Where Restoration Starts | Pastor Robert Madu | Elevation Church

and i'm excited to share the word of god with you today if y'all feel like hearing it like i feel like preaching it uh something's gonna happen in here go with me go with me to mark chapter two mark chapter two as a matter of fact could you stand to honor the reading of god's word i know you were standing earlier it feels like spiritual aerobics but uh it's the only one i'm asking you to stand up for every other one that's on you mark chapter 2 and i'm going to look at verses 23 through 28 and we'll probably read down into chapter number three as well when you're ready to read it say yeah if you're not ready say hold up i heard a faint hole up and i'm away if we define the gospel according to mark chapter 2 and it says starting at verse 23 one sabbath jesus was going through the grain fields and as his disciples walked along they began to pick some heads of grain the pharisee said to him look why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath and he answered have you never read what david did when he and his companions were hungry and in need and in the days of abe athar the high priest he entered the house of god and ate the consecrated bread which is lawful only for priests to eat he also gave some to his companions then he said to them the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath another time jesus went into the synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand another version says withered hand was there and some of them were looking for a reason to accuse jesus so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the sabbath and jesus said to the man with a shriveled hand stand up in front of everyone and jesus asked them which is lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do evil to save life or to kill but they remained silent he looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts and said to the man stretch out your hand he stretched it out and his hand was completely restored then the pharisees went out and began to plot with the herodians how they might kill jesus paul's i don't want to preach before i preach but isn't that interesting how two people can be in the same environment but have two totally different experiences here's a man's hand who has been completely restored i imagine that a place erupted giving god praise but not the pharisees they saw this man's healing as an opportunity to begin a plot to kill jesus this man's healing was the impetus it was the catalyst for the plot that put jesus on the cross i was playing around with titles before i preached this i almost started to call this message uh when healing you is killing me that would have been a good title that would get a title that's not my title and some of y'all haven't been saved your whole life and uh you've been to vegas so i almost titled this message almost tired of this message how to win with a bad hand somebody get that tomorrow you don't like that you're like but uh it's not my title today it's not my title today i i am amazed by the ability of our savior to completely restore his hand completely restore our god is a god of restoration i want to preach today just using this as a title where restoration starts where restoration starts would you bow your heads with me epham wherever you are some of y'all still in your bathrobe listening to this message father thank you for your word speak to us today amen you may be seated in the presence of the lord where restoration starts elevation fam i'm fully aware that we are immersed in a new year in 2021. if i'm honest with you there are some lessons that i learned in 2020 that i am still walking out today 20 taught me some lessons it taught me a myriad of lessons in fact first lesson i learned in 2020 first lesson i learned in 2020 is i was sheltered in place for several months with our three little humans who are six four and three the first lesson that i learned in 20 as i was sheltered and played couldn't go nowhere with our six-year-old four-year-old and three-year-old first lesson i learned in 2020 is that our teachers are grossly underpaid grossly under pay i'm telling you if you got a stimulus check send it to a teacher okay because it's hard out here in these streets that's the first lesson i learned in 2020. the second lesson i learned in 2020 is that sometimes your greatest ability is your adaptability your ability to adapt how many know god can use somebody that knows how to pivot that knows how to shift somebody that's not so married to what has been and what was that they don't know how to move into what god is doing now i'm telling you god can use you if you understand the power of adaptability the third thing i got from 2020 that i didn't really learn but i was reminded of that is that the church of the living god is not optional it is a necessity the church is essential how many know we need the church i know it looks crazy in the world right now and it's dark days and that has reminded me of the truth and the fact that we need the church of the living god we need something that'll be light in the midst of this darkness we need people that will stand up and declare the good news of the gospel of jesus christ i'm telling you we need the church oh this is essential it is essential i can live with a bad barber i'll just have a bad haircut i can live with a bad dentist i just have a bad toothache i can live with the bad plumber it'll just mess up my house but i need a church that's alive i can't have a dead church i need a church that's alive that will stand up for truth and speak god is telling you to speak oh i'm telling you i love the church of the living god i was reminded of that i'm thankful for the church i'm thankful for the word of god in fact it was awesome today just being able to worship with you today i'm telling you you should have heard y'all singing i'm gonna see your victory some of y'all were off key but it was cool i loved it because there's something about when the church comes together and worships i'll be honest with you i'm i'm lonely on this stage i am lonely ain't nobody but me and you bro we're the only ones only ones up here it's lonely on the stage but it is not as lonely as it was during the pandemic last year when i was preaching to empty sanctuary just looking to the lens of a camera speaking into the abyss of darkness hoping that what i was saying was resonating on the other scene side of the screen i'm just so glad there are people in here i'm glad i can see your face right now uh actually kind of got me thinking because i have have an interesting vantage point right here on this stage because i can see you you can see me if i look at these incredible screens i can see myself what's interesting to me is that you can't see you just think about that for a moment like you don't have a clue what you look like right now even though you're e-fam like don't go to the bathroom in your house no you don't know what you look like right now but i do oh i can see you you don't have a clue what you look like you know what you look like before you came to church you know what you look like if you stopped in the bathroom before but you don't know what you look like right now and i can see you you can't see you but i can see you to think that you would have the nerve the audacity to say oh i'm gonna change some things in my life i'm telling you there's gonna be a new me you can't even see you how you gonna talk about there's a new you because you can't see your self and how many you know you cannot change what you cannot see see all change in your life must be preceded by recognition you have to see something before you can actually change it many of us want god to restore some things but perhaps before the restoration we actually need recognition of the things in our life that are broken that we are unaware of that he wants to restore because you can't see yourself you don't know what you look like come on am i the only one ever experienced this phenomenon where you had a kale salad you know you're trying to do better summer you're trying to do better you had your kale salad at 12 o'clock in the afternoon you get to your house about six o'clock in the evening okay you look in your mirror in your bathroom and see the biggest piece of kale in between your teeth and you think to yourself wait a minute i had that kale salad at 12 o'clock i talked to 63 people right after that lunch didn't nobody want to tell me that i had a big old piece of calf in my mouth oh i need new friends because you would have got it out if you could see it but you cannot change what you cannot see i'll never forget talking to a leader a very influential leader and i was just asking him all these questions about leadership and he said robert there's actually a question that i ask other people as a leader that's formed my leadership i said man give me the question he said i asked this question of my wife said i asked this question of the people that i lead he said i even asked this question of close friends i asked them what is it like to be on the other side of me what is it like to be on the other side of me that's a good question he said i asked that question because i have blind spots i don't know what it's like to be on the other side of me that is the only thing i don't have perspective on i don't know what it's like to be on the other side of me he said so i have to ask people that i love and then i have to sit back and listen to what they say and not get defensive when they say something that they notice i have to hear what they say because i can't see myself see some of y'all listen to this message like oh i don't need this message i'm good i'm good you know my marriage is good i know this i know this i'm a good husband and i would say to you how do you know you've never been married to yourself there's some parents you ever seen parents like i don't know what's wrong with these kids these kids haven't lost their mind i know one thing i'm a good parent right y'all got electricity don't you i'm a good parent i know that how do you know you've never parented yourself i'm just saying you don't know what it's like to be on the other side of you because you can't see yourself so when god wants to restore something the first thing you need to ask of god is god help me to see what i cannot see show me the things that are broken in me don't let me spend my entire life looking at what's wrong with everybody else then i never take the time to address the things that are wrong with me oh god help me see me don't let me live my life like the pharisees who were real good at seeing what was wrong with everybody else but they could never see what was wrong with them this is the problem of the pharisees the pharisees were real good at microscopes you know microscopes you look with detail at the specimen what's wrong with everybody else but they were horrible with mirrors they could not look at themselves but they could see what was wrong with everybody else i see i say what you need to fix i see what's wrong with you that's the problem with the pharisees you know you're a pharisee when you're talking about what i see i see what's wrong with you that's why they're pharisees p-h-a-r-i-s-e-e-i-c i see what you need to fix and you got a lot of things that are wrong it's horrible when you're really good at microscopes but you're terrible at pulling a michael jackson and saying i'm looking at the man in the mirror i'm asking him to change his ways the pharisees couldn't see themselves so jesus had this incredible uncanny ability to help them see themselves and they hated it they couldn't stand that jesus would show themselves to themselves that's what made them angry and mad and that is what is in my text today are y'all good i feel like preaching this message [Applause] before before i even start talking about the pharisees who caused the tension in our text today i also find it intriguing that nobody ever type cast themselves as a pharisee in the bible have you noticed that like you ain't never in your life while reading the bible says that's me that's me i'm the pharisee isn't that funny isn't it funny that the people that regularly attended church people who today regularly attend church [Music] never think they're like the pharisees come on you always the person with the withered hand come on you're the woman with the issue of blood you don't want to just got issues that if you could just get to jesus he would fix it you'll never you'll never say i'm the pharisee come on the pharisees are like your haters who don't agree with you but you never say i'm the pharisee but i'm going to remind you you can't see yourself so perhaps another question you should ask besides what's it like to be on the other side of me is could the pharisee be me nobody type cast themselves at the pharisees and the pharisees couldn't see themselves and jesus would show them to themselves and jesus is interesting their problem with jesus they had a lot of problems with jesus but you know what was at the root of their problem they were jealous they were jealous of jesus oh jealousy is something else how many you know when you were effective at doing what god has called you to do people are going to be jealous i don't know who this is for today but somebody is stepping into the effulgence of your purpose and you're getting a lot of negativity and you're getting a lot of haters and getting a lot of critics and they blogging about you texting about you and tweeting about you and you're about to shrink back from the call of god on your life because you got some resistance cause you got some jealousy but god told me to tell you you need to walk in the totality of what he's called you to be when you are doing what god has called you to do people are gonna hate people are gonna be jealous people are gonna talk about you learn to live with the criticism the only people that don't get criticized are the people that never say anything never do anything and never become anything but if you start stepping in your call people are going to be jealous just learn to live with it get you some tough skin and keep a soft heart i'm telling you people will be jealous one writer said that jealousy is the trophy that mediocrity gives to excellence i'm saying it again so maybe you can tweet it later jealousy is the trophy that mediocrity gives to excellence because when you are excellent and flowing in your call people get jealous they were jealous of jesus not only that who they didn't like the claims of jesus because jesus was claiming to be the messiah the son of the living god they're like hold on jesus nothing good comes out of nazareth we know where you came from you ever met those people then anytime you start stepping in your call they remind you of where you came from and remind you of who you were oh they didn't like the claims of jesus they also didn't like who jesus hung out with you know jesus had a reputation he had a reputation for hanging out with people that had bad reputations and pharisees was like huh if he was really holy he was really a man of god he would know how terrible and deplorable and despicable those people are and he wouldn't hang with him oh they had so many issues but none of those aforementioned issues are what got jesus on the cross you know what got him on the cross you know what their hot button issue with jesus was they couldn't stand that he kept doing stuff on the sabbath that's it that's what got him crucified is that he kept doing stuff on the sabbath read your bible the only time they got all hot-headed and all mad is when jesus kept doing miracles on the sabbath they got so frustrated all throughout his ministry they're like why can't you just heal people on another day and leave our sabbath alone that was the issue that got him on the cross is that he kept doing stuff it's almost like he did it on purpose like yeah i'm gonna restore stuff on the sabbath cause i know it's gonna make you mad they didn't like it how many know the pharisees took the sabbath serious they had been given a mandate by moses on the sabbath which means to cease from work to rest promise moses didn't say what did that look like so they started adding rules adding rules because that's what religion will always do it adds rules because religion needs a mark that says if i do this this this and this then god will accept me but grace doesn't say that grace says you are the recipient of something that you don't deserve you're the recipient of somebody that paid a price for your life that lived the life you were supposed to live and died the death you were supposed to die and you don't have to deal with karma that's what grace is grace says even though i messed up because of the blood of jesus i can receive his grace oh they didn't like it they were mad because they had added all kinds of rules and regulations to the sabbath they're like jesus if you're gonna heal somebody do it on another day beside the sabbath oh they took the sabbath serious oh y'all sit down we're just talking how many know jews today still keep the sabbath very serious i learned this the hard way i learned this hard way elevation fam i went to i went to israel i went to holy land and i'm perusing the holy land having a good time and i'm walking around and i wanted to see everything as i'm walking around the whole and drinking a lot of water it was hot and i missed the bathroom break okay i missed the bathroom break that's on me i was having a moment in bethlehem and i missed the bathroom break and get back to the hotel and i got to go i got to go and i run into the hotel and i go to the elevator the elevator opens and i'm like on the ninth floor on the ninth floor i walk into the elevator this elevator i kid you not stopped on the first floor stop on the second floor stop on the third floor stop on the fourth floor stop on the fifth floor on the sixth floor i passed out start on the seventh floor a4 it finally gets to the ninth floor i get off an exasperation go into my hotel come back out catch the same elevator all the way back down stopped on every single floor by the time i got to the lobby i had attitude okay there was no fruit of the spirit in my life i was mad i said where is the manager i paid a whole lot of money to walk where jesus walked and they can't fix the elevator in this hotel it's stopping on every single floor i got to talk to the manager immediately and so i'm walking to talk to the manager and somebody from our tour was like robert where are you going i said i'm going to talk to the manager because that elevator stopped on every single you don't wanna know what happened to me on that seventh floor of the elevator and it stopped on every single one they said robert it's the sabbath i don't care what day it is they need to get a technician to fix that elevator they said no robert robert that's the shabbat elevator i said i don't care if it's the shazam elevator somebody needs to do something and fix it it stopped on every single floor they said robert no bro um it's the sabbath and and and and the reason it stopped on every floor is because to push a button would be work you have to cease from work on the sabbath oh you think that's crazy you need to see all the rules the pharisees added in the day of jesus oh my they had all kinds of people you could only take 1999 steps on the sabbath you took that 2000 step that was work you couldn't carry anything that weighed more than a fig on the sabbath if you threw something in the air you better catch it with the other hand because if you caught it with the same hand that was work on the sabbath you couldn't light a candle on the sabbath you couldn't write a letter on the sabbath you couldn't take a bath because you might spill water and try to clean it up you walking around musty because you're trying to keep the sabbath holy they had all kinds of rules and regulations they had added to the sabbath and how many you know you sure couldn't heal anybody on the sabbath you sure couldn't restore anybody on the sabbath you sure couldn't open up blind eyes on the sabbath and here comes jesus in the midst of all of their rules and all their regulations and says i am god i'll heal who i want to heal i'll restore who i want to restore i know you got your rules but i came to seek and save that which is lost and anytime i see something broken i'm going to bring restoration in spite of whether you think it's right or wrong oh somebody that's ever had god restore something in your life i tell you to take 10 seconds and give him some praise like you know he restored oh come on you know your marriage wasn't always like that you know your kids weren't always saved you know you didn't always have the money but how many are thankful that god stepped in and restored i feel like preaching he restores he can't help himself that's what he does if something is broken he has to bring restoration he's attracted to the brokenness how dare you hide your brokenness in the presence of our god how dare you walk in with shame thinking god can't restore or redeem your life that's what he specializes in he specializes in taking broken things and he brings restoration so the pharisees couldn't understand why does he keep breaking the rules on the sabbath some you need to change your perspective of god because you think that god is in heaven waiting to hit you upside the head when you break a rule it's not the jesus of the bible he broke rules to restore you he broke rules to redeem you he restores he restores it's interesting you peruse the pages of your bible you'll see that he does it on the sabbath on purpose remember luke chapter 13. there's a woman who has a spirit of infirmity don't miss that it's a spirit of infirmity that is affecting her physical body which means there are some things that manifest in your body that start in the spirit well i'm thankful for doctors i'm thankful for all of it i go to doctors i got a counselor i got a therapist i love it all but there's some stuff you don't need a doctor for you need deliverance bro there's some things that got to be cast out can i preach this like i feel it [Applause] the bible says she had a spirit of infirmity and the spirit was affecting her physical body to the point that for 18 years she's crippled bowed over can you imagine for 18 years not being able to pull yourself up not being able to stand up straight i think it's a picture of humanity because how many know you can't pull yourself up you can't get yourself together have you not figured this out yet how many new year's resolutions you got to break dick you can't fix your you want to hashtag jacked up to fix yourself that's why you need a savior [Applause] 18 years spirit of infirmity affecting her physical body until jesus says daughter be freed from your suffering and this woman stands up straight for the first time in 18 years only problem was he healed her on the seven john chapter 5 there is a man who sits by a pool a lame man who sits by a pool called bethesda and every so often the waters would be stirred and whoever got in first would get their healing and for 38 years this man missed his moment i don't know who this is for today but some of you right now have that feeling that weight of i've missed my moment when the enemy is loud in your ear saying oh god could have done a miracle last year maybe the year before last but now no sorry you've missed your moment 38 years this man sat by the pool and never got his healing never got his breakthrough now i'm keeping 100 with you and tell you a little story i preached this text before like when i was young and i think god discern is not on youtube because i uh i preach this text with an attitude with an attitude cause i don't have no empathy for this dude i'm like homie 38 years like you couldn't get close to the pool for 38. i'm like 38 years you could at least shimmy your way close to the pool oh i had no compassion for homeboy i was like come on and i even preached that jesus talked to him with an attitude because you know we don't get vocal intonation in the bible so i pray jesus comes to him and says do you want to get well so i preached it like jesus had attitude and came up to him like do you want to get well do you even want to get well like jesus was annoyed with the people that he was about to heal oh i preached that when i was young but now i'm coming up on 38 and i know what it's like oh you're not gonna be real to have some issues that you're like yeah it's me again lord you know i'm still trying to figure this out i got grace i got compassion now cause i'm getting close to 38. i know what it's like to have some stuff you're still working out so i'm so thankful that god didn't look at that man jesus didn't look at that man with a vocal intonation of annoyance tell me do you want to get well he spoke to him in a vocal intonation of expectation saying do you want to get well because i know you think you missed your moment but when it comes to me you can never miss your moment because i'm the god that can restore the years that the enemy took from you cause i bring restoration somebody ought to praise him if you're thankful that he can restore even the years that you wasted god's the only one that can redeem time [Applause] thought he missed his moment so jesus says do you want to give well get up and take your man he gets up takes his man he starts walking well the problem was he was walking on the sabbath you bored yet john chapter 9 there's another man who the bible says is born blind he's born blind and who jesus and the disciples roll up on this man and the disciples oh the church staff members [Music] asked the most asinine question of this man who was born black the dumbest question to uh they said jesus uh who sinned who sinned him or his parents for him to be born blind jesus which one you see how narrow that question it had to be one of those two you see how narrow that question is and jesus is looking at them like dummies neither it has nothing to do with his sin or his parents sin said this is why you have to be careful when you're going through suffering because when you go through suffering the trigger of the enemy will make you think that your suffering is a direct result of something that you did so you'll spend countless nights thinking the reason i'm facing this is because i didn't do that and the reason i'm facing this is because i messed up over here your suffering is not always the direct result of your personal sin that is not true oh don't believe that lie of the enemy now sometimes it is amen yeah sometimes your suffering is a direct result of your sin sometimes you blame the devil and the devil's looking at you like nah that wasn't me that was you no you replied to that dm i didn't do that you typed it you typed remember it was saturday night you was lonely you did that so there's some things that's you jesus says that's not the case here we live in a broken world he said and guess what even though this happened this happens so the glory of god can be revealed in this that yes he's going through it he didn't do anything to cause it but i'm still going to use it i'm still going to get the glory out of it come on is there anybody that can testify that you're going through something right now that you know when it's all said and done god is going to get the glory out of it so you know what jesus does this dude spits in some mud breaks all kinds of coveted 19 rules and just puts it all in man's eyes tells him to go wash off that man washed off and got his sight for the first time in his life the only problem was he got his sight on the so the pharisees are noticing a trend he keeps doing stuff on the sabbath obviously doesn't care about our rules so they took it upon themselves to say well we're just going to watch him we're going to follow him and make sure he doesn't do any more healings on the happen now i'm to my text oh that was my intro so in my text you got to see this they are in a grain field in a grain field following jesus and his disciples in a grain field they're stalking jesus and his decision integrate the stalks of great they are literally stalking he's trying to wake somebody up they're stalking him in a grain field can you see him in a grain field stalking jesus following him and his disciples that's what made me laugh is that they don't like him they don't like him but they're following him they don't like him but they're following him you know there's nothing new under the sun any fun hell today how people won't like you but yet they still following you like you push the follow button i didn't ask you to follow me but you following me and you don't like me hit unfollow boo why are you following me if you don't like me but not funny oh people won't like you they still following you they're just be quiet face looking frustrated constipated like they've been sucking on lemons all day just [Music] i'm being extra because i'm trying to paint a picture because i want you to see don't miss this religion versus relationship there's be quiet stalking jesus and his disciples meanwhile jesus and disciples are having the time of their lives they're just chilling oh jesus hey hey jesus you're a preacher today on that mount oh you can preach you can freeze now you along with it you along with it but man you can preach jesus we didn't even get no food you were preaching so long and jesus was like when we're in the grave field if you're hungry get some food like okay they say oh they're just eating grain having a good time do you see relationship you understand that the kingdom of god is righteousness peace and joy some of y'all need to get your joy back you cried too many tears last year god wants to restore your joy having a good time eating grain and right when they eat that grave the first is pop up i see and jesus and the sons are like have y'all been there the whole time like yes we have and we see and i can literally see the disciples they still got food in their mouth like and she's like don't don't worry about them i got them chip peter calm down let me get down let me get there back up back up i got to tell you know this is the season to know what to respond to and what not to respond to this is season no what to type back into an email and what not to say back to an email you got to let the lord fight your battles if you keep stepping in to fight the battle you're leaving god out of the equation sometimes you got to sit back and let him fight for you he said y'all y'all back up i got this i got this and these goes have you not read have you not read in the days of ebf are the high priest when david and his companions were hungry and they ate of the consecrated bread that was set apart for the high priest have you not read that i love jesus because he is throwing shade because of course they read it they got it memorized the whole first five books of the old testament memorized come on you still skipped leviticus in your one year but reading bible play they got this thing memorized of course they know it what is he calling out he's calling out their interpretation of the word he's calling out the fact that you know the letter of the law but you've forgotten the spirit of the law he's calling out the fact that you know the word but you don't know the author and because you know the word and not the author you have elevated your human tradition over people you're more concerned with people keeping a code of conduct than you are with having compassion and human need transcends human tradition i came to seek and save that which is lost not for people to keep a conduct code you're so busy keeping the code of conduct you don't even have a heart for people he leaves them with it and then goes into the synagogue to preach and they're standing there like well well still a sabbath he gets in the synagogue and he's preaching and i see the pharisees following him into the synagogue and i see them scanning the synagogue their day perhaps to see broken people because they know if there's broken people he's going to heal them i can see them scanning looking through the sanctuary for people that are broken oh no she got both her eyes she good uh he got both his legs he good yeah how many you know there's supposed to be broken people in the church disposed i don't know when the church became a place of a museum of perfection no you're supposed to have some people that are still working some stuff out you're supposed to have some people that you're like did i just catch second hand high from hugging here you're supposed to have some people got some stuff on their breath that you're wondering what it is this is what the church is for it's a hospital for broken people this ain't a museum for perfect people this is a place where people who are broken and hurting know where the bread of life is not cause we got it all figured out because we know we need him i can see him scanning the crowd all of a sudden in the back he walks in they go up got one well the first he's like who right there third word from the back he always comes in late like who is that you know who that is that's willy willy yeah really with the withered hand that's him he always come in like oh that is a weird thing i'm like that you laughed at that because isn't that what we do we identify people by their issue which by the way his name is not really willing for those of you who are new to church e-fam around the world i want you to leave here saying pastor i preach that message on mark chapter 2 about willie in the bible but i just i made that up his name i just want to clarify it's funny how people will define you by your dysfunction to the point that you think you are what you did and i came to tell you you're more than your mistake stop defining yourself by your dysfunction some of you have let other people define you by your mistakes and what you did really with the withered hand they don't call him the man with one good hand or man with two good legs no it's the man with the withered hand because people will define you by your dysfunction and really walks in late because he doesn't want anybody to see and i don't think willie was expecting a miracle that day just like some of you you're not expecting a miracle you say i'm just going to tune in to elevation i ain't expecting i'll see i'll see some of you came in today you weren't expecting i don't think he was expecting a miracle because read your bible every person that got in the presence of jesus they knew he's 10 for 10. he doesn't miss a miracle they said something whether it's a woman in the issue of blood she pressed her way through remember ghetto bartimaeus who was all loud saying lord son of david he was blind lord son of david had mercy on me and people around here were like calm down be quiet he's like oh y'all can see lord son of david have mercy he was god loud because he knew jesus would do something about it he didn't say anything you know why he wasn't expecting the miracle withered hand is different it's not a lame leg it's not a blind eye your withered hand represents the thing that you've learned to live with the thing that you've lost hope you're saying god you can't restore that and god sent me on assignment to elevation to tell somebody today he wants to restore that thing the marriage you think is hopeless the business that you think the pandemic has completely shut down and god can't use you in the business world and no he wants to restore the thing that you've learned to live with and jesus notices willie and i can see the pharisees noticing jesus notice willie and i can say jesus notices the pharisees noticing him noticing really i can see this conversation with their eyes i can see the pharisees looking like you better not heal him you see jesus looking like oh you don't think i'll heal him really huh stand up cause him in front of everybody and then he turns to the pharisees and asks them a question what are you doing jesus well he's about to do a miracle and you need to understand when you're a god that can heal all kinds of diseases any kind of way if you heal a unique way that means you are teaching us something with the way you are doing that healing every miracle is a parable when you can heal all kinds of ways the specific way in which you heal is teaching something what are you teaching jesus what does he do he tells him to stand up and looks at the pharisees and ask them a question i love it they came to trap jesus jesus flips the script and traps them he says is it lawful to do good or evil on the sabbath to save a life or to kill simple question that demands a simple answer this is what god does see the pharisees were real good at religion religion always takes that which is simple and makes it complex it adds rules it adds regulations religion will always take that which is simple and make it complex but look at what grace does grace takes that which is complex and it makes it so simple he asked a simple question because he is the personification of grace and grace takes that which is complex and it makes it simple come on that's what he did with the ten commandments he said if you're struggling with all ten and you can't even memorize them then just take it to two and love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strain and love your neighbor as yourself if you take care of those two those two will take care of the ten because grace always takes that which is complex and it makes it simple hallelujah [Music] he says which one is it do good or evil save a life or destroy life simple question and they remain silent really pharisees you ain't got nothing to say you were real loud about them picking grain but you don't have anything to say about brokenness you know you're a pharisee when you're loud about certain issues but you're quiet on other issues when people are hurting and broken oh god give us a church that'll be loud about every issue that faces humanity not just the issues that we want to be loud about but anytime they're hurting and broken and suffering and lost people god give us a church that will stand up and say we're going to be loud about everything because everybody was created in the image of god that carries the immortal day and you are valuable to him god help us be loud about what you're loud about it remains silent he had nothing to say and he marveled at their stubborn hearts their stubborn hearts their stubborn hearts all huh i see what you're doing jesus got withered hearts and he's got a withered hand their hearts have become hard as his hand that man's hand was injured to an accident the greek tells us this this wasn't born this way something happened in his past that now carries residue in his present in the same way they started with good intentions to uphold the law and keep it holy their hearts have become so hard now that they've lost compassion no wonder he looked at them first he wanted to do two miracles that day he wanted to heal and restored their heart and hearts and restored that man's hand oh don't miss the message he loves them too [Music] he loves the pharisees too he wanted to heal their heart and that man's hand you know why because your heart and your hand are connected anything you reach for with your hand first started in your heart your heart and your hand are connected but since they refused he asked the man to do what he wanted their hearts to do forth your hand reach out again i can see the man calling jesus if i could reach out i would have done it by now stretch forth your hand jesus you don't know how long i'm good jesus i can get around stretch forth your hand jesus i can't if i were to stretch it i would have done it five years ago if you could heal this marriage you would have done it years ago if you could have restored this child you would have done forth your hand but i tried before i know you tried before but it's different now because i'm commanding you to do it and anytime god commands you to do something how many you know within the commandment will come the empowerment for you to do it so if he's telling you to stretch stretch if he's telling you to take a step of faith take a step of faith as he stretched restoration came to his hand and what happened to that man's hand could have happened to their hearts they would have stretched your heart and your hand are connected where does restoration start starts in your heart some of you this has been a difficult season to believe again to dream again and i'm wondering if you've been complaining about the thing in your hand but god actually wants to restore your heart he wants to give you a new heart a heart that can believe again a heart that can hope again heart that can trust again i know you lost some things last year i'm not belittling what you've been through but god said can you stretch your heart to believe a kid or you walk away just like the pharisees and miss the miracle that was right in front of you i'm gonna ask heads be bowed and us be closed father today i'm asking you to restore hearts god give us new hearts hearts that believe again hearts that trust again jesus restore our hearts because god i know if you restore our hearts then healing will come to our hands if you restore what's on the inside it will affect everything on the outside this is what you do jesus you heal us from the inside out god i pray for my brother and my sister i was having trouble believing again or hoping again holy spirit bring life back into their hearts matter of fact just right where you are just lift up your hands i sense the presence of god in this place he's restoring your heart to trust him again to believe again if he heals your heart it will take care of your hand father our hands are lifted because we want you to do an inner work heal us from the inside out where does restoration start it starts in our hearts so we receive it today god i pray for the person who's never surrendered their heart to you today and the enemy has lied to them and made them think that their issue is their identity father thank you that because of your finished work on the cross all things are made new we can always come home i thank you for today in jesus name amen well we just trust that god has blessed you through the message that you just heard and we're believing that god spoke to you right where you are we believe that what he's spoken into your heart you're able to take and apply it to your life this very week thanks for joining us and we're believing for the best for you if you haven't yet subscribed to this youtube channel i would encourage you click the subscribe button click the notifications button so you can stay up to date when we have new videos that come out but also when we go live each and every week you can join us live on sundays at 9 30 and 11 30 a.m and then we rebroadcast all throughout the week right on this channel

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 312,571

Rating: 4.9440107 out of 5

Keywords: elevation church, robert madu, where restoration starts, elevation church sermons, pastor steven furtick, steven furtick, robert madu sermons, pastor robert madu, 2021 sermons, preaching, preacher, restoration, perspective, reputation, religion, relationships, broken people, you are more, grace, heart, healing, sermons about restoration, sermons about perspective

Id: rXzNPL2uou0

Length: 49min 55sec (2995 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021