Mike Todd’s Introduction
- Over 50k people watching right now
- Happy Resurrection Sunday
- The kingdom of God is expanding
- God uses everything
- He’s the only one that takes all the mess and turns them into a masterpiece
- This is the super bowl of our Christian faith – the resurrection of our Lord and savior – He lives
- In this moment, the goal is that you would find the cure for everything humanity has been looking for, and his name is Jesus
- God is intentional and cares about the details of your life
- God loves you, even when you don’t feel comfortable
- God is coming to turn situations around
- God has shut down everything to bring a word to you where you are most comfortable, in your home, in your bed, wherever it may be
- God is saying, that his people, everybody, we’re stuck in the middle
- Mike has come to give a message of hope today, that God has something specific and wants us to get out of the place that we’re stuck
- We’re in history, but for many of us, we’re thinking about our reality, which is unsure and doesn’t feel good
- God is standing in our eternity – He’s looking at our situation and pain and God has us. He is alpha and omega, but he cares about us in the middle
- Think about being at the last supper and eating with Jesus, think about eating in that moment, with Judas about to betray him, when they came for him and mocked him, when the man you put your time and treasure into, and he ends up dying with regular people. Think about this in reality – where they just lost the person they thought would save them
Message Title: The Middle
Scripture:
John 19:41-42 New Living Translation (NLT)
41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover[a] and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
John 20:1 New Living Translation (NLT)
The Resurrection
20 Early on Sunday morning,[a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
On Friday, he’s in a tomb – then it skips to Sunday.
On Friday we’re dealing with our reality and dysfunction. We’re dealing with the pain of not being supported, then it just skips to early Sunday morning. What in the world do we do with the middle?
We’re still stuck in the pain; still in the middle of feeling like we’re not being provided for. We shout for the resurrection but don’t know how to conduct ourselves when we’re in the middle.
1. My Response Is More Important Than the Reason Why
Our reality is not good, and we get mad about why we’re not where we should be. We can’t control the reality of it, and we’re not over the resurrection, but we can control our response in the middle.
We’re not helpless or hopeless. We can make a decision about how we respond.
My response is more important than the reason why.
We wonder why we lost, why we got cheated on, etc.
The enemy wants us to go in circles with the why. If you’re in the middle, stop trying to figure out why and start giving the right response while you’re there.
If you’re in the middle, be patient in trouble, rejoice in the middle.
Romans 12:12 New Living Translation (NLT)
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
There is a deepening in your faith when you’re in the middle. You’re going to grow and become who God has called you to be when you’re facing the reality in the middle.
You may have to go to counseling; you may have to be patient in this thing. In this season, you may have to do something you may have never thought you had to do.
How do I really respond in the middle?
How we respond in the middle shows what we’re actually concerned about.
We’ve been silently suffering.
God didn’t come so you could worry more abundantly, but for you to have life, and life more abundantly.
In the middle, even when it looks like it’s dead, know that you will have life.
Speak life when it’s in the tomb. Your business, your relationships, may feel like they’re in the tomb, but you need to speak life when it looks like they’re in the tomb. Speak life into your marriage.
Matthew 6:25-34 New Living Translation (NLT)
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Today, listen outside for birds. God is telling you that no matter what you’re going through, God is still providing for animals. You don’t think he’ll provide for you and your family during this pandemic?
God will take care of you in the middle.
God cares more about you than the birds and the flowers, even if you’re in the middle.
Your worries can’t add a single moment to your life. The worry is depleting you of the life that you do have. Why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies. “If God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.”
The right response needs to be anchored in who cares for you.
Lay your burdens down and think of who cares for you.
2. The Method of the Middle
Reality >> Dilemma >> Deception >> Decision // The Middle >> Death >> Deliverance >> Resurrection
If you’re watching this (or reading this) as a last attempt — know that God cares about you.
Whatever your reality is, understand what comes after your reality.
The dilemma allows the enemy to come in with deception. Did God really say your marriage was going to last? When you listen to the enemy in the dilemma, it will make you make the wrong decision.
In the middle, the decisions lead to death. Death can be of something good, like your marriage if you make the wrong decision, or of something bad. For instance, when you make the right decision, Pride dies, preference dies, plans die. When your decisions line up with God’s word, God promises that there will be deliverance.
God gives us examples of real people that got caught up in the middle.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, her reality was one that nobody else could understand. Her reality was that her son was dead, just like our dreams and plans. It presented a dilemma; hers was that this went against everything God promised her. The angel came to her and said she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She didn’t ask for Jesus. She was chosen to carry him. We’re going through things we didn’t ask for. We didn’t ask to be abused, laid off, molested, etc. The enemy tries to come in with deception, and the devil tried to convince Mary that this was the end. In the middle, the promise is not void because of the pain.
3. The Promise Is Not Void Because of the Pain
Just because we’re in the middle and it looks dead, know that if it’s not over, God is not done with it. He’s trying to do a work with it when we’re in the middle.
You never need to make a decision in the heat of pain. It’s the wrong time to make decisions because you’re still in the middle. You don’t end your marriage because you’re in the middle.
You don’t make decisions to abort the promises God gave you because of listening to lies and deception.
Mary wasn’t the only one in the middle. Peter was in the middle to. His reality was that the only person who ever loved him and looked past his faults, was now dead.
Peter’s dilemma was that he was at the dinner table and Jesus told them what was going to happen. Even though he tells us the outcome, we can’t see it when we’re in the middle.
Peter was told that when it all went down, Peter would deny Him three times. Peter’s dilemma was when they actually came and got Jesus, that he did what he said he would never do.
When you do something you said you’d never do, and you do it, for example, you cheat when you said you would never cheat, that’s the dilemma Peter is in. In this moment of deception, the enemy tries to make you think your worth is connected to your works.
The grace of God is available for you, for every mess up, and for every person that did something they said they would never do. Sidenote: Grace Like A Flood is a great series for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOIxxHtPpnw&list=PLhYvOKkFVSGs87WA2RC5pC2sN3S-zg0xY
The enemy wants you to believe that there are degrees to sin; there are not. Somebody has been believing lies that you’re only worth it if your works are good.
Peter had to make a decision in the middle of what he was going through.
He had to decide that he would focus on the character of Jesus and not on the concerns of critics.
Make the decision that in the middle of going the wrong direction, you’re about to repent. You’re about to turn. You will not make a decision to hurt your family. Everything is about to turn.
The only way it can turn is if you focus on the character of Jesus and not on the concerns of the critics, who can even be family members, “oh you changed, oh you holy”.
Peter had to trust and focus on Jesus’ character, and not on the chattering of others.
The enemy doesn’t have new tricks. We’re going to make different decisions in the middle.
Mike has had conversations with people who feel like they’ll get ostracized if they make the right decision.
When connecting with Kanye West, he spoke to people about the good news of Jesus. It’s one thing to be criticized by people who don’t have your best interest at heart, but it’s another thing when you are criticized by people who are supposed to be Christ followers. Mike was convicted when listening to “Hands On”.
Lyrics Excerpt: “Said I’m finna do a gospel album
What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?
They’ll be the first one to judge me
Make it feel like nobody love me
They’ll be the first one to judge me
Feelin’ like nobody love me
Told people God was my mission
What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?
They’ll be the first one to judge me
Make it feel like nobody love me
Make you feel alone in the dark and you’ll never see the light”
That is not the character of our God.
Please focus on the character of Jesus and not of people.
John 3:16-17 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
For Mike, his reality is that MJ (his youngest son) has autism and cannot verbally tell Mike what he wants. The dilemma is that Mike teaches faith to everybody else. The reality doesn’t look like the resurrection. Every week, Mike has to tell everyone that God can do it. He has to look at his wife and tell her that God is still good when she’s fighting depression off of her wondering if it’s something she did wrong that led to MJ’s condition. The enemy tries to come and say that God can do miracles through Mike, but not for Mike. Mike gets to make a decision, and the decision is that no matter what happens, no matter who comes, that his family will serve the Lord. It doesn’t make the middle feel any better. It doesn’t make the fact that after this, he’ll go to MJ’s playroom and he won’t know that Mike just preached a sermon. It doesn’t make it less real. But when you make the right decision, some death comes. Pride has died. The plan has died. Preference has died. With this death, it creates an opportunity for God to do a miracle. When there’s death and deliverance, that’s the only time there can be a resurrection.
There’s a decision you can make in the middle that can change everything.
Your middle, Peter’s middle, Mary’s middle, and Mike’s middle, all have one thing in common. God stepped into it.
God’s reality was that Adam and Eve made a decision to separate humanity from God. God had a dilemma, he was separated from us but wanted to be with us. God always makes a way in the middle. No matter what the reality is, and if it doesn’t line up with your expectation, God always steps from reality and steps into your dilemma.
4. God Always Steps Into The Middle
God is the king of kings and the lord of lords.
When God made a decision, he decided to send Jesus. When he sent Jesus to Earth, he did this so that we could have the right relationship with God.
The only way it would work is if Jesus was sent to a place of death.
2 Corinthians 5:19 New Living Translation (NLT)
19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
That’s why the cross represents our faith. It is our receipt for salvation. It’s the thing that proves that God made a way in the middle.
God could have sent angels, but he knew that if Jesus didn’t die, we couldn’t be delivered.
Now it’s your turn to make a decision.
Are you going to live your entire life in the middle not recognizing what God has done for you?
The bible tells us that Jesus literally died in the middle of two thieves. God was speaking to your situation 2,000 years ago. You’re in the middle of staying in the marriage or walking away from it.
At the moment on the cross, one of the thieves decided he wouldn’t believe, he mocked Jesus, even with God close to him. There was another man there, who had a different perspective of what Christ was doing. He knew they were guilty thieves, but in that moment, he asked Jesus for forgiveness and repented and turned to Jesus. Jesus literally says, today you’ll be with me in paradise. Your decision to believe in Me changes everything in your life. Your decision of faith and Jesus’ commitment to death changes everything.
Jesus made the decision so that we could be delivered, from the pain, the loss, everything.
The resurrection is not an event, it’s an interruption.
5. The Resurrection Is Not An Event, It’s An Interruption.
Jesus interrupted the enemy’s plan in the middle.
On Friday, he was in the tomb. On Saturday, he was interrupting the plan of the enemy. He was in the belly of the Earth. He was fighting and took the keys of death, hell, and the grave.
Today, God wants to interrupt whatever lie you believed.
God wants to meet you in the middle. There’s a resurrection and God wants to interrupt.
All you have to do is call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved.
This moment is not about Mike or anybody else, it’s about God getting to his children and letting them know that even with all of the mess, he still loves us in the middle.
God has not forgotten about you. He thought about you before you were even here, that’s why he sent Jesus.
Today, you have the opportunity to not just live with your reality, but to make a decision that brings deliverance. Today is the day of the greatest decision of your life. This is your moment. If you want to accept Jesus into your life to be your personal Lord and savior. God is so good that he accepts you with all of your habits. He is the one who can change all your habits. You give him your heart and he will change you. God always makes a way in the middle. Don’t concern yourself with the critics. What others have to say about you doesn’t matter. This is a decision for your history, not just your eternity. God wants to come in, but you have to make the decision. Your life matters more than what people think about you.
Let’s Pray: God thank you, for sending Jesus, and making a way in the middle, just for me. Today, I give you my life, I turn from everything that’s not like you, and I turn to you. God heal me, deliver me, change me, from the inside out. I accept that the resurrection is now an interruption, and I give you my life, in Jesus name, Amen.
- Text ‘Saved’ to 918-992-7623 for help and for Transformation Church to walk with you, pray for you, stand with you, and be real with you. Also, for you to know that the best days of your life are right in front of you.
Keep coming back to Transformation Church services. Next week, we’re discussing “Deliver us from People”, then the following week, the series “Relationship Goals Reloaded” will begin!
Lord thank you for standing in the middle with us. God we worship you, this is not about an Easter bunny or eggs, it’s for what you did for us, the way you made in the middle for each one of us. You are the light in the darkness. No matter how dark the middle gets, we will not stop in the middle and we wont let our deceptions control our decisions, we will call you what you are. You are a way-maker, a miracle worker, a promise keeper, a light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are!
You don’t have to lose. There’s still hope for you in the middle.
Even when I don’t see it, you’re working. Even when I don’t feel it, you’re working. You never stop working.
Your reality has a resurrection on the other side of it. No matter the deception, we will make the right decision to focus on Jesus.
The best days of our lives are right in front of us. God, every dark place light it up, every place we’ve been stuck, interrupt it. You are a way making God. We stand firm in the anchor that is Jesus.
The resurrection was not an event, it was an interruption.
Do not believe the deception and lies. This is the beginning of the best season of your life.
Challenge you for four weeks to create a brand new pattern, come on at 12PM EST and watch live. Go back and watch some of the past series’ like Marked, Grace Like a Flood, Relationship Goals, etc.
SUMMARY NOTES
Note to self: I think I missed a few of the points on the screen as I typed. I will need to watch the rebroadcast and edit.
1. My Response Is More Important Than the Reason Why
2. The Method of the Middle
- Reality >> Dilemma >> Deception >> Decision // The Middle >> Death >> Deliverance >> Resurrection
3. The Promise Is Not Void Because of the Pain
4. God Always Steps Into The Middle
5. The Resurrection Is Not An Event, It’s An Interruption.
Link to full Video: TBD (watched live)
Visit Transforchurch.us/belong to join a b group, because we belong together
More Notes: https://boldinsidermarketing.com/notes/
Abby Olurin Dames
I love Jesus, my husband, Will, my toddler daughter, Sola, and the beautiful friends and family in our lives. Me and Will are from the Bahamas, but we currently reside in Austin, Texas. We joined TC Nation as online members of Transformation Church in 2017 when we moved to Austin from Miami, Florida. In 2020, we also happily took on a more active role with the E-Fam of Elevation Church by fellowshipping with other married couples and were pleased to have the opportunity to join TC Beta Belong Groups. I believe that representing God doesn’t have to be done in “traditional spaces”. After listening to Pastor Mike's sermon, "Who's the Minister Here?", it became my mission to shed light on Christ in all arenas, including, but not limited to, corporate America, marketing, technology, and finance. I'm not perfect, but I'm progressing. I am a marketer, but first, I am a Christian, and the aim of this blog is to publicly share my sermon notes as a form of stewardship. I hope that these message notes can bring clarity to anything you may be seeking and help you to experience the peace and glory of Jesus Christ. I'm happy to pray for you as well if you ever wanted to shoot me an email. The effectual fervent prayers of many of you have helped countless circumstances in my life and in the lives of those around me. Thank you! Also, for any Amazon specific links that you see, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
