Special Guest: Michael Thompson (2021-07-11)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning city sanctuary let's stand to our feet in this place [Music] let's give the lord some praise this [Music] morning i can feel the joy of the lord rising in my soul i can feel it every sorrow is swallowed in his smile for i can me it i will see oh i will shout i've gotta let all my prey down in my body i will i praise the the lord i will praise him with every bone in my body i will praise the lord i will praise the lord i will for no matter what [Music] there is now no shadow [Music] i will [Music] [Applause] i will praise the lord i will praise the lord i will praise him with every bone in my body i will praise the lord i will praise the lord i will praise him i will praise the lord i will praise the lord i will praise him with every bone in my body i will praise lord i will praise the lord i will no matter what [Music] [Applause] [Music] i believe the lord wants to do something great anybody got a testimony that the lord has been faithful what about the rest of you put your hands together in this place and say lord i thank you for your goodness for your mercy he's been mighty good so put your hands together testifies it he has done such marvelous things marvelous things i will praise him cause he has always been good to me he's so good [Music] he has done such marvelous [Music] [Applause] [Music] no matter what hey [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] boy [Music] i will praise no matter what hey [Applause] [Music] somebody in this place ought to give the lord some thanks because he's been good he's been good turn to your neighbor and say he's been more than good i don't know about you but whatever you've come through i believe that the lord wants to show you the victory on the other side he's worthy to be praised i believe that victory is in the house today because the redeemed are just testifying of the faithfulness of god we praise the lord in this place because i will see a victory tell your neighbor says i'm gonna see it can you see it oh blessed [Music] the weapon may be formed but it won't prospect because though the darkness falls it won't prevail cause the god i serve knows lonely how to triumph [Music] cause my god will never fail and my god will never fail cause i'm gonna see your victory i'm gonna [Music] i'm gonna see your victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] well there's power in the mighty name of jesus there's power in the mind name of jesus [Music] every war he wages he will win [Music] i'm not backing down from any giant as i know how this story yes i know [Applause] [Music] the victory [Music] [Music] me [Music] lord we put our confidence in you every situation that has come before us we realize that you're not out of control you're in control of all things for you [Music] you take what the enemy meant [Music] [Applause] you turn it forward foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] time [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] we celebrate you in this place oh god you're faithful you're so [Music] good [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign to you [Music] bless you [Music] i love you [Music] i've been held in your head [Music] of the goodness of god [Music] [Music] i will of the goodness [Music] i know [Music] is [Music] for my [Applause] who i will say [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] every day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this morning [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] the lord's in the house he wants to receive the glory for his goodness psalm 23 where this verse this song is taken from it talks about in the midst of the value set of death people that we've lost or dreams that's that seem like they've died in the middle of verse 5 of enemies anybody feel like you've had any enemies well we know we have an arch enemy right in the midst of enemies in the midst of death or loss in the midst of all that what did you say surely surely surely beat goodness and loving kindness or mercy shall follow me all the days of my life [Music] hallelujah i'm just going to invite you into a worship service this morning [Music] i'm going to invite you to if the enemy has come against you if you feel like you've had pains and loss and death good things to deal with i want you to remind the enemy remind yourself and give glory to god this morning that surely [Music] surely goodness and mercy your loving kindness is running after me sing it come on let's worship him let's give god the praise you're welcome to join me in the altar [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] goodness is [Applause] [Music] i give you everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on and give him praise today come on and praise it oh hallelujah hallelujah praise god the devil in the very first temptation tried to tempt eve that god was not good oh if he really was good he'd let you have this tree this fruit remember the story the devil is always accusing god of not being good well every time that we read in the old testament that they began to praise god for his goodness and his mercy the glory of god showed up because god is good and when you praise god for who he is he shows up wow praise god thank you jesus we give you praise thank you lord [Music] thank you jesus do not fear the devil nor his tactics even though he tries to sift you like wheat says the spirit for the lord will raise up a standard against him for the lord is good and my mercy is everlasting and my truth shall endure to all generations lift me up this day and give me praise and my goodness will surely follow after you says the spirit of the lord hallelujah hallelujah oh come on and praise him oh we praise you jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah come on in your personal way get a personal breakthrough right now get a personal breakthrough right now get a personal breakthrough praise for his goodness oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah lord jesus hallelujah we praise you today thank you for your goodness wow wow we praise him today i think that's the father's response to your worship he he tabernacles among his people so today we give him the praise for his goodness today as we remain standing for prayer remember the ted hamilton family and i saw some of the hammonds come in which his wife ted's wife was ruthie hammond's hamilton and ted ruth have been a part of this church for a number of years and they were shut in through the cobot stuff and all that ted passed away a man that loved kids a man that has a legacy of love ministry kids this service today is is today at two to three is a viewing or wake rather in the student center not in here in the student center and three p.m 3 p.m is the service today so please remember them and your prayers and please join us if you can today in the student center remember there are many people that need the goodness of god he is good all the time remember calvin durham janet benjo anna copeland jesse simmons elaine efford tracy uh taft and yvonne cox in your prayers today all these have a story all of them are precious to us and precious to the lord and all of them are a recipient today of god's goodness you have something you want to pray about give it to the lord if not just simply offer a praise give him thanks today for his goodness and his faithfulness to you before we're seated let's pray together our father we give you praise we thank you for the spirit spirit said that the devil is is certainly a liar we thank you god that you are good all the time we praise you for your faithfulness to us we thank you for your goodness oh lord your goodness it's running it's pursuing after us oh yes lord we thank you for that even deuteronomy 28 1 that these blessings will pursue us they will run after us as we obey you lord today we give you our praise praying lifting up these that we comfort these that need healing deliverance show them your goodness so great god and savior show them your love lord give them your mercy your loving kindness today and lord we thank you for shedding that abroad in our hearts through jesus christ and by the power of the spirit we receive it in faith everybody said amen amen praise god amen you might wave to somebody turn around and smile chase uh not shake a hand but wave a hand at somebody there around you today and make you feel welcome glad to have you in the house of god today amen especially glad to have my sister and brother-in-law karen jerry ellard and my sister-in-law ginger robinson today we've got a lot of family here today so we're really really really blessed my wife is is with her mother over in the children's church area if you were here last week and saw and so we are excited to welcome some family members in uh for a time here in deland florida we want to ask you to stay connected how do we do that by asking you to go on to the city sanctuary app if you haven't downloaded it it's free praise god how about that and you can go on to that city sanctuary church app and you can press the connect tab and then also the check-in tab and you can give us your praise report and your prayer requests as we prepare for giving they're going to put the ways that we can worship god and giving on the screen and again there's the model church out in the lobby that you can also get through i want to report some things we haven't said much about our renovations project we've been busy trying to work on pricing for the remodeling and so forth and so we're trying to get the final touches on that but we will be soon but we did we have had some great giving everyone has been so generous and kind and we thank you for your love for god's house just uh recently i told you last week about a fifteen thousand dollar special gift a 2500 gift but this week we had a 50 000 love gift amen and that awesome praise the lord praise god for that we're just so blessed and we thank god for his goodness and i believe he has wanted us to reach more people for him and so we give god the glory and we thank him so worship the lord out of the true spirit of thanksgiving today as you give let's let's pray offer him our our giving today our father it's with grateful hearts that we have worshipped you lord in your goodness thank you for being faithful thank you for being true someone we can depend on thank you for being good all the time today lord may we with thanksgiving at this time of our worship remember how you have blessed us may we take a moment and reflect on how many great blessings we have from god and may today we give back to you and worship the tithe and the offering may we bless you as we give with a heart that is filled with thanksgiving and worship lord bless your people as they do this and lord we thank you that you are our jehovah jireh the lord our provider we thank you that your covenant for this body uh all stands intact that the lord will provide all of our need according to his riches and glory he'll also give us an abundance that we may out of our overflow give to every good work for that we give you our thanks again and our praise in jesus name and amen god bless you again [Music] hey good morning city sanctuary family let's take a couple of minutes to make sure you're staying connected this week hey everybody is invited to our church-wide grill group that's going to be happening on july 25th after our second service it's a time for us to get together have some food and have some fun and it's all going to be in the gymnasium right after the second service we're asking you to go ahead and sign up just so we know what to prepare for you can do so by finding the link right inside of the staying connected digital bulletin you can find that on facebook or you can sign up on our website but make sure you come on out be a part church-wide grill group july 25th hey my name is peter and i struggle with cutting drinking and suicidal thoughts and that consumed four years of my life i was in the need of healing in a sense of direction growing up i struggled with drug abuse sexual immorality and rejection for four years of my life i struggled with drug addiction anxiety depression and loss of identity i was broken i had nowhere to go and god was the last thing on my mind [Music] he has saved me and made me whole and i will never be the same i can stand here today and say that i am transformed i am changed by the blood of jesus christ jesus met me he set me free he delivered me and he transformed my life i've been set free i'm redeemed god has completely changed me i am no longer the same person that came into this ministry [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] can you praise god that's awesome thank you pastor peter marcus and taylor are you pastor we're just so thrilled today to have special friends to speak to us and minister to us today michael and diane thompson and they are special friends of the sanders family trade family they're going to share some of that relationship in just a minute but something unique about michael and diane thompson they've spent 21 years in full-time christian ministry and then also 21 years in the marketplace as well marketplace ministry they bring a unique blend of a full-time christian ministry both in the church and outside of the church there's a number of books we want you to take advantage of if there's any left in the lobby that he has written and you can see those out there but we are i guess one of the things that really impressed me was that he was the pastor in the melbourne uh tabernacle church where jamie buckingham uh used to pastor and it was in 1995 i believe that a year after the toronto blessing came the melbourne blessing and for nine months every night for nine months they had revival services at that church a tremendous move of god and after that move god came to brownsville revival many of you may know on father's day that same year so again they were part of a great move of god and they are hungering for another great move of god in central florida is anybody here hungry for that would you welcome mike and diane thompson today [Music] thank you pastor i'd like to say we're just thrilled to be here but i'm a little messed up to be here today uh we have we have we go back a long way with the sanders and the trade side of the family um and i believe that the kingdom of god is a culture of honor and i we just want to take if you don't mind a couple of minutes for family to honor some people who literally made all the difference in the world in our lives and dying was to share a little bit you all know this we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony and i wanted to share one minute of my testimony i was raised by alcoholics and 50 years ago karen it'll be 50 years ago next july that i met karen schrade then she's ellert now and the lord changed my life forever and i sang that song i've decided to follow jesus no turning back and that has happened in my life and i spent nights at their house caring you were the first person she was the first person to ever read to me first corinthians 13. i think i was 15 years old and i'd never heard anything so beautiful in my life she and jerry were married and and jerry i know you're not the perfect husband but you are perfect for karen and vice versa we were in their wedding i was in her wedding she was in my wedding we remained dear friends we served in minnesota together they had a church we ministered at a church there and then we both moved to tampa and served at a church there we were both on staff so we have a lot of of commonalities mike was very very sick at that time and he was in the hospital for six weeks and karen and jerry watched my children many times they probably don't remember when i went to the hospital to visit my husband so i just want to say i have roots definitely and when i came to john's funeral it was really really hard because it brought so many beautiful memories and yet it was a time of sadness and it was a time of rejoicing and then the sanders had profoundly marked our lives we went there i think when we were you were 21 and i was 23. and um kathy sanders taught me to memorize the bible i would memorize scripture while i was ironing close back in the day we used to iron clothes you used to wear a tie and i would memorize scripture she taught a bible study in our little house we called it the little house on the prairie for a year she came every week and taught women in in our little house in the prairie home and she was there 39 years ago for the birth of our son nathan and came less than 24 hours after he was born and then came after i got home to visit me and brought food and our second son caleb was born on ray sanders birthday and ray and kathy were in illinois but somehow ray made it back for some other reason and he was at the hospital with me on the day on his birthday the day that caleb was born and so i just want to honor them for both families for what they have meant in our life and how god has profoundly used both families what a legacy yeah that you have i sat there that morning and i said wow i wonder if those boys understand what's on both sides and the precious gold and silver and jewels all between to the glory of god amen thanks babe we went to that old church in minnesota and ray sanders taught me everything i've ever known about servant leadership there wasn't it didn't matter he would stay overseer there wasn't a toilet he wouldn't wash or wall he wouldn't paint room he wouldn't clean we had 29 people in that little church we were the pastors and youth pastors and the janitors and everything else ginger and delta were our youth group the whole group they were it we were young kids wildly in love with jesus and these people marked our lives and jerry ellerge is one of the most faithful servants of god ever met my life doesn't matter what god has put in front of that man he puts his hand in his heart to it your pastor many of you don't even know the depths of what this man has been through diane had a word for him we gave him in his office this morning what what god's gonna do with him because of what he's been through i don't know a lot of things and i know a lot of things i don't know but i know one thing i know the presence of jesus when i sense it and he is in this house and early this week we had we had contacted delta and said we want to come see you guys we didn't know ginger was going to be here we didn't know the alerts were going to be here we just said we want to come over and visit we're we don't spend time i just wanted to be in ray sanders presents again and uh i woke up the next morning early and god started pouring a word into me and i didn't know what it was for and the next day pastor mark called me and said well if you're coming why don't you go ahead and preach and i figured out what it's for it's for us in the house this morning i'm telling you i told the first service i live down in melbourne and i want you guys to know something you up here in deland this little place all by yourself i want you to know something there's some people down in melbourne titusville over in orlando and tampa that just like you have a heart for god to turn i-4 into a river of the holy spirit and pour his presence out in central florida there's some small churches that are on their faces because we know god has a destined purpose for this region and you all are part of it i sensed it when i walked in the house this morning so after pastor mark asked me i went back and i watched some of the sermons and some of the services because we hadn't been here you don't know me i don't know you i was so moved by the pentecost sunday when i watched this man preach about the holy spirit in the end weep before you crying out for god to pour his spirit out in his house and dear lord delta preach the pain off the walls mother's day good lord i'm telling you it's no accident that these people are here in this moment in this season there is no accident that you are here in this moment in this season god has something he wants to do in this region we do not even have a clue of the scope we have seen a move of god and we are wanting a move of god and we're in between right now and sometimes that's hard but i want to tell you what's coming is one of those eyes have not seen ears have not heard neither has it entered into the mind of man what the spirit wants to reveal to those that love him so before we dive into this word would you love jesus with me one more time i just want you to love on him because he's good and he's worthy i can tell you man he's good and he's worthy everything in your life may be screaming something else but stand on this thing he is good he is worthy i love you lord why would you worship him and i [Music] worship him worship him he's so worthy [Music] [Music] let it be would you just stand let's just honor him for a minute i love you lord sing it to him with your heart [Music] you are so worthy lord you're so worthy to [Music] oh you it be as sweet sweet may it be maybe a sweet sweet [Music] and the lord says to you it is he loves to hear you sing he loves to see hands raised he loves it makes him happy makes him smile father in jesus name we come to you asking that holy spirit would raise the level of anticipation in this room and in our hearts we ask you holy spirit to speak to us in ways that we haven't determined ahead of time we ask you to speak words we did not know we're coming and we ask you to do things in our heart that are beyond our expectation and all beyond our explanation father i pray that your spirit would change the atmosphere over deland and shift the future of central florida and god may this morning these moments be part of that shift we pray this in the mighty name of the king of kings the lord of lords jesus christ amen amen amen amen thank you thank you thank you oh lord oh i just love being around jesus don't you man thanks brother i want you to turn in your bible with me to john chapter 11. we're going to dive into a story that's extremely familiar to you but what i told you earlier this week god woke me up with this and started unpacking some things i'd never seen before and i've done this a long time and i just want to speak a word of encouragement to somebody in this room god woke a preacher up you don't know to bring you a word you didn't expect to give you a freedom you never knew you could have right here in this house this morning john chapter 11 first few verses now a man named lazarus was sick he was from bethany the village of mary and her sister martha this mary whose brother lazarus now lays sick was the same one who poured perfume on the lord and wiped his feet with her hair so the sisters sent word to jesus lord the one you love is sick when he heard this jesus said this sickness will not end in death no it is for god's glory that through that so that god's son may be glorified through it now listen really carefully here jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus yet when he heard that lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two days did you get that he loved them he heard but he stayed we have a dear friend and she's a sweet young lady her name is beth and she has a little girl named cela and celeb was learning that less than five-year-old girls need to learn that you have to wait some time so she comes to mama and she says to mom i want to do and she laid out what it was she wanted to do and bethany looked at her said honey you're gonna have to wait for a little while so sayla obedient little girl that she was goes off and she plays and does some things until she thinks she has stayed long enough and waited and she comes back and she asked her mom again mom i wanna and she lays it all out for her and bethany looks at her and said now sayla i told you you're going to have to wait and she looked at her mom and said mom i just already waited anybody else pray that in the last year and a half to the lord god i just already waited i thought about that story and i thought you know when you turn those words into a prayer it reminds us of something that's a very real constant kingdom truth the hardest place to live is between the dreaming and the coming true you're not where you were but you're not where you're going and you're stuck in this pregnant moment where it seems like anything god is doing is behind the scenes and beyond your view and it can be such a hard place to be it can be lonely they can feel desperate it's a place of mystery where there's more unanswered questions than there are unquestioned answers i know of what i speak i have been there none of us ever chooses to be there but life plants us there many times sometimes in deep deep spots in the between and as we're there in that spot we have to understand it is inevitable because it is essential god does something in us in between that prepares us for what he wants to do with us next i thought about this for the region i have a passion for this region we saw a move of god in 1995 that i've never seen in my life i've never seen anything like it but that move of god lifted and when it lifted i for one was completely broken and i i lit you pastor told you i spent 21 years in ministry i've now been in the marketplace 21 years it what divided that was a cataclysmic implosion of my life where i made choices that destroyed everything i had been when the presence of god lifted and i crashed and burned i literally gave up on hope for my city i barely had enough hope for myself much less my city much less my region but we have seen prophecy after prophecy after prophecy over the region of central florida that god is going to do something here that will shake the nation and as we've as we've motored through these last 20 years of being in between god has connected us with people around the region that still have that hope and it's reignited something in me and i believe that the waiting season we're in is the moments that god is creating something in us that enable us to bear the weight of glory that will be revealed in this region so sometimes it's in your personal life sometimes it's in the corporate family but that season of waiting will come in everybody's life it just will and here think about this this is the hard truth the more you are a believer who is believing god for something the more likely you are to spend time in between the parentheses you see if you've got a promise there will be a provision but in the middle is where most of your time is spent why because you can't carry the fulfillment without what god does in between if god made a promise and gave you what he promised you wouldn't be ready for the promise and you would screw it up i promise you i've done it so he makes us wait and that void that that that space is where we find mary and martha in this text they cried out to god because they believed and then their brother died four days he lay in a grave jesus nowhere to be seen and these girls were left in that space between literally haunted by questions you know so often we know these bible stories if we've been around at all and you guys know the story of lazarus don't you you know what happens on the end don't you he wins we just go home right we know the end of the story but when we do that to a bible story what we do is disconnect the reality from who we really are and and it know it no longer connects to the stuff of our real life mary and martha did not know the end of the story they didn't know how things were going to turn out just like when you're in your parenthesis you don't know what's coming you don't know the end of the story so i want us this morning to put away the fact that we know the end we will get there let's get in the middle with mary and martha okay while we're here what we're going to discover is that that space for them was more difficult than anything they went through i mean to grasp the under and really understand what they were going through let's remember what died when lazarus did they lost their security he was their covering they lost their identity he was their name they weren't married he was their name they lost their capacity he was the pathway into their future they lost their prosperity he was their provision they literally lost everything when this man died the death of lazarus wasn't the death of a brother it was the death of a dream that's where they were sitting in the death of a dream they were literally cast into a dark room and they were groping around with an uncertain future and those four days were intimidating and frustrating and agonizing and overwhelming as they sat there with these raging questions literally was like being in a haunted house where out of every corner would come the goblins of fear and doubt and they would jump out and scare them senseless but here's the part you got to remember the worst part wasn't the death of lazarus it was that jesus didn't show up they could have handled the loss if they would have had their savior they weren't there they called him and he wasn't there you know it i thought about bethany i love this this family because they were they were where jesus went to staycation he went to bethany you see it over and over against scripture he would go to bethany and he would hang out with letters i have these wild imaginations so i can see him sitting at one of martha's big feast eating himself into a gal you know and hanging out in the corner and laughing at peter telling lazarus what what the dummy did this time and and sitting over in the corner having these deep intimate talks about the father with mary you see bethany was his place but all of that seems so far away now to these girls who are sitting there saying where is he now when we need him i mean this was his home away from home this is this is where jesus went to just kick back and be jesus and they're thinking why didn't he come when we needed him most you see what i mean we know the end of the story we forget that's where they were that's what they felt this moment in time was such that they said they were saying to themselves we don't need a fading memory of his presence in the past we need him here now in the present i'm going to digress just a minute that's the cry of my heart right now for us in central florida we don't need a history of revivals of things that god used to do and times that he used to be present we need him here now in this moment lord we have heard of your fame we stand in all of your deeds renew them in our day in our time make them known everything they believed about jesus was called into question and i thought about the way that john records it this is what struck me this week most of the translations say this jesus loved them so he waited did you get that jesus loved them so he waited that phrase made me realize there was a purpose in jesus waiting and what they were experiencing in those four dark days was a place where he had intention to reveal to them some things they could know of him no other way i thought about what paul prayed lord i want to know you in the power of your resurrection i feel that don't you don't you want to know the power of his resurrection don't you want to pray for people and see them delivered and healed and restored and the power of the living god flowing through you don't you want to see that but do i want to know the part of him that requires me to endure the fellowship of his suffering do i want to know that part i can only know when i'm being conformed to his death do i want to know that part of him too that's the part jesus wanted to show them in those dark moments he loved them so he waited so they could discover there was more than they ever dreamed to jesus you might think you know him but when your whole world falls apart and he shows up in the rubble you know some something different something deeper about him so i went i went spelunking i went into this cave those girls were in and i said i got to find what jesus was trying to show them and these are some things these are gems of the kingdom that i discovered mining in the darkness of these girls situation here's the first one silence is not god's opinion of you silence is not god's opinion of you he loved them so he waited that's that's incredible to me he loved them so he delayed going to them even though he knew what it was going to cost them because that love he was going to deposit was more than they ever dreamed now i'm going to say that's not easy to hang on to when you're going through it sounds good from the outside not so much from the inside when you're in it you know when you're in there and you're struggling with the silence of god when you seem to need him the most there's these questions that just bombard your mind why can't i hear him why isn't he speaking to me what have i done wrong that he won't talk to me how could he go mute in these moments when i need him now maybe that's never happened to you maybe god just talked to you all the time but i've been in moments where i stood with desperate need i couldn't hear him why aren't you talking to me i'm going to tell you something those questions the same one that gives you those questions is going to give you answers the enemy who gives you the question is going to give you some answers he doesn't love you you've done something wrong god's mad at you god doesn't speak anymore god's unreliable god's unfaithful the same thing that generates your doubt brings you the logical answers but see jesus knew there were parts of him that he wanted to show these people because they were so special to him they were his best friends and he said you're going to question me i'm going to put you on the edge where you feel like you're going to fall and everything you've known about me is going to be called into question but it's because i want you to realize when you come to the end of what you know i will demonstrate to things to you that you've never dreamed of he loved them so he waited so he could show them stuff no one else had ever seen of him now some of you going you know he could i don't want to be that close i don't want to be that good of a friend i think it was corey ten boom that said if that's the way you teach a friend it's no wonder you got a few of them god you know what he wanted him to know there's more than meets the eye you think you know me you haven't even come close to plumbing the depths of my heart i've walked with the lord 40 almost 50 years and i've walked through some dark valleys and and i've taken some detours lord have mercy i've taken some detours i mean not just in another county i mean in another country i i went i made the far country look near let's say that okay but i've walked with him you know what you know what i found out where can i go that you are not if i make my bed in hell you are there if i ascend to the heavens you are there you get it so here's the concept if what i know of him is this much and what there is of him is this much it'll be worth everything it costs me to learn from here to there have you ever talked to somebody and you hear their story and you go man how'd you do that people do that diane all the time how'd you go through that how did you forgive at that level some people say two you're all dying you're so strong sure like i haven't said it has nothing to do with my strength it has everything to do with his goodness he is ultimate goodness even in the worst places in our lives don't ever stop discovering this man called jesus those who hope in the lord will renew their strength they're the ones who will mount up with wings like eagles they're the ones who will walk and not get weary and run and not faint that's what happens when you wait silence is not god's opinion of you second thing what you see is not all you get disciples hear the story that that lazarus is is sick and i i know these guys because i am one i'm just like them i'm as dumb as they were i mean these guys were dumb as a bag of hammers all you got to do is read the scripture honestly you're looking at me like oh that's sacrilegious jesus is talking about saving cities and james and john are saying god is this the time we get to call down fire and burn up the city and jesus looks in him and goes how long will i be with you so i'm one of them i get them they hear this story and you know what they're doing they're going whoa another miracle here we go we're going to go gee going to raise him up whole city is going to love us and jesus said no we're not going yet and they're going why well he's asleep oh good well if he's sleeping he'll get better no no what i mean is he's dead oh jesus you're not going to heal him and he's dead but now that he's dead you say we're going what's up with that and jesus taught them something they desperately needed to know what you see at the natural level is never sufficient for you to understand what he's doing at the spiritual level from a virtual you know vertical horizontal standpoint it looked cruel and unkind for jesus not to go but he was doing something more he told his disciples hey guys this isn't going to end in death it's going to end in glory let me tell you something if you're a child of god i don't care what you're facing in your life it will not end in death it will end in glory that doesn't mean someone will not die it just means that death with him is never the end there is always glory on the other side for those who will hang on to hope he says to them guys all you see is death but all i see is a whole new kind of life all you see is loss but i see a moment where i can release increase all you see is grief but i see a chance to release unspeakable joy all you see is a tomb what i see is a womb and i'm gonna birth something you never dreamed of what you see is not all you get third thing the chapter you're in is not the whole story he gets there and i just i love these moments he gets there and and martha comes running out because you know she was the practical one he's still jesus i'm still going to go to church even though i'm mad at him i'm still going to go to church not mary martin's i ain't going back to that place i'm not going out there martha runs out and you can see this agony in her soul she loves him she believes in him she even confesses i know you're the resurrection from the dead but she falls at his feet and looks in his eyes and said if you had been here my brother would not have died you see it you see the agony the ripping of the soul i believe everything you are i do but i don't understand what you're doing right now god you are not acting in the way you are supposed to act let me say something i hear people all the time talk about how they want a manageable god a god that they can understand let me tell you something if you got a manageable god what are you going to do when your life gets unmanageable if you've got an understandable god what are you going to do when you can't understand what's going on in your life i don't want a manageable god i want a god i can't figure out i want a god who that i know is too big because when life gets to be too much i need a god that's too big martha looks at him he has to call mary she had to hear her name she runs out and has the same experience i always think of a heartbreak mary was so sensitive it says she ran out and she fell at his feet she said jesus i've been here before this is where i like to sit remember this is where i like to hang out i like to just sit here at your feet i like to hear you talk and jesus do you remember the time when i brought the perfume and i anointed your feet and i wiped them in my do you remember that jesus well i'm here at your feet again but this time i want you to know i don't understand and i don't like it because if you've been here my brother would not have died that moment is so potent with emotion i love you but i don't understand you you see here's what the problem was the girls thought they'd got to the end of the story but jesus knew it's just the end of the chapter there was more to come let me tell you something my friend don't you dare let anybody put a period where god wants a comma in your life don't you dare let anybody write the end over your story they didn't write it they're not the author they don't get to be the finisher of your faith 21 years ago when my life imploded around me because i had made such horrible choices i remember standing in the ocean outside my spiritual daddy's condo i didn't have anybody left i didn't have anything in my life and i stood in that ocean and i wanted to walk straight out in there but only in those moments could i sense that maybe just maybe this wasn't the end of the story oh we had people all around writing the end over us but you see if they didn't author it they don't get to finish it and the author of our story is still writing babe he's still riding he ain't done yet and we've walked 21 years now in the grace of god and i i feel like samson i've been grinding at a mill for 21 years and i'm saying let me feel the pillars just one more time let me wreak havoc in the kingdom of darkness they were stuck in a chapter and jesus came to show them i have more for your story guys there's more to your story you feel stuck you feel stopped there's more to your story this next part blows me away pain is a place of presence here's where this story becomes so incredible to me jesus is standing there the two girls at his feet he can sense their brokenness and the bible said he's moved with compassion and his spirit is troubled and he says to them take me to the place where you laid him take me to the place where the dream died take me to the place where it got so bad you stopped believing take me to the place where you felt so broken you didn't ever think you could be back put back together again take me to the place where you failed so awfully you knew it was the end take me to that place he wants access to the broken places of our lives because he's still writing the story so they take him to the place and this is so beautiful he stands there looking at this closed up tomb and the brokenhearted daughters sisters and and all these people back here weeping and jesus what he completely engaged the pain that they were in when you've been in a really dark spot and you felt you were alone i want to encourage you with something you weren't he was there and he wept he did because we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was at all points tempted just like we are yet without sin therefore let us come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need he feels it with you but the part that troubled me i couldn't figure out was it said that his spirit was riled up the idea is that his spirit got angry he wasn't angry at the girls he wasn't angry at the mourners he was angry at the grave and he was angry at the one behind the grave i can picture him standing there with fire in his eyes looking at that stone and he said roll that thing out of my way get that thing out of my way but jesus it stinks in there and jesus looks at him i don't care what it smells like let me at your mess take me to the place and open the door and let me get out the death that you've experienced and i will do something you never thought could happen i don't care what it smells like let me at your mess so they roll the stone away and i can see him seething with anger kind of like he was when he saw them making a joke out of the father's house seething with anger because he knew that death should have never been part of life and i see the other side of that grave and i see hell as the light shines through when the stones rolled away and when jesus said lazarus hell heard something totally different they heard i'm coming for you i'm going to empty that grave right now and then i'm going to fill it personally and i'm coming for you because you've got some keys down there that belong to me and i'm going to go through that hole and i'm going to get those keys and i'm going to come back and your story will be the end hell shook when that stone rolled away because they knew this wasn't about lazarus this was about them this was about hell satan knew at that point i have overplayed my hand lazarus come on out you know what i thought those moments are so incredibly real to me and those girls standing there in that pain suddenly realized it was a place of presence he was there he had come he hadn't left them alone it wasn't the end of the story but here's the part i like best the outcome is worth the wait i've always loved that i have a really big imagination so i can always get pictures i see this picture of lazarus coming out face all covered up you know what jesus says turn that boy loose he's got something to do you see that's what god does when he calls him from the grave i watch those boys up there on that screen those girls up on that screen talking about being delivered you know and being set free i just wanted to scream turn them loose turn them loose in the world turn them loose in the church let them go kick over some tables and dump some money changers out let them go out into the world and say what you're bound by isn't strong enough to hold you because we know somebody whose very word sets you free this is what i love when he called him out he said let him go and then this is the next part chapter 12. it says that many many people came to bethany to see jesus and lazarus whom he raised from the dead see it wasn't about just about lazarus coming out of the grave and being back to his sisters it was about lazarus coming out of the grave and changing his city i just love it i can just see lazarus standing there you know in his refinery and all these people there and he looks at jesus and goes look they all came to see you and jesus looks at him he goes no son they came to see you because you're one of them and they ain't never seen nothing like that amen don't you want to see that happen in the world we're out of the doors of this building walk people that have been set free from death they've been had the grave clothes ripped off and they marched out into this community and said babe you ain't sane nothing yet turn him loose let him go that my friend is why he loved them and he waited diane and i have walked through some really dark valleys and we found the presence of god to be enough there have been moments that diana's cried because she couldn't cry anymore and he wept with her and there have been times i've sat alone and i said god how can i ever come back from where i've gone and he said come on out son come on out and over that process of time she and i have become what i call zachariah people zechariah takes 11 chapters to tell us how bad things were in the culture and the community of the saints he paints a picture of how hard things were and how bad things were but then he comes to chapter 12 and he says you got to understand something though you're god's people and nothing can change that so he's coming for you and things are gonna change and this i love this phrase your king comes to you seated on a donkey on the foal of a donkey you see we have something no other religion in the world has our king comes to us he said your king's coming to you humble and riding on a donkey and then he says this return [Music] to your fortress o prisoners of hope for i promise you i will give you twice what you have lost i never want to be incarcerated until i found out there was a prison called hope and i said god lock me up and don't ever let me out so don't tell me he can't do it i've seen him i've seen him don't tell me that family's too far gone i've seen him don't tell him tell me that disease is too great i i've seen it i'm a prisoner of hope and i came here today do one thing dump a boatload of hope on you stand with me [Applause] some of you that were here today i believe this word was for you i think god gave it to me for you and you feel stuck you feel like you're in that place and you can't get out you can't get free you feel like you don't know where jesus is you can't hear god and you need answers and you can't find them and you've been wavering in your hope return to your fortress o prisoner of hope because he has promised to restore twice to you what you've lost so if that's you i want you to do something i just want you to hold your hand up hey i need i'm one of those guys i'm one of those gals i need to hear him i feel stuck i need to get free i'm going to pray something over you that the apostle paul prayed may the god of hope fill you with all joy as you trust him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit i pray that right now in these moments in this house hope will become real and will run through you like a river and every question and every fear and every doubt will be washed aside by the presence of him who is in the middle of your middle he's waiting and you're waiting [Music] pastor mark i want you to come i think god wants to do something i want you to come i want you to follow the spirit on this one thank you thank you pastor mike you feel the spirit of the lord here today praise god would you give praise to god for this word amen like the altar workers if you please come and as the altar workers come i think we're here an important important time to respond amen even now i had someone share with me they had a word of knowledge about someone that the lord wanted to heal that had an earache and left side their left ear back of your shoulder if there's a healing need for your back of your right shoulder if you if you are here and you have that we want you to come forward for prayer that left ear ache or back shoulder how many of you know that the spirit is moving with gifts today amen i want you to step out if you have that i want you that when i pray for you but i think that revival is going to begin with letting god into the places we've rolled the stone over see i think i think all along our prayers have been heard your prayers have been heard but unless we are ready for the revival that god wants to bring us and the destination that he's bringing you to individually then it could make us wait any longer what's that i've already waited [Music] could it be that some of our delay is god's waiting on us [Music] could it be that today's a breakthrough today could it be that what he described about that experience of the in between is where some people are could it be that there are some deadness of our hopes that seem to have died hoping that certain things would work out already and they haven't could it be that the enemy who is the father of lies has gotten more of your ear than the lord who is the god of truth could it be that today is the day that you defeat him that you hear the voice of god calling your name out of that grave out of the sadness of disappointment come on somebody just listen to it i'm saying i'm hearing what he's saying today you see because i believe if the enemy can rob you of your faith he's defeated you this is the victory first john 5 and 4 that overcomes the world even our faith hallelujah well pastor i've been i've been fighting this battle along i've been hoping a long time or maybe there's been a literal death that's taken place and you think that life has somehow completely lost its purpose can i tell you that actually i think it was that this this chapter the end of the story has not been written maybe there's an end of a chapter but that doesn't mean that's the end of the story listen beloved of god today is a day where god wants to roll the stone away come on somebody he wants to let us say god come into the heart come into my place and please there let me see the fact that you really because of your love you are the one who has a master plan the enemy has attacks he has arrows he has fiery darts he has things he wants to but god has the master plan and if they'd have known they were crucifying the lord of glory they never would have done it how many of you know that the enemy's plans work in the god's good plans god works all things even bad things together for your good my goodness first of all i want you to pray with me about something i want you to ask you i want you to surrender your heart to god before i ask for another any other response i'm telling you that god has destiny here today if somebody's got to let go of the past you got to quit believing the depression you got to quit believing about your future is negative you've got to start believing god and you've got to maybe you've got to keep on believing god right now i want to come against that that that lock that the enemy has on that tomb in the name of jesus come on pray right now lord i surrender i roll away the stone i roll away where the hurt is i roll away where the confusion is where the disappointment was i roll that away and i say lord i'm coming out of that tomb i'm coming in uh i'm coming out of the darkness of that that area of my life that season i'm coming out of that today and i'm coming into the resurrection light of jesus christ i'm coming in to your destiny and plan for me i'm coming into the divine design that you still have for my life i'm coming in to believe that you will work all things together for my good i'm coming into revival not into a depression i'm coming out of depression to joy i'm coming out of confusion in the peace i'm coming out of this tomb and i'm coming in to the reviving resurrecting power of your love for me and my future hallelujah hallelujah oh hallelujah i praise you lord i praise you lord lord i see marriages coming out of the tomb i see singles coming out of the tomb i see financial poverty coming out of the tomb i i see there being people that are distressed with with worry and depression and discouragement coming out of the tomb i see people that were on fire for god that have fallen in a distance now coming out to be on fire again i see intercessors who used to be fervent coming back into fervent intercession i see those that have hung up their harps on willow trees because of their discouragement coming out with their harps singing the songs of zion again i see revival i see revival i see revival i see them coming out lord bring us out lord bring us out bring us out god bring us out set us free lord lord loose loose those grave clothes loose those grave clothes cut them off of our minds cut them off of our thoughts cut them off lord god so that we can go free and we can again turn this world upside down for jesus christ i see young people coming out of the tomb i see young people coming out some of them have the bondages some of them have the baggage whether it be drugs or whether it be any kind of a of a sexual immorality whether come any kind of a bondage of of disbelief in god i see young people coming out of the grave hallelujah i see i see the grave clothes coming off i see young people being radical for jesus i see there being a tremendous revival that that's happening to individual young people that's going to spread to schools i see revival coming to a youth culture to children i see revival coming to homes i see revival happening i see us coming out of the darkness into your light coming out of copen into christ coming out of the culture coming into the glory i see us coming out today [Applause] amen amen and amen i see it's coming out so jesus do call our name let every person here hear you call their name every person online hear you call their name every household here you call their name come forth come forth come forth come forth go forward come forth come forth go forward come forth come forth [Music] today as you call us today we roll the stone away today you are healing the mary and martha's today you're restoring faith today you're reviving lazaruses today is the day of new beginnings thank you jesus we receive it we receive it by faith in your name today i'm going to open the altars and ask them to prepare song of worship i'm just going to ask you to consider [Music] maybe some of you need to come and just kneel and find a place to pray you know you want to pray about the things that you've gone through maybe you just want to be quiet stay where you are worship but i'm going to ask those that feel like it's for you that it a symbolic action today like and that symbolic action is to lazarus had to come forth and when he came forth he didn't come forth walking like he was free [Music] he came forth doing the resurrection hop right he wasn't completely free but he knew god did something inside of him and he had new life that he couldn't stay where he was he had to hop his way to jesus he had to he had to get there and then jesus was going to loose him and let him go and turn him loose i'm going to ask those of you as they prepare a song they just want to come and praise god for his healing praise god for his deliverance praise god for resurrection in whatever area of your life i want you to come forward right now and make your way to the altar and when you get here i just want you to begin to praise him that's it i want you to begin to thank him i want you to begin to thank him that you've heard his voice and you're coming out to resurrection life in whatever area that is would you sing the song let's sing that's worship guy come on and join me if you will [Music] [Music] come on join me if you feel that in your heart come and join us come on and worship him hallelujah come on worship him that's it [Music] it was my tune it was my tube oh come on [Music] till i met you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on now [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] enjoy his freedom enjoy [Music] come on [Music] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] one more time one more time [Music] as we testify [Music] [Music] is when you call my name [Music] glorious [Music] [Applause] come on somebody praise him amen [Applause] amen praise god good hallelujah i want to give you all the praise class today hallelujah lord we give you praise [Applause] hallelujah [Music] thank you michael thompson thank you diane thompson go by their table and again see the books that are there just realize this couple has has walked in revival the melbourne awakening nine months every night for nine months uh move of god's spirit there i believe he has left an impartation here today but i believe it starts with our obedience [Music] hallelujah i'll just talk to myself here mark starts with your obedience [Music] some of you've been wanting to preach me to preach myself have you i believe it starts with us allowing him into that secret place because he can't work without faith folks he can't work with and guess what fuels your worship your faith is this mike on what fuels your worship is your is your faith what fuels your joy is your faith your hope and the enemy steals that then guess what we we become a tomb instead of a church that's a resurrection place we can't come in here and wallow about what's hap we've got to come in here and praise him because we know what's happening we may not see with the eye but we see it with the spirit i see revival happening i see i see lives being changed i see people being filled and slain with the spirit i see healings taking place i see the glory of god but sometimes that can't happen until he wrecks you and me and we have a broken heart contrite spirit brokenness in the way that we're not so prideful about well i don't want anyone to see me raise my hand i don't want to come to the altar they'll think i'm a fanatic [Music] you know you laugh but it's so true [Music] god wants us to be free let's not come in here like lazarus is all bound let's come in here hearing jesus say take the grave clothes off [Music] i forgive him i'm restored i've got good plans i am good all the time surely goodness is running out for you [Music] and when you come in with that kind of belief oh great things are going to explode and happen so today is the heart surgery today's heart surgery it's time to beloved i love you i'm telling you god has greater things for us we're shaking off covet we're shaking off all the things that the enemy is trying to trying to do to to break up church and break up the body of christ and we're going to say you know what god is going to work all this for the good because we're coming back we're coming back with greater unity greater hunger greater intercession greater openness greater realness that jesus heals we have real problems but we have a real god who has real solution and has real power and has real a real body of christ that's going to come around us together as we see him be glorified amen well you know it's only 12 30. let's order lunch and share share a meal together [Music] love you you're awesome and uh just want to pray over you before you leave that god will continue the work that he's done some of this work will happen in your prayer closet [Music] but let him let him go there father i thank you for what you've done today lord jesus you have free access free access to our heart we roll away the stone hurts pains disappointments confusions things that are the enemy's playground lord that may have kept us bound oh god we we just come out of the grave out of the darkness and we come hearing your voice call our name we're coming out we've come out we have already come out amen and the enemy will not hold us in bondage any longer [Music] in jesus name we break every bond we break every enemy bond in jesus name we break every yoke of bondage in the name of the lord the lord rebuke you satan even the lord who had chosen us to be his light in this world his glorious bride uh his beloved that he sings over oh yes yes yes yes lord we come out to be who we were created this the earth is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the sons and daughters of god so lord we're coming out to be manifest before you manifest in this world manifest the glory of god the healing of god the grace of god everything of god we are here to say lord use us and lord may you empower us and let your glory shine through us that your son jesus might be glorified and many might come to know him let us rescue the perishing god may we reach this city reach this county may we reach i-4 may we be a part of your end-time renewal outpouring of the holy spirit may we be a part of joel's army that's uprising that's raising up oh yes we march on the city we march on the wall oh yes we march we march oh god come on yes okay we're ready we're battle ready we're ready for war god we're ready we're ready to do your battle we praise you for it right now oh in jesus name may jesus be lifted up and made jesus the captain of the lord's host may he lead us triumphant battle as he's led us to drop in victory through the heavens parading our victories through the heavens of the enemy camp we praise him we glorify him and we commit ourselves to his glory in jesus name amen amen and amen praise his name one more time hallelujah what a great day god bless you again goodbye see michael or his table and god bless you have a great lord's day amen let's sing amen you

Channel: City Sanctuary Deland

Views: 87

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 8Fb0dVIIk9A

Length: 113min 27sec (6807 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 11 2021