Marcus Mecum - One Word Can Change Everything - Part 2
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.
The twelve spies all go into the same area, they all see the same wonder and awe of Canaan, and they would all see the same risk. But the ten spies came back, and they changed the entire picture and the entire future with that word, "Nevertheless". Yes, it's absolutely beyond what you could ever imagine, nevertheless. It's everything that God promised, everything that God said, nevertheless. Yeah, it's a land flowing with milk and honey, 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.
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 pay 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. Every eye closed, every head bowed. I want to ask you if maybe you're in one of those three categories today. First, you find yourself today in a negative place. You look around your life and it's just negative, and again, maybe it's your failures, maybe it's something that somebody else has done to you.
You would fall into that category of you're facing an addiction right now, you're facing a place where you look at your life and your mind is all negative. Negative, negative, negative. Maybe in your body, you're facing a sickness, it's negative. Maybe in your mind, you just can't get peace. It's just negative. Maybe when it comes to your relationships, you feel so alone. It's just negative. You're in a negative place today.
If that's you, you say, "Marcus, I've ne...", it's just between me and you for just a moment. You'd say, "Marcus, today when you were saying that, I'm in a negative place". Would you just lift your hand up if that's you? Just lift your hand. You're just in a negative place. Thank you, thank you, thank, you're in a negative place. It's okay in front of God's people. I think it's a completely normal thing. I can't tell you how many sermons I've preached in a negative place. You can put your hand down.
And maybe you're here and you'd say, "Marcus, I'm in a good place. I'm in Canaan in many ways. Relationships are good, my finances are good, my health is good, I'm in a good place. But I have a tendency to be cynical. I have a tendency to grab a hold of that critical spirit. I have a tendency to focus on the bad, to overly worry about the things that are wrong. The giants, the problems, the misses, the imperfections". It's almost like sometimes you just want to not be controlled by that, but you just simply are like those ten spies. You look at all the good things and you say, "Yeah, nevertheless". But you'd be honest before God and you'd have the courage to say, "Marcus, my life is mostly good, but I have a tendency to pick up that nevertheless and find the negative".
Would you just lift your hand up if that's you? Many of your hands, wow, wow. Isn't that something? It means you're not alone, and that means the enemy knows how to exploit you. He knows exactly what to do to feed that fear and feed that negativity. But this morning, you're not leaving with that nevertheless. Nevertheless, you're gonna transition into something brand new. And number three, you're here and you'd say, "I'm in a sorrowful place". You've lost a loved one recently, you faced great loss, maybe it's a relationship, something dear to you, something that was very important to you. Maybe a dream has slipped through your fingers, and you just thought, "Man, I would have that," and it's gone. But you're in a sorrowful place, you're in a place where you're really heartbroken.
If that's you, would you just lift your hand as high as you can? Thank you. Many hands are going up. Now, what I'm gonna do at all of our locations, if you've lifted your hand and you fall in one of those two categories, in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three, and I'm gonna open up the altar for you to get out of your seat and come forward. And this walk from that seat to this altar is you're nevertheless. For some of you, you're leaving that negative spirit, "I'm not gonna keep focusing on the negative all the time". You say, "Why come forward"? I think that we miss it in church so much when we don't move. God always asks for a response. Read the Bible and tell me I'm wrong.
Blind guy, can't see, Jesus walks up to him, doesn't lay his hands on him and heal him. He asks him, "What do you want"? "Well, you know what I want. Look, it's obvious. My eyes, I want my eye..." "No, no, no, no, no, no, it's not obvious, 'cause I wanna hear it from your lips. I wanna see your response." And there's something that God has put in us that when we simply respond and move, when we do that, it not only is our body moving, but our mind is moving. It's not only is my body changing places, my mind, which is what repentance means. Repentance means a change of heart, a change of mind.
Say, "Well, how do I get that"? Well first of all, that's why we worship, we lift our hands. Why? 'cause our body first, our mind and our heart follows. It's the way God has wired us to simply say, "Okay God, I mean business with you. I do not wanna stay the same". At all of our locations, "I do not wanna stay where I've been". You're in a negative place and you wanna see God give you a nevertheless and transition into a positive place. You're in a positive place and you wanna see God help you, deliver you from the tendency to turn the positive into negatives, or you're here and you're in great sorrow, and you want God to give you joy, joy.
Not gonna change the circumstance, not going to make sense to you, not going to give you an explanation. But in the middle of it, you're gonna sense the joy of the Lord is in you. You're gonna sense that he's gonna strengthen you today in Jesus' name. And so, any of those categories, on the count of three, every eye closed, every head bowed. If you were in any one of those, I want you to get out of your seat as quick as you can. Don't think about it, that's the wrong thing to do. Move. Say, "God, I'm responding. I'm moving. I'm leaving where I was and I want to drive that stake". Nevertheless in Jesus' name. Nevertheless.
One, two, three, get out of your seat and quickly come forward. Why don't the rest of us stand up on our feet as we sing together and worship together. You say, "What do I do when I come forward"? Focus on him. Sing this song, why? 'cause it's about the word of the Lord. Nevertheless, thy word, at your word. That's what we're gonna do, we're gonna declare the word of the Lord over your life. Come on, let's worship him, church. Can we do it? Do you believe God's going to transition them into something new? The negative is turning positive, the sorrowful is being exchanged for great joy.