concerns of the critics and you know critics can be family members oh oh you know critics can be the very people that was in the club which you popping the bottles and doing everything else those will be the same people like you have changed what's wrong with you now oh you how old are you how no no no what you got to understand is that at some point you have to make a decision that lines up with the purpose God sent you to earth for and not for popularity for people and Peter had to trust and focus his eyes on the character of Jesus and not the chattering of critics and I just feel they're so strong because somebody's about to make a decision that your whole family is not going to go with but through your decision do your desire to actually make it out of the middle not just exist because y'all know this is the enemy's plan for families and generations some of y'all families can literally mark this this was their dilemma this was the deception this is the decision that's the death that happened this is the dilemma that's what it's a big mama that's what the decision they made and that's where death happened and it's been cycles and years and generations of the same curses your mama was molested and now you start feeling insecurity then you make a decision to find love in all the wrong places and then you feel death and worthless and useful and and useless this is what I'm telling you right now the enemy doesn't have new tricks but right now I feel the faith of God rising up some somebody and we're gonna make different decisions in the middle somebody say I'm making a different decision in the middle somebody say it one more time I'm making a different decision in the middle person like why don't you preacher so passionately it's because I've had conversations with people who felt like when they make the right decision they were going to get ostracized and I want to apologize you know this all came to life for me this this year I had no last year actually I had the opportunity to connect with my bro Kanye West and I got to speak at the Sunday service in the forum to a bunch of people and when I was doing that I was sitting there telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ in this huge arena that all these people have played in before and they started singing this song called hands on and it convicted me and I want you to look at the lyrics of this song because it's one thing to be criticized by people who don't believe in people who don't have your best interest in heart but it is a totally different thing to be criticized and ostracized and made to feel lower and less than by people who are supposed to be Christ followers and many of you watching right now you stop messing with God because of Christians you stop doing having anything to do with the relationship you really need in your life because you are hurt by people and that's why next week I'm doing a series that starts called deliver us from people and I believe that there's gonna be healing and I want you to come back for that because we're gonna start talking about relationships and I believe God is gonna peel back the layers of your life and you're gonna be able to get free right there in your bedroom I feel the presence of God on that but they started playing these songs and I want to put some lyrics up it said said I'm fitting to do a gospel album what have you been hearing from the Christians they'll be the first ones to judge me make it feel like nobody loved me that is the deception of the enemy to make you feel like when you make this decision people who love God are gonna think that I'm not worthy enough and then people who don't love God is just gonna think I'm weird and this was the same thing he pinned he said told people God was my mission what have you been hearing from the Christians they'll be the first one to judge me and make it feel like nobody loves me this is what I want to do and I want to be so sincere in this moment because I don't know if I'll ever have your attention ever again but right now in this moment if you have ever been hurt by somebody that wears the badge of Christian Christ follower pastor preacher on somebody who knows the Bible if you've ever been hurt by them or you've been criticized by them I want to apologize to you on behalf of every person who hurts you and this is from my heart because that hurt has keeps you kept you away from healing and today I feel the Spirit of God coming to your home and coming to your life and some of you have just thought they just want me for my money or this is listen anybody has who has misused power or manipulated or done anything to make you feel like God is not who he is and his character is good and his character is love and his character is for you I want to say I'm sorry cuz that is not the character of our God the character of our God is found in the scriptures when it talks to us in second Corinthians I believe it is um I don't know let's just go John 3:16 let me make it very plain let me make it the most famous scripture for God so loved the world that he did what he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life everybody knows verse 16 but the character of God is revealed in verse 17 but God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but he came to save the world through him and if you have been held down because of anybody's criticism right now I want to ask you could you please just focus on the character of Jesus and the reason why this is so real to me is because Michael has a middle - I'm not just talking about old Bible characters but right now in this moment I am dealing with the reality that hits my heart to the core some of you may not know this but I'm gonna go ahead and be hot humble open and transparent and be a real a man up here that happens to be a pastor and I'm gonna tell you that me and my wife right now we have a son that has minimal verbal skills he is four years old and he has autism and every day I wake up and my son cannot verbally tell me what he wants to eat or what he wants to drink or what he wants to do there's something in my heart that begins to penetrate MJ is my namesake I'm getting emotional right now because I know that every day that I wake up I have to deal with that reality no matter how many people get saved no matter how many people feel auditoriums no matter how much money I make my reality is I want my son to be able to function in a way that he could support his life and he can't at this moment and the dilemma is that I teach faith to everybody else so the dilemma is I have a reality that doesn't look like the resurrection he is sitting in my face and I rock him to sleep every night and my dilemma is I have to get up every week and tell everybody God can do it God can make away I have to look at my wife when she's in the bed fighting depression off of her because to her thinking it's something that she did and I have to say no God is still good the dilemma is I have to teach and live something that is contrary of what I'm experiencing at this moment and that is where the enemy tries to come in with deception and he tries several times every week he to make me feel like God can do miracles through me but not do miracles for me and I know this may not be your situation but you can plug-and-play your situation in here but for me that's my reality that's my dilemma and that's my deception but baby I get to make a decision and me and Natalie have made a decision as for me and my house oh I feel this thing no matter what happens no matter who comes no matter what goes no matter if he never speaks a whole sentence I have made a decision that I will serve who it doesn't make the meadow feel any better it doesn't make the fact that after this I'm gonna go to his playroom and he's not gonna even know I preached today and all he's gonna be looking for is love from his father that doesn't make it any any less less real but when I make the right decision then there comes the death to some things and see my pride has died because of the decision that I've made like the enemy used to say you can't tell nobody that you can't do that oh yeah baby I'm using everything the Bible tells me I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the words of my own testimony this is what we're really going through and there's been some things my pride has died here my plan has died here my preferences died here and now when something dies it creates an opportunity for God to do a miracle for him to deliver for him to do what seems impossible and when there's death and deliverance that's the only time it could be a resurrection and I don't know what your reality is I don't know what your dilemma is I don't know what deception you have believed but today I want you to know there's a decision you can make in the middle that can change everything and the reason I know this it's because your middle marries middle Peters middle and my middle all have the same thing in common that God stepped into our middle CC some of you don't understand but God was faced with the dilemma as well the reality was oh I feel the presence of God that in the garden Adam and Eve made a decision ah that separated humanity from the Creator and that was reality Eden was shut down like all your favorite clothing stores that's why I'm glad everybody's at home on Easter because we would be looking like a Target ad and a Walmart poster at this current moment right now okay the reality was we were eating was shut down and we were separated from God and God had a dilemma God was separated from us but he wanted to be with us and he said there's no way because I'm holy that I can go and be with him unless there is a sacrifice that is made and this is the thing that you need to know I need you to write this down God always makes a way in the middle I feel this thing right now no matter what your reality is and no matter if it doesn't line up with the resurrection no matter what your expectation was and it has not lined up with your experience no matter what's going on right now God always steps from reality matter of fact he steps from eternity he ain't even on this he's all around it and he'll step into your dilemma and he said he said I'm not just gonna stay here in this dilemma because the enemy has been deceived he think he won he the enemy thinks and that's the same thing he thinks for your life because you've been addicted to drugs that's the same thing he thinks about your family that he's won I got him forever hey God said the enemy really thinks that he has out matched me but my one of my names is a matchless God that means nobody can step to me not not a sickness not a disease not diabetes not coronavirus he says I have the name above every name I'm the king of Kings the Lord of lords the one that sits on high but works in the details of my children's life and he said the deception is the enemy thought he won but then God made a decision and when God made a decision he decided to send Jesus I'm about to preach this thing right here and when he sent Jesus to earth he sent Jesus to earth so that me and you could have an ability to be back in right relationship with God that's why second Corinthians 5:19 tells us that God was in Christ so when he sent him he was in Christ and he was working through Christ to to reconcile the entire world back to him but the only way that this could work is that his decision to send Jesus had to move to a place of death and that's why the cross it's the symbol of our freedom it's not just a medallion that we wear it's not just something that we put on t-shirts and outside of churches this is the symbol that represents your payment the cross is your receipt for salvation it's the thing that proves that God made a way in the mail and that's why as he sat there and took the scourging for us as he sat there and had a crown of thorns put on his head as he sat there and he let them abuse him the Bible says that he could have called allegiance of angels to save him but he saw you and he saw me addicted to pornography and he said if I don't die they can't be delivered if I don't take this death they're going to live in it and God didn't want that and he made a way in the middle and this is the thing I need everybody to see right now now it's your turn to make a decision are you gonna live your entire life in the middle not recognizing what God has done for you can I be very clear about how Jesus died who I feel the presence of God when Jesus died when I saw this in the Bible it hit me because so many of us are dealing with so many dilemmas and deceptions and now we're at the point where we got to make a decision and the Bible tells us in Luke that Jesus literally died in the middle of two thieves literally what I'm talking about in the middle there's so much imagery and symbolism and God was speaking to your situation all the way 2,000 plus years ago when he saw that you were in the middle of losing your house and keeping your family fed you were in the middle of staying in this marriage or walking away from it you were in the middle of two things that were trying to rob you they had an exchange in the middle and one thief said in Luke 22 32 I believe it is he was like hey aren't you the son of God well if you're the son of God why don't you save yourself while you're at it why don't you save us at that moment that thief made a decision like some people sad to say that a watching this will make that even though God is close to us we're still not gonna make a decision that could free us forever and he said I won't believe I can't believe you're dying here just like us but then there was another man that had done the crime another man who was guilty another man who did do it but he had a different perspective on what christ was doing he said bro don't you even understand and have the fear of God when we're sitting here and we're guilty for what we did and the thing that you gotta understand is we should have been in the place that Jesus was in it was my sin it was my addiction to pornography it was my lying it was my cheating it was everything I did that put him on the cross and in that moment this man said Jesus hey listen I know I messed up a whole bunch and I know there's a lot of stuff I need to explain and and I really don't even have time for that Jesus doesn't need your explanation he was there anyway he saw it he saw it happen he said but um this one thing could you at this moment at this last moment I'm I'm turning I'm gonna repent I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go away from what I've been doing and I'm gonna turn to you and I don't know if he was standing on this cross and he just literally just turned a little bit I don't know if the life was sucked out of his body so much that he couldn't really do anything but somehow he turned to God and listen to Jesus's response on the cross he literally says to him he says hey today you'll be with me in paradise your decision to believe in me has changed everything in your life and today I want to give you that exact opportunity because your decision in the middle right now your decision of faith and Jesus his commitment to death will produce the deliverance you need when Jesus stretched out his hands and they put nails in his hands and nails in his feet he did it so that he could pay for everything you would and at this moment I feel the presence of God coming into your homes meeting you on your porch meeting you wherever you are right now and I want you to feel the love of God poured out through a man giving his entire life who did nothing just for you but I've messed up so many times in you don't know how bad I really am and God said I knew it and so I paid the ultimate death so that you have ultimate freedom and I don't know who you are but the death of Jesus Christ was not worthless this was the most expensive payment anybody could ever make and he made it so that you could be delivered from saying delivered from pain delivered from lying deliver from cheating delivered from the hurt delivered from the pain delivered from the loss and that's why we celebrate resurrection I need to tell you something that if you don't remember anything that I say ever again you need to remember this the resurrection is not an event the resurrection is an interruption any time that God can interrupt your pain that is a resurrection anytime you're in the middle of a situation that seems hopeless God says I will produce a resurrection and I'll interrupted do you know that Jesus interrupted the enemy's plan in the middle remember it was Friday Friday the reality was he was in a tomb an early Sunday morning he rose but do you know what he was doing in the middle he was interrupting the plan of the enemy the Bible tells us that he was in the belly of the earth I feel the presence of God and he was fighting and he took the keys of death hell and the grave and he took came back with all power so that you could live your life in a resurrection I don't care what's broken in the middle I don't care what's hurting in the middle a resurrection is an interruption today God wants to interrupt whatever lie you've believed I don't care what reality you're facing right now I don't care that you can't figure it out right now God wants to meet you and make a way in the middle I know this has presented some dilemmas but there's a resurrection and God is ready to interrupt it I know that you have believed the deception but God's saying right now there's a resurrection and I want to interrupt it today is your moment to make the greatest decision of your life [Music] pass the mic how do I do that the Bible tells us all you have to do is call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved can I be real real with you I struggle with what I was going to teach today because I wanted to go super deep and then I wanted to make people laugh and then I want to do all these other things but God told me this moment is not about you or anybody else this moment is about me getting to my children and letting them know that even with all of the mess I still love them in the middle and I don't know who that's for right now but there's some person in this and this a moment who's really feeling like God has forgotten about them he hasn't matter of fact he thought about you before you were even here and that's why he said Jesus and today I want to give you the opportunity not to just live with your reality live with the dilemmas be tricked by the deception make wrong decisions have to see death in your purpose and family I want to give you an opportunity to make a decision that brings deliverance wherever you are right now I want to pray with you I've never given an altar call sitting down before I just I don't know I feel like this is more personal I feel like this is a moment where somebody's in a vulnerable place you've been searching for God in all the wrong places you thought if you got more and if you got in those connection groups and if you if you had the success or the house somehow you would be fulfilled and the truth is there is a hole that you have in your heart that God can only feel and until you invite him into that area you make a decision to accept the way that God made for you in the middle of whatever you're going through right now you always be searching today is the day where you make the greatest decision of your life and I believe so firmly that this is your moment this is your moment yes you I'm talking to you this is your moment if you want to accept Jesus Christ into your life to be your personal Lord and Savior this is not about being spooky and crazy and this is the thing I need everybody to understand God is so good that he accepts you with all your your habits see some of y'all like I got some stuff I gotta clean up first there's some stuff I need to change and God says if you give me your heart I'll help you change your habits if you give me what you have I'm the only one that can make it what it will be today is your decision that changes everything and you can't focus on the critics right now you can't focus on them this is the time you focus on the character of Jesus because my God always makes it way in the middle if that's you in your home watching this at whatever time you're watching it some of you are already crying tears and some of you are sitting in so much pride and your insides are shaking because they're saying this is what we need this is what we've been searching for but you don't want to be a hypocrite and you don't want to have anybody talk about you listen all that doesn't matter see the decision you're about to make right now is not just a decision for your eternity it's a decision for your history - and right now God wants us to come in but you got to make the decision if that's you right now would you just lift your hands wherever you are come on I don't care who's sitting around you I could care less your life matters more than what people think about you right now just lift your hand if you're tired of doing it your way just lift your hand I want to pray for you I feel the presence of God coming in invading people's lives right now you're making that decision right now and we're gonna pray and that transformation church we pray all together so I want everybody that's watching every device every person sitting around every teenager every child I want you to pray this prayer with me because I believe that total deliverance is happening even in this moment right now everybody say God thank you for sending Jesus and making away in the middle just for me today I give you my life I turn from everything that's not like you and I turn to you God heal me deliver me change me from the inside out I accept the resurrection is now an interruption and I give you my life in Jesus name Amen yo if you just prayed that prayer I need everybody to start clapping cuz I know there are thousands of people no I need you to clap right now in your house right now there are thousands of people made a decision that changes everything in the middle what I'm telling you is right now you need to know that you don't have to walk this alone we don't want you to walk this alone we want to help you I want you to text the number that's on the screen right now tech save to this number and we're gonna help you we're gonna walk with you and this is all I'm asking you I'm begging you right now just keep coming back every Sunday we're gonna be here next week I'm gonna do a series called deliver me from people and I'm telling y'all y'all do not want to miss this and then after that we're going into a series called relationshipgoals reloaded and we're gonna help your relationships get in place I'm telling you I want to walk with you I want to be your coach I want to be your guide and we want to help you we want to pray for you we want to stand with you we want to be real with you we want you to know that the best days of your life or right in front of you thank you Father for what you did today god thank you for what you did over two thousand years ago thank you for standing in the middle for us and God today we worship you this is not about an Easter Bunny this is not about eggs this is about the way you made in the middle for each one of us and today we call you who you are you're a good father and you're a waymaker you're a miracle worker you're the light in the darkness no matter how dark the middle gives God we can trust you right now and today we make a decision that we will not stop in the middle we won't let our deceptions be able to control our decisions but we will call you who you are and we will worship you in this moment can we do that right now can we call God who he is somebody say we make miracle work promise come on say light in the darkness my god that is right now in your room I dare you to lift your voice and say weight maker way may hey [Music] that's our guy guys [Music] you come on situation Wow [Music] by the way tomorrow come on [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] stop stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] stop never stop working stop [Music] waymaker miracle worker come on believe it right there my god it's changing right now same way you make whoa I feel the presence of God there I want to pray over you and I want to pray that no matter what the middle brings you this week that you're gonna remember that your reality has a resurrection on the other side of it no matter how it feels no matter what the enemy tries to lie to you about no matter the deception you're gonna make the right decision to focus on Jesus and in that he already took the death that we didn't have to take and there's deliverance coming and you will experience a resurrection father I pray in the name of Jesus for everybody that is watching right now I declared that the best days of their life are right in front of them I thank you Father God that everything is moving and changing towards purpose and destiny and God I asked you right now that every dark place light it up every place father God that they've been stuck in interrupting I declare and I believe that you are a way making cut and today father our lives our destinies and our families have changed we stand firm on the anchor who is Jesus Christ who stood in the middle for all of us so we we give you glory we honor you and we tell the world that the resurrection was not an event but it was interruption if you believe it just subscribe thank you so much for watching this message and if this has impacted you in any way I'm asking you to do a couple of things number one join transformation nation join us right here every Sunday gather your friends and your family and be a part of not just this moment but this movement the second thing I would ask you to do is share share this with your friends your co-workers people that are around you because transformation is just one click away the last thing I would ask you to do is partner with us financially if this ministry is impacting your life transforming you I would ask you to consider pray about what you could give to help us take this message to the whole world I want you to know that we love you and your best days are right in front of you this week I want you to live a transformed life see you next week [Music]

Channel: Transformation Church

Views: 276,074

Rating: 4.95015 out of 5

Keywords: Transformation Church, Represent, Michael Todd, Mike Todd, Transformation Church live, Transformation Church Worship, Charles Metcalf, Sunday Service, Holy Spirit, Faith, God, Jesus Christ, transformchurchtv, representtv

Id: vHnzVaJg68o

Length: 67min 29sec (4049 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 12 2020