Marcus Mecum - One Word Can Change Everything - Part 1
Hi, I'm pastor Marcus Mecum. It our honor that you chose to spend some time with us today. There's no greater privilege that we have than opening up the scriptures and sharing God's word with each and everyone of you. Before we get to the message in just a minute, I wanna encourage you, if you've never done this, to come and worship with us live and online at 7 hills church. It will bless you so much. You'll worship with us. You can chat with us and get to know us a little bit more. And I believe that if you'll make that a priority, that today, God's word will not only speak to you through but, but you'll have another resource that you can go to throughout the week that will bless you in your walk with God. So, let's get right to the message and I'll see you in just a few moments.
If you've got your Bibles you can turn with me to numbers 13. We're going to, over the next few moments, visit three places in scripture together. They're three familiar places. The first one I've had you turn to and it's the story of the twelve spies going to check out Canaan or the Promised Land and bring back a report to Israel. They've not crossed over yet and so, this is the moment where they're going to decide what their futures look like. And we're going to look at that story.
The second story we're going to look at is the story of an exhausted, frustrated fisherman and how his encounter, his conversation with Jesus would change his life. And then, we're gonna finish up in Gethsemane, where Jesus would be arrested and ultimately, he would be crucified. Three familiar stories, but I want us to read each story with the focus on one word. I want you to look at one word because one word has the power to change everything. That's what we're gonna talk about. One word has the power to change everything. The English vocabulary would hold a few words, a handful of words, that you could reach to that could change the context of a sentence, a conversation, or it could entirely change a situation.
The rabbinic tradition would teach us that there's endless conversations and discussions around the power of our words. This begins in Genesis 1 where we see that in the beginning God said, and when God said, it created our world. So, our words create our worlds. There is divine power in your words. Right now, with your words, you are potentially building a Cathedral that some will walk into and be awe inspired. Or you're building a shack that some will walk into and find themselves indifferent or discouraged. We create pictures when we speak, images, places, and worlds that people walk into. Your language is loaded.
In our text today that we're going to look at, we'll find a single word that changed the trajectory of an entire generation and nation. Let's look at it. Numbers 13:25, "And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. And now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told them and said, 'we went to the land where you sent us and it truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit'".
They're carrying some grapes that are on a pole that two men have to make sure that this cluster of grapes is being carried. How many of y'all know that's some serious grapes? And so, he's saying, "This is", their report is, "This is everything you said it would be. This is everything that if we could have imagined it, we've heard you talk about Canaan, we've heard you talk about the Promised Land now for forty years in the wilderness and hundreds of years before that in Egypt". This place that God was going to give to his people. "It's everything you said". But verse 28, here's the word, "Nevertheless," everybody, say, "Nevertheless". Come on, say it one more time. Say, "Nevertheless..."
"The people who dwell in the land are too strong. And the cities, they're fortified and very large. And moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak or giants there". The American history dictionary would teach us that the word, "Nevertheless," means in spite of all of that. In spite of all of that. So, in every imaginable situation, nevertheless, has the power to change everything. So, first, we see that this one word can change the positive into a negative. In numbers 13, the simple word, "Nevertheless," changed a positive.
They talked about how beautiful it was. They talked about how it was everything that God had said it would be, but yet it changed, their nevertheless changed a positive into a negative. The twelve spies all go into the same area. They all see the same wonder and awe of Canaan. It's not like Joshua and Caleb would go one way and see orchards and vineyards, and beaches, and then the other ten would go the other way and see giants, and threats, and dangers. They all would enjoy the same fruit of the land. They all would taste of the same grapes, and they would all see the same risk.
But the ten spies came back, even though they'd seen everything that Joshua and Caleb had seen, and they changed the entire picture and the entire future with that word, "Nevertheless. Is it amazing? Nevertheless. Yes, it's absolutely beyond what you could ever imagined, nevertheless. It's everything that God promised, everything that God said, nevertheless. Yeah, it's a land flowing with milk and honey, nevertheless". 85% of the spies used the power of a nevertheless to change a positive, we saw, into a negative, we can't. Their attitude was, "Yes, there's a land of honey. Yes, there's greater things than anything we have ever seen before. But in spite of all of that, nevertheless".
In the Hebrew, nevertheless speaks of finality. It speaks of an end and that's exactly what happened. That word killed an entire generation, nevertheless. And every person in this room has their nevertheless. You could be in the most positive situation. Life as you look around has been more blessed than you could ever imagine. You have your health. You have your mind. You have your friends. Maybe your finances are in a good place. And you look around, your relationship with God is good and everything is positive, and everything is in a good place. Not all of you, but many of you are here and you are truly in a Canaan place.
You are in a Promised Land. God has done more for you than you ever would have imagined. But just like the ten spies that came back, you have your nevertheless. We have a tendency, maybe it's fear, maybe it's insecurity, maybe it's complacency, maybe it's a negative or critical spirit that gets a hold on us. What is it today that takes all the positive things that are in your life and introduces a nevertheless, introduces and idea that, "Yeah, it's all positive," but because of this report or, you know, "Yeah, it's 99% good or 99%, 95% good, but I'm just kinda just nitpicking this 1% or this 5%".
Instead of finding the 1% that's good and giving God praise over that, you're finding that 1% that's bad, "Yeah, it's all good, nevertheless". Nevertheless killed a generation. Nevertheless can kill dreams, and friendships, and churches, and potential. Many times, people ask me when we're in this kind of an environment, "Yeah, I understand your preaching, but what about all the dangers that are in the world"? And I look at this church and this church is so blessed. It really is Canaan. I can remember when we were out in the desert. I can remember when we were in the wilderness and we just wondered, "What chances do we have of ever being in a place that's flowing like this place is flowing"?
Every single week through television, you and I speak to over 200 nations around the world every single week. Little old Florence, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Dry Ridge, Highland Heights. Somehow God is using us to preach the gospel to the world. And I can look at all of those good things and if I'm not careful, I can introduce a nevertheless, but look at what's happening in the world and look at what's happening in the body of Christ and look at all the giants, I see the giants. I have the same fear. I have the same pit in my stomach at times. But yet, I've got to focus on the grapes. I've got to focus on the positive because if I do not, then my nevertheless can take a positive and turn it negative.
Next, we see in Luke 5 that the same word takes a negative and makes it positive. Let's look at verse 4. "When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch'. But Simon answered and said to him, 'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless," there it is again. Say it, say, "Nevertheless... At your word," that's an important part, it's not Simon's word. He says, "'at your word, Master. At your word, Lord Jesus, I'll let down the net'. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking".
The same word, the same power, but this time it shifts a negative to a positive. Simon Peter was done. He had spent the entire night fishing. He's exhausted. He's frustrated. He's tired. They've caught nothing. And so, he's finishing by cleaning up the nets. As a professional, he would say, "There's no reason to try again. There's no reason to launch out and look at any other option than giving up. We've done all that we can. We've given all that we can". And when Jesus makes a suggestion for them to go back out, Peter even begins to argue with him. He begins to give the reasons why they should not. "We've already tired". However, Peter introduces nevertheless, and it changes what was negative into a positive. They've given their best.
This was their trade. This was what they had spent their life learning. They knew the conditions of the sea. It was not the conditions that would be favorable to go back out. All his previous experience said there's no point, there's no hope, and there's no use. But instead, he introduced a nevertheless. He said, "In spite of all of that," in the Greek, the definition of nevertheless means to Mark a transition into something new, and you do it through a word. The power of a word. One word can change everything. No matter what it look like, Simon Peter made the decision to Mark that moment and transition into something new. And he said, "Nevertheless, at your word".
And it took a negative situation, and it turned it into a positive situation. If we could interview Simon Peter today and have him on stage, and maybe ask him, "What was the changing point? How did you go from a failed fisherman to the great apostle? How did that happen"? He more than likely would go back to many moments, but this would be the key that changes his life, his initial encounter with Jesus. And he would say, "This moment, this point in my life things were not looking good. Things were going the wrong way". But one word took the negative and made it positive and that's the word, "Nevertheless". And at his word, I went for it, and it made all the difference in my life.
There is just something about making a decision to say, "At your word. I understand what life says. I understand what the situation says. I understand it looks like it's nothing but defeat. Nevertheless, thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus". You've got to introduce his word to whatever the situation is. I can sit around all day and give my opinion, and I can sit around all day and talk about my feelings, and I can sit around all day and talk about my professional, expert opinion on things. Or I can just simply say, "You know what, that's not what God's asking me about. He's asking me to talk about his word, what does his word say? What is his will? What is his desire? What is his heart? And I gotta speak that and it'll change the negative into a positive".
I thought about why this moment would be so important for Simon Peter. Why this would be the thing that Jesus would use right before he would say, well, we would know that nets are not for cleaning, they're for fishing or catching. So, Jesus wanted Simon Peter to know, "The last moment that I want you to remember before you follow me isn't cleaning the nets, because you might think that's the purpose. You might think that's why I called you. Because I liked how good you clean the nets".
That's what a lot of churches brag about, how clean their nets are, how holy they are, right? But Jesus wanted them to know, nets are not for cleaning, they are for catching. And so, he said, "I want you to cast that net, cast it on the other side and it started to break". And directly after the breaking of the net, Jesus said, "Follow me. You're a fisherman now, but I am going to make you a fisher of men". And he did not call Simon Peter what he had a cleaning net mentality. He called him after he had a breaking net mentality. And he would stand up on the day of Pentecost not long after that and 3,000 people would get saved. He would preach a three-minute sermon and 3,000 got saved. We preached 30 minutes an hour sermon and three people get saved.
But Simon Peter understands that when he would throw that net on the day of Pentecost, it was the will and the heart of God that the nets break and that the harvest be massive, that the harvest be incredible. And I'm simply here to tell you, whatever your situation is don't give up and just think it's about having everything all neat and nice and put together all the time. Every now and then, you gotta launch out into the unknown. You gotta get out there in a place that you're uncomfortable and it's unfamiliar, nothing about it makes sense. But in that place, you obey his word and he'll take the negative and turn it positive.
Number three, Mark 14. We see that this one word can take a sorrowful situation and make it joyful. "He went a little farther," speaking of Jesus, "He fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, 'father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless,'" everybody, say it one more time, "Nevertheless". "Not what I will, but what you will". We would know that Jesus is God wrapped in the flesh and that he knew what awaited him in his final hours. He knew the physical pain that was about to happen. He knew the emotional emptiness, the mental anguish that he would face. The pressure of sin, the sin of the whole world.
The weight of that sin would be laid upon his shoulders. And he says, "If it's possible, with you all things are possible. So, if it's possible, take the cup from me. I choose not to suffer. I choose not to drink it. It's not my will to be in agony. It's not my will to go and hang on that cross and be crucified. It's not my will. That's not what I want. That's not my desire. Nevertheless, your will be done". If Jesus were to personally give us some advice today in the midst of a heartbroken, sorrowful, weary, exhausted, tired place, a word that turns sorrow to joy he would say, "Try it. Give it a try". Use the word, "Nevertheless".
You could transition into something completely new. What's that verse say? It's like a bumper sticker now. "Anger may be for a moment, but favor lasts for a lifetime". This is the part that's the bumper sticker. "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy will," that's the guarantee. It may. You may have some weeping. You may have some anger. You may have some emotional times. You may have some frustrating times. You may have sometimes that you don't emotionally know how to get a grip on things. That's the may. But the will, that's the guarantee. That's the promise. That's what God is going to make sure you end up with. And that is God's favor and that is the joy of the Lord.
And so, no matter what's happening, you can say, "Nevertheless, in spite of all of that, whatever that is, the suffering, the cross, the cup, all that came with that, in spite of all of that, you can transition into something brand new". You go ahead and fill in the blank. "My will is... My will is to quit. My will is to walk away. My will is to take the shortcut. My will is to go drink myself into a place that I don't even have to feel or think anymore. My will is, stick the needle in my arm because I'm tired of the pain. It's because of my failures or because of what other people have done that have created this place. And I'm just done. I'm done. That my will is I don't wanna live anymore. My will is I came in so dark, so depressed. I came in with this addiction. My will is..." what is it? What's your will?
What is it that, you know, "My will is I'm just gonna keep staying hardhearted. I'm gonna keep staying proud. I'm gonna keep hanging on to the bitterness". What is your will? Well, whatever it is, you can walk out of here the exact same way. Walk out of here with the addiction. Go ahead. Walk out of here with the pain. Go ahead. Walk out of here frustrated and angry and mad at the world, go right ahead. Or, drive a stake and say nevertheless and let God take the sorrowful situation and give you joy. That joy will be your strength. Ain't no strength in the place of just being controlled by the emotion. But anchor yourself to something greater. Anchor yourself to his will be done. Not my will. All kind of things I gave upon my will alone, but his will. Come on, shout, "His will".
Come on, do you desire his will in your life? I want your will to be done. We need your will to be done. If not, we're all gonna end up train wrecked. You can be seated. Think about it. His power of this word. He used this word, Jesus in the garden used this word, "Nevertheless," and it helped him paid the price for our sin. Was he wounded? Nevertheless. Bruised? Nevertheless. Face beaten beyond recognition? Nevertheless. Chastised? Nevertheless. Back ripped open? Nevertheless. And because of his nevertheless, we have amazing grace. Because of his nevertheless, we have unimaginable mercy. Because of that nevertheless, he's led us into victory. Because of that nevertheless, we have the Holy Spirit that fills our life and empowers us and walks with us in all that we do. That nevertheless birthed the New Testament church that we know as the beautiful bride of Christ. Nevertheless has the power to change everything. One word. You hold the power of that word right now in your hands or on your lips.