Steven Furtick - You're Not Alone In This
This is an excerpt from: Something In Between
If I call on his name, and if I stay in his Word, he can change me from Simon to Peter. He can change beauty out of ashes. He can turn graves into gardens. I've got a grave, but I've got a God who can turn it into a garden. What I used to have to do I'm not powerless to do anymore, because he got up! I don't gotta stay down because he got up! I've got a God. So, they're standing at the tomb. They're standing at a grave, but the angel says, "Go to Galilee". They can't stay at the grave, because he's not there. "He's not in this depression. He's not in this giving up. He's not in this failure. I mean, he's in it to help me, but he's not in it to leave me. He's calling me forward to Galilee".
So, the women did it. It's annoying. Right? Where are the guys? The guys are eating fish and chips and protein bars and Monster Energy drinks. They say, "Now we've got to go stop by and tell the guys that Jesus is going to meet them in Galilee". I probably would have skipped it and just went right on to Galilee myself. It's 80 miles. "It's going to take three or four days, so let's get a head start, because we want to see Jesus". So what did they do? They're afraid (notice verse 8), but they ran. They used their fear for something productive. I know you've been through some things. Use them. I know you have something on the inside of you, chasing you. Well, point it in the right direction, and let's go. You've been an addict? Help an addict. You've been through horrible abuse? Put your arm around somebody. They need to hear that God can do a miracle for them. "I'm leaving this grave".
Everybody in here has a grave God is calling them away from. Everybody in here has a place in them, a place in life, a place they can't stay, and a long way to go. Oh, it's a long way to Galilee. "I don't know if we can make it 80 miles to Galilee to see Jesus again". "I don't know if I can make it through this season. I don't know if I can do it at this stage of my life. I don't know if I have the fuel left to do it again. I don't know if I have a repeat performance in me". "The first time we followed him it was hard, but then he died. I don't know if I have a second wind in me". But they're running. This whole Sunday hinges on a word in Matthew 28:9 that God brought you to this moment to show you. As they are leaving the grave and eventually going to Galilee, the Bible says, "Suddenly…" Not only do I have a space-making Savior, but I have a "suddenly" Savior. Suddenly…what? "Suddenly Jesus met them".
Oh, you mean they didn't have to go all 80 miles? No. While that angel was still talking about Galilee, the Savior was headed your way. I need you to say this by faith. "He's coming my way. He's headed my way. I'm leaving this grave". The Lord wants somebody to know you are not going to have to go all the way to Galilee to get to him; he's coming to you. See the scene with me. They're running, and maybe between the two of them they're sharing, "I don't know if we should trust that big man who was sitting on the stone. He said he was an angel, but who knows? You can't trust any men". The other Mary says back, "Well, what are we going to do? We can't stay at the grave. We've got to go. We can't stay in this dead place. We've got to go. If we stay here, it will only ever be death. He's not coming back to the grave. We've got to go".
So, they're going, and they're calculating all the distance between them and Galilee. "We've got 70 miles left between where we can't stay and where we want to be". Somebody is there right now. You're calculating the distance between where you are and where you think you need to be. The Bible says, "Suddenly Jesus met them". On their way from the grave to Galilee, they hear something in between. "Greetings". "Could that be"? "Greetings". "It sounds like him". "Greetings". "Yeah, that's his voice. I thought we were going to have to go all the way to Galilee, but suddenly, I see something in between". Jesus met me in the middle of my mess. Jesus met me on my first mile. Jesus is going to meet me in this moment. What a Savior. Not only is he a space-making Savior. Not only is he a "suddenly" Savior.
Do you understand the power of the Savior's "suddenly"? A lifetime of sins can be washed away with one call upon his name, with one mention of his name, with the bowing of your knee. Everything that speaks the name of Jesus will be saved, because he's a "suddenly" Savior. The thing you're so stressed about, if God is real, what makes you think he isn't already planning to do something in between? This is how the Devil will get you. I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said, "I'm so worried about my kid going to college and this college and that college". Their kid is in the seventh grade. I said, "Don't worry about that. Worry about something else. You can worry about stuff, but don't worry about that".
So much could happen in between. You understand. You think you are going to be lonely the rest of your life. God could have one greeter out those doors, and in between the time I say, "Amen" and the time you try to eat some ham for lunch, God could do something in between. That's how I met Holly. She was traveling through Moncks Corner. She grew up in Miami, Florida. She was traveling all over the country doing ministry with this ministry team. They were riding around in an RV and doing ministry, and their travels brought them to Moncks Corner. So, you have Miami and you have Moncks Corner. Very different. She saw a very handsome young man at the church where they were… No, she did. Listen to how good her game was. She comes up. She's like, "I'm homeschooled, and I need to take the ACT. I was wondering if maybe you could go to your guidance counselor and get me an ACT Prep Pack".
That is the most masterfully understated pickup line in the history of great romances. "Could you go to your guidance counselor"? When I looked at her, I was like, "Oh, I know another guidance counselor that I believe…" Come on, somebody. You have a guidance counselor. While I was growing up in Moncks Corner, 615 miles away in Miami… Miami to Moncks Corner. If God could do that… From a grave to Galilee and everything in between. You don't even know what he can do in between. Preach it to your fear for a minute. Let's talk to your fear. Say, "God always does something in between".
The outcome you're dreading is based on the events you are hypothetically creating. What if God does something in between? What if it doesn't even go to trial? What if you get through it and it ends up being the best thing that ever happened to you? What if God does something in between? He must be doing something in between. He did it for Daniel. Daniel spent the night in a lions' den, but their teeth never touched him. There must have been something in between Daniel and those lions. He did it for the three Hebrew boys. They were thrown into a fire. The fire was heated up seven times hotter than normal, but they didn't smell like smoke when they came out. I mean, if you even get close to the fire, you're going to smell like smoke. So, if they came out of the fire and didn't smell like smoke, God must have done something in between. Will not this same God, will not this same Savior who met the women not when they got to Galilee…?
Now I don't feel sorry for them anymore, because the boys had to wait. They got to see him first. I stand before you today excited and afraid. I stand before you today a sinner and a saint. I stand before you today a flawed man and a child of God, and I'm never all of both. I'm something in between. What Jesus said to those women will touch you so deeply. He said, "I'm going ahead of you, but I met you on the way. I'm already in your tomorrow, but I'm going to show up right now to remind you who you're walking with". Say, "Thank you, Jesus". When you talk back to the preacher in church, don't talk to the preacher; talk to God. Say, "Thank you, Lord, for that word. Thank you, Jesus. I receive that coming to me right now on this first mile of my 80-mile journey. I've got to get to Galilee, but I'm thankful that you met me in between". He tells them, "Go. I know you're afraid, but go. Go tell my brothers…"
You're still calling them brothers after they left you at the cross? Every single disciple except John went away, and Jesus called them brothers. Every person in this room today, if we could look inside your heart… You are carrying the guilt of what you did, the guilt of who you think you are, the guilt of what you failed to live up to that you meant to be. Then there is the glory of God, who is Jesus Christ, who is the righteous one, who knew no sin but became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You're not the best Christian who ever lived. His name is Jesus. But there is nothing so wrong with you today that the Savior who is perfect and pure cannot redeem it. Why are we surprised to see him? Why are we surprised to hear him in between the grave and Galilee?
We shouldn't be surprised that he met us in the middle. We shouldn't be surprised when he shows up in our shame. We shouldn't be surprised when he gives us mercy for our mess and righteousness for our rags. We shouldn't be surprised to see him in between, because the last time we saw him on the cross… Look at what John 19:18 says Jesus was doing. "There they crucified him with two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between". I see Jesus in between today. There's an anointing on this word to bring you out of your grave, to bring you out of your guilt, for wherever there was guilt, grace was greater. Whatever you did, wherever you've been, the dawn is breaking. The morning has come. He has risen, and his grace is greater. Your sin has separated you from God, but your Savior is greater than your sin. He is Jesus in between, making you right with God. You could never be right with God in your own righteousness. You don't have to. You have Jesus in between.