Where Restoration Starts // Pastor Robert Madu // First Wednesday, April 2021

anybody love jesus in the house tonight come on let's just take 10 seconds and give him the best praise that you got come on lakeshore come on if you're glad to be in the house of god tonight let's give them some real praise god i thank you tonight that what we're saying is more than a song it is a truth you are powerful you do miracles god you do the impossible i'll just pray right now for a person that came in tonight or is watching online that is facing an impossible situation a situation that makes them want to give up that i pray that they would run to you knowing that there is absolutely nothing that is impossible for our god lord we say have your way in this service on this first wednesday god we put you first say do whatever you want to do in this house in jesus name everybody said come on everybody said amen you may be seated in the presence of the lord don't get comfortable you might be back up again come on are you glad to be a first wednesday at lakeshore i tell you what i am ridiculously red bull excited uh to be back to be back i think this is like what my seventh or eighth time here and i will keep coming here till y'all get sick of me coming because i uh i love this house i love what god is doing here and man especially just to walk in tonight and to see people getting baptized can we praise god for all of the young people and old people that got baptized absolutely powerful and man i just i just pray you never take for granted uh what god is doing in this church i pray you never take your pastors for granted how many thankful for your pastors who lead you so well and so faithfully come on would you let pastor brad and his wife know how much you love him come on y'all could do better than that man thank god for you come on that's what i'm talking about you ought to give honor to her honor is due i'm telling you now more than ever i am so appreciative uh for the gift of pastors for the gift of leadership uh my wife and i in 2019 we started a gathering at the granada theater on greenville avenue and we just called it social night and uh i was very clear i told god i said this is just a gathering i'm not trying to pastor i'm not trying to start a church you ever told god something and it's like you can hear him laughing at you as you're telling and we started a gathering in 2019 and then last sunday was significant because we made a big announcement what started the social night then became social dallas is now social church so we have a church right in the heart of dallas in fact i think got a picture of last sunday is a pretty incredible moment that's my family right there and uh we launched we launched our services at the hi-fi which is um a music venue right across from american airline center we're actually the first event they've ever had in mark cuban's venue and we were able to just break it open with the presence of the lord it was unbelievable day and so uh it's exciting season for our family but i'm glad to be here tonight and preach the word are you ready to hear it do you like who you are sitting next to if you don't you can move in the name of social distance and just go somewhere else if you don't like them uh go and meet tonight to mark chapter two gospel of mark chapter 2 and i'm going to look at verses 23 through 28 and we'll probably even go into chapter 3 as well the gospel according to mark chapter number two you're looking forward to getting ready to look on the screen how many of you have never heard me preach before can i see your hand if you've never heard me preach okay quite a few of you all right quick disclaimer um i am a holla back preacher i say it all the time i say it all the time there's different preaching styles there's some preachers that want you to be very quiet like it's a library when they're preaching i am not that preacher okay if anything i'm saying is resonating with you you can say a man you can say preach that you could say that was good stand up in the middle say that was for me point at your neighbor say oh that was for you you needed that any one of those will work as long as you're verbally involved come on i'll take it mark chapter 2 mark chapter 2 and we'll start at verse number 23 and it says one sabbath jesus was going through the grain fields and as his disciples walked along they began to pick some heads of grain the pharisees said to him look why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath he answered have you never read what david did when he and his companions were hungry and in need and in the days of abeethar the high priest he entered the house of god and ate the consecrated bread which is lawful only for priests to eat and 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 virgin 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 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 okay false i don't want to preach before i preach please don't count this as my preaching time but isn't it interesting how two people can be in the same environment and have two totally different experiences like here this man's hand has been completely restored completely healed i imagine people in the room started giving god praise shouting doing the holy ghost two steps but in the same room in the same room where a healing occurred the pharisees took that as a moment to begin a plot to kill jesus this man's healing was the catalyst it was the impetus that initiated the plot for the killing of jesus i was playing around with titles with his message i could have titled this message uh when healing you is killing me that would have been a good title that would have been a good title that's not my title today um i had another title i had another title because the man's hand was completely restored and some of y'all hadn't been saved your whole life you've been to vegas and i was going to title this message how to win with a bad hand but i i i didn't want to make the religious people mad that's not my time but i i am intrigued by the fact that this man's hand was completely restored restored how many know if there's anything that our god does he is a god of restoration he restores he restores completely he restores things better than they were before they got he is a god of restoration so tonight i want to title this message where restoration starts where restoration starts would you bow your heads let's pray it's going to be a long prayer but just bear with me god you are awesome speak to us today amen where restoration restoration starts lakeshore fam i don't know about you i know we are fully immersed in the year 2021 but there are some lessons that i learned in 2020 that i am still walking out in 2021. oh come on 2020 taught me some lessons oh it taught me a myriad of lessons as a matter of fact first lesson i learned in 2020 first lesson i learned is i was sheltered in place with our six-year-old our four-year-old and our three-year-old the first lesson i learned as we were in the house stuck couldn't go anywhere for several months with our six-year-old our four-year-old and our three-year-old first lesson i learned is that our teachers are grossly underpaid oh come on somebody they are grossly underpaid if you got a stimulus check send it to a teacher immediately they are not paid enough that's first lesson i learned second lesson i learned in 2020 is that sometimes your greatest ability is adaptability your adaptability i think god can do more with people who know how to pivot who are not always stuck to what was and what always has been but able to move into what god is doing right now i'm telling you sometimes your greatest ability is adaptability the third thing that i didn't really learn but i was reminded of and that is that the church the church is not optional the church is essential oh come on somebody how many know we need the church you know where you were this time last year how many are thankful today that you're able to come into the house of the lord with other believers i'm thankful for online stuff but there's something about when the church of the living god gets together and starts declaring the greatness and the goodness of our god oh this is not optional the church is essential i've learned that i'm reminded of that i believe that i can deal with a bad barber i'll just have a bad haircut i can deal with a bad dentist i'll just have a tooth cake i can handle a bad plumber worse than having my house get flooded but i don't need a dead bad church i need a church that is alive i need a church that will be light in the midst of darkness and declare the gospel the good news of jesus no the church it's not optional it is essential and i'm telling you i'm thankful for tonight i'm loving that we can come in the house today and lift up holy hands and worship i enjoyed worshipping you all some of y'all were singing off key behind me but it's cool it's cool i enjoyed it something powerful about gathering together and i'll be honest i'm i'm pretty lonely on this stage there's nobody on this stage up here by myself it's pretty lonely but it is not as lonely as it was this time last year when i was preaching into empty sanctuary speaking into an abyss of darkness looking to the lens of a camera hoping that what i was saying was resonating on the other side so oh i'm glad to see some faces in the place tonight and i was actually thinking about the fact that i can see your face and kind of got me on this trajectory of thinking did i have an interesting vantage point up here i do because i can see you you can see me i look at these amazing screens i can see myself what's funny to me is you can't see you [Music] just think about that for a moment like you don't have a clue what you look like right now like i do but you don't know what you look like right now now you know what you look like if you went to the bathroom before you came into service you know what you look like when you're you left the house today but you don't have a clue what you look like right now oh can you imagine the nerve the audacity of you on this first wednesday they say whoo i'm going to step into all that god has for me and you can't even see yourself you don't know what you look like right now and i'm being funny but i also want you to understand that that is a reality of life is that you can't see you and all change in your life must first be preceded by self-awareness the ability to be able to see what you cannot see i think many of us want god to restore things in our lives but god cannot restore that which you cannot recognize self-awareness is preceded by all change in your life you have to be able to you can't see yourself okay anybody you ever start off the year trying to be real spiritual and uh you did the 21 day daniel fast and you had the kale salad you ever had this experience you ate the kale salad and you had the kill salad about 12 o'clock in the afternoon right 12 o'clock in the afternoon then you get to your house about 6 30 in the afternoon go to your bathroom look in your mirror and see the biggest piece of kale lodged between your teeth and as soon as you see it not only you're shocked but then you start thinking wait a minute i had that kale salad at 12 o'clock in the afternoon i talked to 63 people between 12 o'clock and 6 30. now one person loved me enough to tell me that i had kale between my teeth you would have got it out if you could have seen it but you can't change what you cannot see oh this is the problem of life is that all of us have blind spots areas in our life that we have to recognize before they can even be restoration i'll never forget talking to an influential leader and i was asking them all these questions about leadership and this leader said well robert there's actually a question that i ask that has helped my leadership he said i asked this question of my staff often he said i ask this question of my loved ones i ask this question of my wife people that are close to me he said the question is this what is it like to be on the other side of me what is it like to be on the other side of me he said because that's the thing that i don't have perspective on he said i don't know what it's like to be on the other side of me so i have to ask people that i love and then when they tell me i can't get defensive i have to sit and listen it's missing this message you're like oh my wife needs this message i'm good i don't know what's wrong with her but i know i'm a good husband i know that i know i'm a good husband and my question to you is how do you know you've never been married to you some ladies are going oh my husband needs this message i'm telling you he said robert please fix him he has some things he needs to get together i know one thing i am a good wife and i want to say to you how do you know you've never been married to you that there's some parents in here that are going what is wrong with these kids they have lost their mind i am a good parent you have electricity you have food what is wrong with you they've lost their mind i am a good parent and i'm not saying you're not i'm just saying how do you know you've never parented yourself and the challenge of life is that all of us have blind spots and the challenge is to go god help me to see what i cannot see so that i can have real change in my life don't let me spend my entire life pointing the finger at what everybody else needs to change that i never address the things in my life that i need to change and i miss out on an opportunity for you to transform me into who you call me to be oh god help me to see me this was the problem with the pharisees who are in my text today the pharisees were real proficient at seeing what was wrong with everybody else but they couldn't see themselves that's the problem with the pharisees the fair fair i see that's why their name ends with ic because they could always see what was wrong with somebody else but they could never see themselves they were real good with microscopes they were horrible with mirrors and it's dangerous when you're better with a microscope and you can see with specificity what everybody else needs to fix but you can never pull a michael jackson and say i'm looking at the man in the mirror i'm asking him to change his ways that was a problem with the pharisees they were the originators of cancel culture they're like cancel you because i can see what's wrong with you they couldn't cancel themselves because they would never take a look at themselves and jesus had this uncanny ability to reveal themselves to themselves he would show them who they really were and they couldn't stand it jesus would always do it and they couldn't stand him for doing it oh the pharisees had issues with jesus we could spend all day talking about the pharisees issues with jesus first of all before you even talk about the pharisees issues with jesus i've noticed growing up in church that nobody ever type cast themselves as the pharisees in the bible have you noticed that like none of you in here have ever read the bible and looked at the pharisees he said oh that's me no come on you're always the person with the withered hand come on we're always the people with the blinded eye or the lame leg we just need jesus to help us up a little bit nobody ever type cast themselves as the pharisees and that's funny to me that's funny to me that the people that regularly attend church never think that they're the people in the bible that regularly attended church maybe another question besides what is it like to be on the other side of me could be is the pharisee me and if it was would i notice it because you can't see yourself the pharisees couldn't stand jesus couldn't stand jesus first of all because they were jealous of jesus that was really the root of it and jealousy it will make you do some crazy things they were jealous of jesus they were jealous of jesus because he was effective at doing what god had called him to do and you need to know that anytime you are effective in your calling people are going to be jealous of you oh it just comes with the territory if you are gonna stop doing what god has called you to do because people are criticizing you and talking about you you will never step in the totality of your purpose i'm telling you the only people that never get criticized are the people that never say anything never do anything or never become anything but i promise you if you step on your purpose people are going to be jealous of you just get some thick skin and keep a soft heart and know that it's coming they were jealous of jesus not only that they could not stand the claims of jesus because jesus was claiming to be the son of the living god and they were like hold on we know where you're from you're from nazareth nothing good comes out of nazareth you ever met those people in your life that always remind you of where you came from they're like there's no way you're the son of the living god oh another thing they couldn't stand were the people that jesus hung out with oh jesus had a reputation you know he had a reputation for hanging out with people that had a bad reputation and they said huh if he was really holy if he was really a man of god he would not hang out with those despicable deplorable people they could not stand the people that he hung out with but understand all of those aforementioned issues are not what got him crucified you know what got him crucified do you know what their hot button issue was we read it in our text they couldn't stand that he kept doing stuff on the sabbath that's what got him killed that's what got him crucified they couldn't stand that he kept doing things on the sabbath read your bible every time they got mad they're like i'm gonna heal somebody just don't do it on the sabbath they were so angry that he kept healing people on the sabbath because come on they had been given a commandment from moses to honor the sabbath to keep it holy you know what the sabbath is it means to cease to rest from work the only problem is god really didn't define what it meant to cease from work so the pharisees said well we'll define what it means to cease from work because that's what religion always does religion will always put a list of rules it will always put a checklist that says if i do this this this and this then god will accept me then god has to do what i tell him to do if i do this this this and this see religion always needs a list but that's the problem with grace because grace destroys that list grace says get the list out of the way that even when you mess up even when you fall down you still get to be a recipient of a god who paid a price that you were supposed to pay that's what grace does grace messes up your list and they couldn't stand it but they wanted a checklist that says if i do this this distance and this then i'm good and they kept adding rules to the sabbath they couldn't stand and jesus almost to get on their nerves kept healing people on the sabbath on purpose almost as if he was trying to like take them off on purpose he kept doing it oh and they couldn't stand it they were serious about the sabbath matter of fact jews today are still serious about the sabbath oh very serious i learned this the hard way uh lakeshore i went to israel i'll never get this nick i went to israel i'm in the holy land and i'm having the time of my life and i'm going through israel and i miss the bathroom break i was drinking a lot of water and i missed the bathroom break i was having a moment in bethlehem i miss the bathroom break and so we get back on the bus and we go back to the hotel and i have to go y'all have to go so i get off the bus and i get to my elevator to go to my room i'm on the ninth floor this elevator stopped on the first floor it stopped on second floor it stopped on the third floor it stopped on the fourth i'm on the ninth floor it stopped on the fifth floor it stopped on the sixth floor on the seventh floor i just passed out it stopped on the eighth floor it finally gets to the ninth floor i get off the elevator go to my hotel room come back i get the same elevator all the way back down it stopped on every single floor oh by the time i got to the lobby i had an attitude i had attitude so i got to talk to the manager immediately okay i paid a lot of money to walk the streets where jesus walked and y'all can't fix an elevator and this hotel this is ridiculous what is going on somebody give me the manager and as i'm going in the lobby like robert where are you going to say i'm going to talk to a manager because that elevator stopped on every single floor you don't want to know what happened to me on the 8th floor because that elevator stopped on every single floor they said robert that elevator i said yes that elevator they said ah robert it's the sabbath i don't care what day it is what does that have to do with them fixing the elevator they said robert that's the shabbat elevator i said i don't care if it's the shazam elevator they need to get a technician to fix it it stopped the floor they said no robert it's the sabbath they cease from work to push a button on the elevator would be work that's why that elevator stopped on every single oh you think that's crazy you need to see what the pharisees added to the sabbath oh my goodness you could not carry anything that weighed more than a fig on the sabbath you could not take more than 1999 steps from your home on the sabbath if you took that 2000 step you were working if you threw some in the air you better catch it with the other hand because if you caught it with the same hand you were working on the sabbath you couldn't write a letter on the sabbath you couldn't blow a candle out on the sabbath you couldn't bathe on the sabbath because if you washed and spilled water on the floor you might try to clean it up so you're walking around stinky on the sabbath trying to be holy i'm telling you they had all kinds of rules and regulations and you sure couldn't heal anybody on the sabbath you sure couldn't restore anybody on the sabbath and here comes jesus in the middle of all their rules and all their regulations and god says guess what i will heal who i want to heal i will restore who i want to restore because i am a god that came to bring restoration and i will break down your human tradition if it means bringing restoration to broken people oh hallelujah this is the greatness of our god oh i don't know what image you have of god in your head but you might need to change it because some of you think god is in heaven like judge judy just waiting to bust you upside your head when you mess up but i'm trying to tell you that is not the jesus of the bible he broke rules he broke traditions also he could bring restoration and redemption and hope and life to people this is the god that we serve and so he kept doing things on the sabbath oh can i take you on a little bible journey do you remember in luke chapter 13 i believe there's a woman who for 18 years has been bowed over with the spirit of infirmity 18 years can you imagine 18 years not ever able to pull yourself up and after 18 years in one moment she encounters jesus who says daughter you are healed from your infirmity and after 18 years she stands up straight only problem was she got healed on the john chapter 5 there's a man who for 38 years has been lame and he sits by a pool that ever so often got stirred and whoever got in first would get their healing and for 38 years this man missed his opportunity have you ever felt like you missed your moment and the enemies come in your mind and say well god could have done that miracle like before the pandemic but it's too late now like you have missed your moment 38 years this man never got his breakthrough and here comes jesus after 38 years and he goes hey hey do you want to get well do you want to get well because i know you think you've missed your moment but i'm trying to tell you that i am a god that can actually redeem the years and the time that you lost i don't know who that's for today but you need to know that god can restore to you the years that you've lost only god can restore even time back to your life it says get up take your mat and walk this dude gets up and starts walking for the first time well the problem was he got healed on the john chapter five there's a man who's been born blind he's been born blind john chapter nine i believe he's been born blind and when jesus and his disciples jesus and his decision jesus and the church staff members come up to this man who's been born blind and the church staff members ask the most ridiculous asinine question of this man who's been born blind here's what they say um jesus who sinned who sent him or his parents for him to be born blind which one what a dumb question you see how narrow that question is who sinned him or his parents because it's got to be one of those two you see how narrow that question is and i'm so glad that jesus responds to the dumb question with the appropriate answer he's like neither dummies you don't say dummies that's in the middle international version he said neither he said in fact the message translation says something i love he says you're asking the wrong question you're asking the wrong question and i think we have to look at this because how many know often when we go through seasons of suffering you will think that it is your personal sin that caused the suffering and that is not always the case how many know sometimes the suffering that you're going through is not always attached to some sin that you committed or some sin your parents committed that is not true and the enemy will come in your mind and make you think that you are suffering because of some sin that you did and that is not always the case we live in a broken world we live in a fallen world suffering is here now sometimes you are suffering because of direct result of your sin amen and it wasn't the devil it was you come on somebody you responded to that dm amen you responded to that text message amen but not all the time not all the time and jesus says no this happened so that the glory of god could be revealed in it in other words he didn't cause it but i'm going to get the glory out of it how many are thankful that there's some things in your life that you're going through that are painful that are hurtful but when it's all said and done you know that god is going to get the glory out of it he's going to get the glory out of your marriage he's going to get the glory out of that business that failed he's going to get the glory out of that thing that's hurting you [Applause] so jesus breaks all kinds of kobe 19 rules spits in mud and rubs it all in the dude's eyes let's go wash that off and he washes it off and he got his sight only problem was he got a sight on the so the pharisees noticed a pattern like obviously he does not care about our sabbath rules so they say we're going to watch him and make sure he doesn't break our rules on the sabbath now to my text oh that was my introduction and so in my text you got to see this you got to see this in your mind the pharisees are in a grain field and they are stalking jesus and his disciples to see if they break a sabbath rule can you see this the pharisees are in a grain field they're integrating with stalks of grain they are literally stalking just trying to keep some of y'all engaged they are literally stalking jesus and his disciples to see if he breaks a sabbath can you see him shh be quiet go in through the grain looking all frustrated and constipated like they've been sucking on living they're stalking jesus and his disciples to see if he's gonna break a rule now here's what made me laugh is that they don't like jesus they don't like him but they're following him they don't like him but they're following him that's what i love about the bible the bible is for today isn't it funny how people won't like you but they'll still be following you i don't understand this if you don't like me why are you following you're the one that pushed follow on twitter and instagram if you know you can unfollow me if you don't like me why are you following me isn't it funny from jesus day into today people won't like you but they'll still be following you to see if you do something wrong or say something that doesn't line up with their opinion or their worldview and what they think the world is and who they think you should vote for they're following and i want you to see i was a little bit dramatic because i want you to see religion versus relationship here they are in stalks of grain trying to be quiet meanwhile jesus and his disciples are having the time of their life they're just chilling with jesus cypher's like man jesus you are preaching today on that mouth oh my goodness oh omg i mean omu man you can breath i mean you are a good preacher it's like you're the word itself or something man you long-winded you along with it but you can preach ah jesus we didn't even get to eat today we didn't get to eat you were preaching so long jesus is like well we're in a grain field get you some food you know what let's eat and they're eating grain just having a good time hanging out with jesus and i say that to say you do understand that the kingdom of god is the kingdom of righteousness peace and joy some of you need to get your joy back this year god wants to restore your joy in 2021. come on you cried enough tears in 2020 this is your year to get your joy back this is your year to smile again to laugh again and it don't matter about your circumstance joy has nothing to do with your circumstance that's why it's a fruit of the spirit see i can have joy and be going through the worst circumstance in my life see happiness means something has to happen for me to get excited or me to smile but joy is something different joy is the fruit of the spirit joy means i can have joy even when i'm going through pain because my trust in my hope is in jesus and they're having the time of their life and as soon as they eat that grain the pharisees pop up i see i can see jesus and the disciples like were y'all there the whole time they're like yeah we were and we see and i could almost see i can see the disciples they're eating the grain and i can see jesus like calm down i'll take care of them y'all chill out i got this keep eating keep it peter keep eating i got them i got them because this is a season where you need to know when to respond and when not to respond sometimes you got to let the lord fight your battles some of you keep jumping up to be your defense and you're robbing yourself of an opportunity for god to defend you for god to be your defender sometimes you need to step back don't say anything and let god fight your battle for you jesus says y'all chill out i'll take care of them keep eating and he goes um have you not read have you never read in the days of abiathar the high priest when david and his companions were hungry and they ate the bread that was consecrated for the high priest have you not read that i love it because jesus is throwing shade towards the pharisees because of course they read it of course they read it they've got the first five books of the old testament memorized of course they've read it they got the first five books of the old testament memorized come on you still skipped leviticus and you're one year reading bible play of course they've read it what is jesus pointing to he's pointing to the interpretation of what they've read he's pointing to the fact that you know the word but you don't know the author and it's dangerous when somebody knows the word but they don't know who the author is you can do damage to people when you know the word of god but you don't know the god of that word it's dangerous when you know the letter of the law but you don't know the spirit behind the law and he's trying to get them to understand that you have elevated your human tradition above the needs of people and the needs of people always transcend your human tradition he said you're so busy keeping your code of conduct that you have lost compassion for people and he said that's who i came for i came to seek and save that which is laws not for a conduct i came for broken and hurting people he said you've elevated your programs over the needs of people and he leaves them there in the grain field and goes to the synagogue and i can see the phrase he's like well it's still the sabbath he goes into the synagogue and he starts teaching on the sabbath the pharisees follow him into the synagogue and i can see the pharisees scanning the synagogue that day looking for broken people because they know if there's broken people in the room he's going to do something about it he can't help himself he has an affinity towards brokenness he has to bring restoration this is what jesus does so i can see them scanning the church if you will looking for broken people let me see i know she got both her eyes she's good no his legs look fine just just can you see them this is why there has to be broken people in the church because god wants to bring restoration when did the church become a museum where you come in with your religious face and act like you got it all together come on this is supposed to be a hospital for broken people you're supposed to have some people in the lobby that when you hug them you go what were they smoking before they came in here you're supposed to have broken people this is what the church is for when did the church become a place where you got to come in and hide what's broken and pretend like you got it all together no this is a hospital for broken people i'm trying [Applause] worship team you can join this this is why i love that we have services at the granada theater pastor it's because we're right on greenville avenue we're right next door to this crazy club and across the street from a cbd place and a tattoo shop and people literally walk in our services on sunday night at the grenada theater on greenville avenue they're like what's y'alls cover charge tonight we're like man it's free tonight come on in come on in come on because that's what the church is supposed to be hospital for broken people and i can see them scanning the crowd and all of a sudden he walks in he always walks in late and when the pharisees goes hey we got one who right there in the back third row who is that you know who that is that's willie really you know willie with a withered hand oh yeah that is a willie i'm glad you laughed at that because i've actually found out that's what that's what church people will do that's what a lot of people will do people will identify you by your brokenness to the point that you think you are your issue and your issue becomes your identity willing with a withered hand by the way those of you who are new to church his name really wasn't willing i don't want you to leave this service and say pastor robert preached on willie and mark chapter 2. i'm just but it is interesting they don't call him the man with one good hand they don't call him the man with two good legs the man with the withered hand because people will identify you by your issues like some of you in this room you have identified yourself by what is broken and defined yourself by your defect instead of defining yourself by who you are in jesus some of you keep reminding yourself of a mistake you made years ago and you think that one moment that one mistake defines you god says that's not who you are stop defining yourself by your defect and really sitting there and i don't think he came into the service that they expecting to be healed of course he didn't i'll tell you how i know because i've read the gospels every person that encountered jesus how many you know if they were broken they said something oh if they were hurting and they were in the vicinity of jesus they said something they were not quiet because they knew when it comes to miracles this man doesn't miss he is 10 for 10. he does not miss he always brings restoration come on if it's blind bartimaeus he's going to say lord son of david have mercy on me if it's a woman with an issue of blood she's going to push people out the way because they know he will bring restoration he can't help himself but he didn't say anything that day because i don't think he was expecting to receive restoration just like some of you came tonight you weren't expecting god to restore anything because a withered hand is different than a blind eye it's different than lame legs a withered hand represents the thing that you have learned to live with the brokenness that you have become comfortable with the thing that you said to god well this is the way it'll always be this is the way my marriage will always be this is the way i am this this just runs in my family and i came to tell you that thing that you've learned to live with that's what god wants to restore that thing that you've given up on god wants to bring restoration to that that thing that you said is too late god you can't restore that i came to tell you that the devil is a liar god can restore anything he's a god of restoration don't you give up don't you stop pressing don't you stop believing don't you let the pain of your past make you lose hope for the present he can restore really doesn't say anything but thank god jesus saw and i can see the pharisees they saw him and after they saw him jesus saw him and i could see the pharisees noticing jesus noticing him and i could see jesus noticing the pharisees noticing him noticing him [Music] and i can see the pharisees looking at jesus like you better not heal him it's the sabbath i can see jesus looking right back at the pharisees he's like oh you don't think i will i'm a god of restoration i'll do whatever i want willie huh stand up in front of everyone he makes him stand up doesn't heal him yet but then looks at the pharisees and asked them a question what is jesus doing they came to interrogate him to trap him jesus flips the script and traps them says willie stand up and then he turns to the pharisees to ask them a question what is jesus doing he's about to do a miracle but how many you know every miracle is a parable every miracle is a story come on when you're god and you can heal anything because you can heal anything when god heals differently in the bible the way he heals is teaching you something sometimes he speaks a word and he heals people sometimes people touch the hem of his garment and get healed sometimes he rubs mud in their eye he heals different ways why because every miracle is a parable he's teaching something he looks at the pharisees and he says which is easier excuse me he says which is lawful to do good on the sabbath or to do evil to save or to kill which one i love that because that's a simple question that demands a simple answer is it lawful to do good or evil on the sabbath to save or to kill a life simple question that has to get a simple answer i love that jesus asked that you know why because they represent religion and religion will always take that which is simple and try to make it complex religion will always take that which is simple and add a burden to people but look what grace does grace does the opposite grace takes that which is complex and it makes it simple that which is complex and it makes it simple that's what grace always does that's why jesus had to come as the personification of grace because he took ten commandments down to two commandments because grace will always make that which is complex simple he says if you can't do those ten commandments then let's reduce it to two just love the lord your god with all your hearts own mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself because grace will always take that which is complex and make it simple make it tangible [Applause] he says which one is it save life or to kill a life to do good or evil and they remain silent they had nothing to say come on pharisees you were real loud about them picking heads of grain but you had nothing to say about his broken hand you know you're a pharisee when you're loud about some issues but you're quiet about other issues they had nothing to say oh i see what you're doing jesus you're setting up the miracle because that man was suffering from a withered hand but the pharisees were suffering from a withered heart that man's hand had become shriveled and hard but their hearts had become shriveled and hard he was trying to do a two-for-one special that day y'all he wanted to heal their heart and heal that man's hand because how many know your heart and your hand are connected anything you reach for with your hand it first starts in your heart and he was trying to get the pharisees to do with their hearts what he had that man do with his hand he said stretch forth your hand stretch forth your hand that man had to be thinking jesus i can't stretch forth my hand if i could have done it i would have done it by now he's like no i'm commanding you to stretch forth your hand that man had to be thinking jesus i can't stretch forth my hand it's been like this for so long he says no there's a difference i am commanding you to stretch forth your hand because how many know with every commandment from god comes the empowerment for you to do it he wouldn't be commanding you to do it if he wasn't going to give you the strength to do it come on stretch forth your hand that's what somebody needs to do tonight god wants you to stretch again to believe again to hope again as he stretched he was healed but the tragedy is that he couldn't heal the hearts of the pharisees that were just as shriveled as that man's hand where does restoration start starts in your heart god wants to restore your heart so restoration can come to your hand whenever god heals you he will heal you from the inside out restoration starts in your heart i'm going to ask every head be bad on us be closed tonight god thank you that restoration starts in our hearts lord it's so easy for us to ask for restoration and the external to fix the situation that we can see but god i pray tonight that you would restore hearts tonight because that's where restoration starts god they're praying about the marriage and the fighting and the bickering but god you're looking at the heart of unforgiveness and bitterness god they're praying about the addiction to alcohol but god you you're looking at the heart that needs acceptance and approval from other people instead of acceptance and approval from you god i pray you would bring restoration to hearts tonight new hearts and god if you restore our hearts then we can have strength in our hands to do what you've called us to do but god thank you that restoration starts in our heart heads about eyes are closed tonight but if you be so honest to say pastor robert this message is for me there's an area of my life that needs a restoration and it needs to start in my heart i believe god wants to do heart surgery tonight and bring that restoration this year would you just lift up your hand as a sign to say this is for me this is for me thank you god wow yeah hands are going up all over this place can we stand to our feet just as one big family hallelujah anybody else say that's me that's me i need restoration in my heart thank you god thank you god it's still about i'll still close if you're here tonight and you've never taken that first step which is to say jesus my life is yours tonight would be a great night on the first wednesday to say god i'm putting you first in my life god wants your heart if you're here tonight and say pastor robert would you include me in this closing prayer i need to surrender my life to jesus i'm not asking you have you been coming to church i'm asking you have you fully given him your life your heart if you if that's you tonight and you say i want to i want to do that god's speaking to you right now would you just lift up your hand as a sign to say god i'm giving you my life tonight yeah yeah i see those hands thank you jesus thank you god god restore right now god i thank you that you know every single need represented by every single hand that was lifted jesus bring restoration tonight restore from the inside out give us new hearts hearts that trust you again god i sense even somebody lost so much last year so much was taken away they don't even want to trust you again this year but god would you soften their heart to trust you again to believe again to hope again they would know that you'll never leave them you'll never forsake them you're a god that brings restoration do that for my brother tonight do that for my sister tonight by the power of the holy spirit fresh wind to god bring life into our hearts heal our hearts heal our hearts from words that were spoken to us when we were young that we are still carrying god heal our hearts tonight because if you heal our hearts strength will come to our hands to do what you've called us to do in jesus name in jesus name [Applause] amen you

Channel: Lakeshore Church

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Id: y1l6oBSCnRc

Length: 53min 15sec (3195 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021