Michael Todd - Whatever it takes The Table Part 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Sinton, my name is pastor and Michael Todd.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
As it just came on the screen, I saw that
real quick.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I really really really really really really love being here
every Sunday morning to lead and feed this amazing group
of people.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Though right now this is a church, it.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Kind of feels like the Chronic two thousand and one
tour up in here with all this smoke. Some of
y'all got that. Some of y'all okay, for other people
it's like, uh, woodstock.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Or anything like that. It's just it's a lot of smoke.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
It's like people smoking with you. Anyway, I just had
to say something because some.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Of y'all just squinting, like what is is he there?
Is it the Holy Ghost? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
But even as we're in this place today, I'm just
so glad that we get to come and share together.
And I believe God has given me a word for today,
so we're just gonna go right into it. If you
have a Bible, if you have an iPad or an
iPhone or a notepad, I want you to get it out.
Because we believe that the things that God shares as
I spend time is worth taking note of. It's worth
going back and listening to not because I'm saying it

(01:22):
is I'm spending time with the one who gives wisdom
and inspiration, and we believe that what he's saying is
something that can help our lives in individual ways. So
I think this is going to be good for everybody today.
And so we are in We're closing a series today
called The Table. Everybody say the Table. We're closing this
series and this whole series has been about personal invitation

(01:43):
and evangelism, one of the greatest tools that God has
given us. And as we prepare for this Easter weekend,
which is the just by our cultural standards, you know,
a lot of people try to make things deep and spiritual,
and we just make things real practical. People are coming
to church next Sunday.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
All over the world.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
They're gonna be going to church because something in them
is saying, you know what, this is the one time
if I don't usually go. You know what I'm saying,
I'm gonna put on this outfit, I'm gonna go to church,
and I'm gonna make it the one time I'll feel
good about myself. I'll meet a couple of people, a
lot of them say I'm gonna come back next week
and I'm gonna go home, and I'm just gonna do
my thing. And many times the church gets excited about

(02:26):
people coming for one time, but they're not excited about
their soul being transformed. And so as we prepare for
Easter and for the foreseeable future, we're always going to
start preparing ourselves of how we can be able to
meet the needs of people that'll give us one chance.
If it was somebody's one chance to get delivered, healed,

(02:47):
set free, would we be prepared for them. If it
was somebody's one time, one day to actually see something different,
would we be ready to be the conduit to reach
out and allow them to say, you know what, you
may not be able to see the Jesus in the sky,
but you can see Jesus through me. And so with

(03:07):
that we have a part to play in this whole thing.
And we went through this entire series and the first
week we talked from Luke talking about how this church
should be headed for whoever Jesus gave a parable And
I want to read one scripture out of this, because
this is what we should all be doing. We should
be inviting people to church or the table the church
is the table where people come to get fed. The

(03:28):
meal that served at church is the bread of life,
is Jesus Christ. And so everybody who's here should be
inviting people to the table. And when I looked at
a scripture that basically illustrated this whole thing, it's worth reading,
and I want to read it to you in the
Message version today, Luke, Chapter fourteen, verses twenty one, and

(03:49):
I'm gonna just start halfway through. It just says, quickly,
get out into the city streets, in the alleys.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
This is the Master talking. He doesn't want us to
just be in the church.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
He said, get in them streets, get in the alleys.
He said, collect all who look like they need a
square meal, the bread of life, all the misfits and
the homeless. And the ratchet is what my Bible says.
It's wretched, but I like ratchet better. You can lay
your hands on. Get everybody you can lay your hands on,

(04:21):
and bring them here. The servant reported back to the Master,
I did what you commanded, and they're still room. So
the Master said, go out into the country roads, go
out into the places that'll take you a little bit
to get to, and get whoever you find and drag them.
I want my house. Everybody say, fool Church, we should

(04:44):
be headed for whoever. I know this week all of
us pass somebody that needed what we already had.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Let's be honest.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I did. But what I'm praying from the depths of
my soul is that it gets harder and harder to
pass people who need what I already have.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
For some of us, it is so easy.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
You can see somebody in dire need, like you can
see somebody hurting. You can see somebody with a flat tire.
You can see somebody a single mother out there.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
With a kid and use it.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
That is sad.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
How many people have passed by somebody that they know
they could have helped, but they didn't take the time
to help them.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Let's be honest.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Your pastor is the first one. The reason I'm saying
this is not to make anybody feel bad.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
I just want us to be aware.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
That if it is in our power to bring somebody life,
to bring somebody hope, to bring somebody. I know you're
going through. I know your situation is ugly. I know
that you need help, but everything in the kingdom is backwards.
So when you need help, you become the help for
somebody else. I just want to tell you if you

(05:54):
want to crack the code, if you need something, you
give something.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
And when the church.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Really gets this, then we would come the Acts two
forty two church. So then we looked last week at
what it means to be a first chair church. We
talked about all the chairs around the table and how
all of them are so important. But this church, Transformation Church,
is gonna be a first chair church. We're gonna be
a church that builds trust with non believers. Non believers, well,

(06:24):
I thought the word says, don't be unequally yoked listen.
That means we can't have intimate relationship with them. But
Jesus was our example that he was always with people
who people told him not to be with. Jesus would
be hanging out outside of Cloud nine if he was
here today.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Hey what's up, bro? How you doing today?

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Man? Are going in to get say hey, well man,
when you get done, man, I would like to talk
to you.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Man.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Staying there for a long time hoping that Jesus wouldn't
be out there, Hey man, what's going on? Man?

Speaker 2 (07:04):
You want to get some lunch?

Speaker 1 (07:06):
And if us as church people were sitting across us.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Is that Jesus, No he is not.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Let me get a picture of this, ministers.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
He's sitting outside. Girl, I seen he was outside the club.
So if he's outside, you know he went in.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
And we would have formed an entire opinion when Jesus'
motivation was the soul of the man who is gonna
be doing it anyway. But now he was a speed
bump in the road that maybe could meet. Salvation Church
we have to be a first chair church. And so
what we talked about is things that build trust with
non believers. How we build trust is we pray for

(07:48):
non believers. Listen, I don't care who they are. You
can pray for them. And after you pray for them,
learn from them, see what they do. Find an area
of interest that you can be able to learn from them.
Church people, you're not the best at everything. I know
some unsaved people that can do stuff way better than

(08:08):
people who speak in tongues. But what I'm saying is
that's a way of entrance into somebody's life, to just
be able.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
To relate to them.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
How do you get and reach and build trust with
non believers? You display love for others. Then you affirm
their value, and then you invite them into a deeper
experience with Christ Church. We can do that without being
the savior. See many times we don't share our faith
and we don't talk to anybody about what we believe
because we feel like if they don't do it, it's

(08:38):
somehow our responsibility, it's our fault, and I don't want
to be rejected. So I'm not even gonna try. I'm
telling you because I felt it for years. I was
in church, my parents were ministers, I'm playing drums, I'm
doing all of these things, and I ain't inviting nobody

(08:58):
to nothing. Why Number one, because I can't explain what's
about to happen. I don't know what's about to happen.
You don't know what's about to happen. So let's just
let it be what I do and what you don't do.
That's why at this church we try to make it
on Sunday mornings that everybody can get used to what
is happening, that the Spirit of God will come, will

(09:19):
do worship, the Word will be the main thing. Why
because we want you to invite people. We used to
be a church, and I've been to a lot of
churches that you know, you all know what's gonna happen
from Sunday to Sunday. This Sunday we're having a prayer
gathering where everybody, everybody go walk.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Around the room. We're gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
This Sunday we're doing spiritual jumping jacks and we're gonna
go God is good, God is good. Got it? And
then the next Sunday we're gonna stand and we're gonna
be reverend.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
When people don't know what they gonna.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Get, they don't come. I'm just trying to give you
a little back. If you go to McDonald's and they
give you fish, or they got fish there, tacos there,
you go, what happens is is that you're not sure
what you're gonna get. What we want to be able
to do is present the gospel in a way where

(10:07):
people can feel comfortable inviting people to the table, and
when they do, Jesus does the heavy lifting. He's the
one that changes, He's the one that delivers, he's the
one that sets free. So today I want to talk
to you from the message title.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Whatever it takes, whatever it takes, this.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Has to be our disposition when it comes to inviting people.
So I'm gonna talk to you for a second about
sermon preparation because I have to do this every week.
So in sermon preparation, when I'm crafting a message, usually
you want your message to be as universal as possible,
to be able to reach as many people as you
can in one setting. But strategically, sometimes I have to

(10:57):
or I decide to craft a message for a certain
group of people to make sure that the point gets
home to that group of people. So like sometimes for
people who are new in faith, I'll make a message
that is particularly designed to be able to reach people
who haven't been in God that long, who really don't
know all that they want to know that, they don't

(11:18):
really know what they believe, don't know much about the Bible.
And then in those sermons there are some people who've
been in the faith for a long time who are like, Okay,
I've heard that before.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah that's good, but I kind of.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Know that, And so I'm intentional with that because it's
for the people who are new believers. In the opposite,
I oftentimes make messages for people who have been in
their faith for a long time. We craft a message
for them, and we talk to people who have decided
that Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of their life, that

(11:48):
they are going to do whatever it takes to continue
to grow in their.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Relationship with God.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
And a lot of times when we craft messages specifically
for that group of people, the people who are new
are like, what is he talking about the Second Coming? Huh? What?
And it's intentional because I want to grow the people
who are in faith, but generally I tried to make
it broad enough for everybody to get something out of it. Well,
I want to be forthright and upfront with you today.

(12:14):
I've crafted a very specific message today, and I want
to tell you for who it's for. It's for everybody
who is not here today. This message today is for
everybody who is not here today. If you came and
you came out to hear something for you, I'm not

(12:35):
going to give you a message. I'm going to give
you a responsibility. And this is the responsibility. I want
you to take it down. I want every person in
this place to do whatever it takes to invite people
to church.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Do whatever it takes to invite people to church.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
I'm gonna say it one more time because some of
y'all just looking at me. You need to do whatever
it takes to invite people to church. See, many times
we lose sight of what people need because we've already
got it. I'm gonna say it again. When you didn't

(13:12):
have a car, you were always looking at cars, always
praying for cars, always trying to borrow somebody's car.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
But then when you.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Got one, you don't even keep the one you got clean.
I'm not I didn't. That wasn't prophetic. I was just
saying why. It's because when we get it, we stop
valuing what we have, and we forgot about the time
that we didn't have what we do have.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Now.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
May I submit to you that may be the same
thing with Jesus that many times when we didn't have them,
we were desperate, we needed something.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
God, if you could just how many people have prayed that.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
God, if you just get me out of this situation,
I promise I'll fill in the blank. And then when
He comes to our rescue, and then he saves us
in grace like a flood comes over us, then we
stop valuing the thing that got us to the place
that we're at now. So what ends up happening A
lot of times is we don't think it's of a

(14:17):
value to give it to somebody else. But listen to
me real quick, clearly that what you have, somebody else needs,
and you need to do whatever it takes, somebody say
whatever it takes to invite people to church. Because there's
a number that has literally been bothering me.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
It has literally I've been wrestling with.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
It for the past three weeks. And that number speaks
to the people in our city. There's a survey that says,
for every one of you that's sitting in this building,
there are seven people in our city who have never
set foot in a church for any reason.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
That includes funerals and weddings.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
For every one person in here, there's seven that has
never come to the table, and it's usually because nobody
has invited them to the table. There's another number that's
jacking me up. That was done by a major Christian firm.
Only two percent of Americans have ever shared their faith.

(15:25):
I did not say twenty. I said two. So for
every hundred people in this room, only two of you
have ever told anybody something about Jesus that didn't go
to your church.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Now, if we have.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
The greatest gift ever given to man. Why don't we
talk about it? Just think about it. When we get
new shoes, it's on the snap, when we get new
when we get a new friend, when we get a
new watch, when it's birthday, these in and then we
put all of our stuff out there. But when we
have the greatest thing that was ever given to any man,

(16:02):
it's something that we feel like we have to keep
to ourselves. But my Bible says, I will not be
ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why because it
is the power of God unto salvage. It's the thing
that will change everything. But somebody's got to give it away.

(16:22):
So we as a church have to do whatever it takes.
Yell at me, whatever it takes. And I'm not talking
about doing some deep theological exposition of spiritual truths, talking
about inviting somebody. We make it way deeper than it is. Well,
what if they say no, then they said no. God

(16:43):
has not kept strike one, got another one, strike two.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
He's not doing that.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
All He's saying to you and some of you, I
want to talk to you because you're too cool to
invite somebody. You know what I'm saying if they want
to come, they see what I do. I got lifestyle
of bangelist them. God told us that the Kingdom was

(17:08):
expanded through what we said by proclaiming the gospel. If
all the people can see is what you do, it's
not giving the highest potency of the gospel away to people.
Everybody communicates with their words, and we as a church
have to begin to do it. I know you sound awkward.

(17:30):
I know it feels crazy. I know you've been afraid
of rejection before. But I'm telling you right now there
is a boldness and a power in Matthew. When God
gives us a great commission, he says, after he tells
us to go into all the world and make disciples,
then he gives us the greatest insurance. He says, lo,
I'll be with you always. You're not alone, You're not

(17:53):
out here. Excuse me, I know I look like I dove.
I just want to invite you to mind. That is
not what you're saying. God will change the interpretation that
somebody hears, because when you open up your mouth, you
are not speaking alone. You were speaking with God on
your side.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
And if God.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Before you, who can be against you? What I'm trying
to encourage you. Is that the enemy works on your
mind so you never try. But at the moment you try,
you get the supply.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
At the moment you.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Step out of your comfort zone, there's a supply that comes.
And I want you to understand that Jesus started this
entire thing. This is how the gospel got started. Jesus
was walking one day. I mean, in my mind, Jesus
was cool. And he stopped and he saw Andrew and

(18:48):
Philip and he said, hey, what's going on, fellas.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
My name is Jesus.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Man, I'm about to do a whole bunch of stuff
and I can't really explain it all to you right now,
but would you just come and see?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Would you?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I'm inviting you to just come with me. And I
know you'll have a lot of questions, but if you
just come and see, if you stay with me, I
promise you all of them will gain answered. And he
invited two people to the table to walk with him.
And when they started walking, now it's three of them.

(19:29):
Then Andrew goes and finds Peter. He was like, hey, Jesus,
I'll be right back yo, Peter or whatever. Bro, what's
going on? Man? You look good. Bro, dude, you remember
last week when we were having that conversation and I
told you, man, that life just felt like there was
something missing, like I had this big hole in my heart.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
He said, Man, I've been hanging with this.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Guy and I can't really explain it all to you,
but man, it's changing me from the inside out. Bro.
I just I want to invite you to just come
and see. Just man, I don't know what's happening. I
don't know everything, but just come and see. And then
Peter came, and I want you to understand that the
invitation for Peter later on, that's who Jesus built the

(20:12):
church on.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
But it came from an invitation.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
And then Philip, he was walking and he saw Nathaniel.
He was like, nathan Ah, what a row.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
You're looking good. You're looking good looking good.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Bro, Man, I've been hanging with this guy that is
literally blowing my mind. And Bro, I can't even tell
you what's gonna happen to you if you start coming,
But just hang with me for a minute and see what.
And then on and on and on and on and
on and on. Invitation was a thing that built the

(20:51):
entire church because people were just inviting people to come
and follow them. That's why Jesus said to him, follow
me as I follow Christ. He gave an invitation. I
want everybody to see that. There is so much power
in your invitation, not in somebody else's in your invitation.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Somebody say in my invitation.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
There are people that you are the only person that
can reach them. There are people that are only coming
if you sit next to them.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
There are people that won't even hear it from me.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
They see me coming in this big chocolate suit and
they'd be like, uh, he wants something. But you're in
relationship with them, You're friends with them, you're standing with them.
If you just turn around and say, man, that was
a great movie. You know what, man, I want to
ask you a huge favor. And I know in the
past there's been some stuff, man, But for my birthday

(21:47):
this year, I don't want you to buy me anything.
Would you please just come to church with me one time?

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Oh not my birthday.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Give I'm not gonna sacrifice what I would get for
what they would do.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
But I promise you, if you just ask.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Somebody like that, if you ask the Holy Spirit to
give you wisdom of how to be one to do
his work. He will give you an idea, He'll give.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
You a thought.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Somebody will say, can I borrow a hundred dollars? Yeah,
you can't borrow a hundred dollars. I will give it
to you, but one condition. You ain't gotta pay me back.
But you gotta come to church with me twice. Listen
for the hund dog. You gotta come twice. We gotta
make sure that it's good. You know what I'm saying.
You gotta come twice. But that don't even come to

(22:35):
our minds. Let's be honest, that's not even coming to
our minds. And if it doesn't, then we lose the
power of what God wants to do in our life,
to use us as an intricate piece of his entire plan.
Do you know that this thing don't work without you?
I want to say it one more time, This Christian thing,

(22:56):
this God thing, the Kingdom of God, it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Work without us getting involved.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
And so I want all of you over this next
seven days to really begin to believe God to move
you out of your comfort zone. We've done three weeks
on a sermon series about this. When we talk about
faith and expectation, and what you're getting and what everybody doing.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Everybody want to be in here.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
When you start talking about giving to somebody else and
moving outside of your comfort zone to start meeting somebody
else's needs, that's when people start getting iffy. But it's
the thing that's going to sharpen you into the next
level of what God has for you. So we as
a church have to do whatever it takes. And if
you really think about it, all of us were invited

(23:41):
to a deeper relationship with Christ at some point.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Somebody helped us get to this place.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Now it may not be for everybody, but I'll say
ninety percent of the people somebody helped you in this process.
You got invited to a conference, to watch a video,
to do something to a church, and then you got
in a house where Jesus was present, and then he

(24:09):
started to do the heavy lifting and he transformed your life.
Let me give you the greatest assurance period that if
you invite people, you don't have to change them. No, no, no,
I want you to hear this because we we think
that and we say that, but.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
We really don't believe it.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
They can come stoned, they can come straight from the
hotel room with the prostitute.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
They can come any way.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
If you just get them to the place where Jesus
is at, you don't have to change them. The reason
I'm saying this so clearly to you right now is
because that's what the enemy tried to tell you. Well,
what if they go back to the drugs, You're gonna
look like a failure. You're gonna I ain't got nothing
to do with they salvation. I can't save myself. I

(25:04):
can't save me, So how can I save them? But
I can't invite them. I can put them in the
atmosphere where they can get changed. So this is what
I'm asking all of us to do, is do whatever
it takes. The greatest, most radical example of this is
found in Mark chapter two. I want you to go
there real quick, Mark chapter two, and it's a story

(25:28):
about four guys who did whatever it took to get
another guy in the presence of Jesus. I mean, these
guys were relentless. They didn't know everything, they didn't know
all the things to say, and they didn't know how
to pray to get their friend here.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
But they were relentless.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
They did whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
So let me set some context.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Jesus is on a tour and he's basically going from
synagogue to synagogue to synagogue, teaching, listening, and then he
probably gets hungry and a little tired, and so what
he does. He's like, Man, I know a house that
I can go chill out in and won't nobody really
see me in Copernaum. So I'm gonna go to Copernaum
and I'm gonna chill out for a little bit. And
this is where we pick up in Mark chapter two,

(26:12):
verse one. It says when Jesus returned to Compernaum several
days later, the news spread quickly TMZ that he was
back home soon.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
The house where he was staying was so packed.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
With visitors that there was no more room even outside
the door. There was people everywhere while he was preaching
God's word to them. Now, I want you to just
stop for a second and see that Jesus wanted some rest.
And wherever Jesus was there was a crowd. And I
want you to notice there was a crowd. But the
reason the crowd was there, The crowd was drawn because

(26:46):
he was teaching the word. I just want to stop
and say this for us. No matter how big this
church gets, how much influence, how much lights, camera and action,
I pray that the drawing part of this church is
not the music in the sound. It's the Word of God,
because it's the one thing that's everlasting, will be here
after us, is here now and will be here for

(27:07):
all of eternity, and it's living, and it can change
you from the inside out. Church, never be drawn to
things that are temporary, being drawn to things that are everlasting.
And so that's what we pray for this church. Let's
keep going. In verse three, it says, then four men
arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't

(27:28):
bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they
dug a hole through the roof.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Talk about doing whatever it takes.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
They tartar roof off the mother. No, I'm just like
some of y'all knew that on set. Okay, see y'all
acting so saved right now if I play some seventeen
years the eye, Okay, fakers, hypocrites, Christians. No, I'm just like,
it says, so they couldn't bring him to Jesus.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Because of the crowd. They dug a hole through the
roof above his head.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Then they lowered the man on his mad right down
in front of Jesus.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
I want you to see this picture in.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Your mind, and I want us to look at this
story from the perspective not of the paralyzed man that
we know is gonna get healed, because that's what everybody says.
You get in front of Jesus, you're gonna get healed.
He would have never been there if it weren't for
the four men that did whatever it takes. I want
you to see very clearly that many times we rejoice

(28:32):
over the healing, but we need to start thanking God
for the people who are the conduits to carry people
to Jesus. These four men did whatever it takes. And
I want you to realize something real quick in the
second point, you have to care enough to get involved.

(28:54):
You gotta care enough to get involved this man. The
first first thing I realized is that he's.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Described by his condition, not his name.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
They said four men arrived carrying, not Johnny, a paralyzed man.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
He was defined by his conditions.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
And how many of us around people right now that
are defined by their condition? All they're poor, are they're
a hater. Are they're a liar? Oh yeah, she's homosexual.
Oh yeah, he's a hypocrite. Oh yeah, man, he's a junkie.
Ah you know her. Uh, she's just a hue. And

(29:40):
we define people by their condition, not by getting them
in front of the one that can change their condition.
And what these four men is didn't care about his condition.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
They said, you know what, he's crippled. He can't do
this for himself.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
He's in a place where if we don't do something,
if we don't care enough to get.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Involved, he's gonna stay in the same place.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna come together
in unity, and we're all.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Gonna pick a side of this thing.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
And you're gonna hit him from that corner, and I'm
gonna hit him from this corner, and you gonna hit
him from this corner, and you gonna get over there
in that corner. If we all share the load of
believing that this man can get in front of Jesus,
we can probably see his life change. They cared enough
to get involved. My question is today, do you care
enough to get involved? Because many times we'll go to

(30:32):
Jesus as long as we get something out of it,
But what if somebody else needs something out of it
and you gotta carry the weight. See, the Bible is
so strategic that sometimes it leaves off details to include
all of us. They didn't tell us how much this
man weighed. Now, when we talk about carrying somebody, I

(31:00):
want to know I don't know about you.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Is how big are they? You know? Hold on now?

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Am I gonna get a hernia carrying them? Or is
this a light lift? They don't tell us that. They
don't tell us how bad he smelled.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
They don't tell us if he had an annoying laugh, Like.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
What if he did that all the way, we'd be like,
we got to drop him off, Like y'all that is
he is annoying. They didn't give us any details. Why
because he wanted to focus on the fact that they
were committed to getting him in front of Jesus no
matter his condition.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
What I want you to see that people are.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
In bad conditions, But it's more about your commitment than
their condition. It's more about you being committed to stay consistent,
to love them past their faults, to continue to be somebody,
to be right there. It's not about their condition. It's
about your commitment. They fall in seven, eight, nine, ten times.
Are you still there to love on them? They keep

(32:03):
doing the wrong thing over and over and over again,
and now you've done. Jesus was never done with you.
Everybody didn't get to see all your mess ups, but
he did. And every Sunday when you was at the
author I just need prayer and somebody like for what
just life God? And every time? What was God doing?

(32:32):
But now we got a three strike rule. Nah, they
ain't never gonna change. I mean, it's gonna have to
be a miracle. And what if God said you're the miracle.
You're the one has to be consistent even in their condition.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I need you to be the one.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
You're assigned to them to care enough to get involved.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Now watch this picture. These men can enough to get involved.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
They carrying them like, man, bro, you wait till you
see Jesus, Man, what is gonna be good? And then
they get to the house and it's people everywhere. It's like,
oh man, they can barely see the top of Jesus's
head because there's so many people. The Bible said that

(33:23):
the whole house was fooled.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
The door was full, it was full all.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Around them, and so imagine them outside of a packed
party trying to see who's in the middle doing the
battle rap.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
That sounded good, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
And at that moment that's where most people carrying somebody
will say, well, we tried. We thought that Sunday was
gonna be the Sunday that blessed them. We tried. And
I begin to think of the picture of Jesus speaking

(34:05):
and all of these church people in the path of
the man who might have needed him the most. I'm
gonna step back on that one.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Don't throw none at me.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Just think about it for a second. I'm not saying
that the church people were bad. They were there for
good motive and good intentions to hear from Jesus. But subsequently,
and maybe unconsciously, while they were so focused on what
was happening up front, they had turned their back on
the one who needed the most. Could that be a

(34:42):
picture of any of us that we're so enthralled in
what we gonna get out of Sunday Service about what's
gonna song they gonna sing that's gonna make us move
about the people that we're gonna make that we subsequently
turn our backs on the people that might need Jesus
the most. And possibly it's not physically, but what about

(35:02):
culturally we turn our backs on people by talking in
ways that they can't understand. Praise God, This was the
day that the Lord has made, and he rained on us,
and the fire of God feeled that place, and the
joy of the Lord came upon me and overwhelmed and overshot.
What all of that is scripture and all of that

(35:24):
is good, But when you're talking to somebody who don't
know nothing, we've culturally turned our back on them.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Let me give you another example.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Many of us, when we see people who are searching
and they may need, and they may be in need,
we are not friendly. I'm just talking about saying hi.
Some of our church people are the y'all have the
ugliest relaxed face, say hello, huh. You begin to turn

(36:05):
somebody who may be in need of Jesus. You begin
to turn them off by only coming to church and
only talking to people in your clique. You see them
sitting there, Look, they're looking at you. They want to
be invited into the conversation.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
And what do we do?

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Talk to the people we know, stay with the people
who were going to eat with after we leave here. Church,
hear what I'm saying to you very clearly that there
are people that need Jesus very bad. And if we
don't start to take a moment to turn around and

(36:46):
make room for people in the house for them to
be able to get to Jesus, then we lose out
on presenting people the greatest thing that they ever could experience.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Can I be real practical with you next week?

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Some of y'all need to make room physical room for people.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Who are coming into this church. The enemy is.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Gonna give people every excuse not to come next week.
Your outfit, people gonna judge you. They saw what you
did last week. I don't even know your Facebook name,
but we don't know what you're doing. But the enemy
is just doing that. So we want to take one
of those away. All the volunteers are already doing it,
but I want to challenge some of you next week.
I want as many people who are partners of Transformation

(37:33):
Church to park on the grass back here. Look, people,
park back here and walk into this sanctuary.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
You already committed in a house where Jesus is.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
But if we fill this entire parking lot up to
where people can't get in, and they make one drive
through they're leaving. But what if the church make room
for people to be able to experience.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
That ain't deep, that ain't spiritual. Yes it is.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
This is us being a living example of the world.
We have to make room. We have to care enough
to get involved. And when you start doing that, then
people get to meet the creator. But I am excited
for this brother because he had the type of people
that are at Transformation Church with him.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
He had some people that say, you know what, this
is fool what can we do? Hold on, sit down
real quick? What can we do?

Speaker 1 (38:43):
You know what? All right, y'all, I got it, huddle, Okay,
this may cost us something, but we know our boy
has to get in the presence of Jesus. So I
did this one time when I was sinning to get

(39:03):
to this girl's house over in bethl him. So what
we're gonna do is I'm gonna go up they back
ladder and I'm gonna rip the roof. I'm gonna rip
the roof off this house.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
And then you know I brought that rope.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
We just gonna lower him down.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
In front of Jesus.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
And I know one of the dudes is like, bro,
we can't do that, dude, Yeah, this is somebody else's
freaking house. We cannot rip the roof. And his boy
was like, listen, what.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
We gonna do?

Speaker 1 (39:51):
He heavy, We carry him all the way here at y'all.
He think he's got to get in front of Jesus.
So I don't care what they're gonna say about me.
I don't care what they're gonna do afterwards. We are
gonna do whatever it takes to get our brother in

(40:15):
front of Jesus. So I want everybody to see this
very clearly that these men did not care what it
cost them, who was gonna be mad? They didn't care
about giving their effort energy. They said, our friends got
to get to Jesus. And let me tell you something

(40:36):
about houses. First century houses in Capernaum. Back in that day,
I did some research that these houses were flat top roofs,
and what ended up happening is there usually was a
ladder in the back of the house where people would
go up because they would chill up on there and
use it kind of as a porch or or some

(40:57):
type of balcony.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
And so what they did is they.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Went onto the roof and then the roof has beams,
and in between the beams it's filled with thatch, It's
filled with mud, it's filled with sticks, it's filled with
a whole bunch of dirt, and it's filled. One of
the major components in it is manure. These men were

(41:20):
so desperate to get their friend to Jesus that they
went through some crap to get him to Jesus. Are
we willing to go through some crap in hopes that
somebody can get to Jesus. I want to let you

(41:45):
know that this is part of the church, because everybody
you extend yourself to ain't gonna be thankful. And so
we get out there and we like, well, I try,
and those on grateful sons hold on. Stop. And what
God is saying is I'm not looking at their response.
I'm more concerned that you took responsibility. See, we have

(42:10):
to be responsible over the response that we will get.
If Jesus tells us to go in all the world
and make disciples, if he tells us that it's our
responsibility invite people, we have to value responsibility over response.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
And let me give you one more.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
We have to value our responsibility to forward the kingdom
of God over rejection, because that's why we don't want.
Nobody wants to be rejected. Can I tell you a
rejection story I had this week. My wife wanted some
olive garden one night and they were about to close.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
So I go into olive Garden.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
And I'm waiting for them to make the food.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
And you know, I'm just gonna be honest.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
I'm sitting at the place and all these girls ready
to go home, and I'm just sitting there and I
got my invite cards burning a hole in my pocket.
They just sitting here. It's just getting warm. But I'm
trying to ignore the feeling like, man, they about to
go home. I don't want this is your pastor. I
want to be very hot with you. I want to
be humble, open and transparent. Because you think that I'm
walking around like here's a car to come.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
To my church. That's not what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
I still have to sit there and be like, okay, Father,
give me wisdom, give me cause they look mean. Lord.
I just.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
So I'm sitting there and I was like, I'm just
gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
It's gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
You know, I'm psyching myself up.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
I'm just you got this, bro, it's just inviting people
to church. You taught on it yesterday. What are you doing?
So I get up and the girl says, you're total
it's such and such a thing, and I was like,
you know what, I just got loud. It was three
of I said, you know what, all of you look
super awesome and I want to invite you to my church.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
And two of the girls their face just lit up.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
There It's like right, really, like that's exactly what they did.
But what overshadowed them is one girl that said no,
thank you ugh.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
And literally walked.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Off and literally, in my heart at that moment, I
wanted to trip her, like that's.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Oh, y'all want to be real. I just literally like
out like bows.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
They're oh ah, let me help you.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Out write this man fall seventy like.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
I just wanted like I was like ready to sing
Donny Wee fall down, like I was completely ready. But
when she walked off, watched this the other two girls
said I'm definitely coming now. Now.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
I didn't prompt that, but she said I'm.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Definitely coming now because I watched how you just smiled
at her when she of the way, and you didn't
get mad and anybody who can do that, I want
to be around them. Like Church, somebody's life depends on

(45:21):
you being responsible over you being rejected. Somebody's transformation depends
on you being responsible over their response. And these men
were willing to go through some crap. That was crap
I didn't. I just wanted some food for my wife.

(45:41):
I didn't want to feel that that night, but it
was worth it because somebody may possibly become to Jesus
because of what I did that night. I want you
to understand the greatest principle that these men understood that
we have to understand that it wasn't enough.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
For them to just say, you know, I.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Know a man who they say can heal people. They
had to get that man into Jesus's presence. And many
of us don't want to invite people. And this is
honestly the truth, because we feel like we don't know
enough about God. Let's be honest. It's like, man, if
they start asking questions, I'm gonna look stupid. Like I mean,

(46:26):
I kind of believe and I'm growing in my faith
and I'm really trying to take this thing to next level,
but I'm not sure how to articulate it. I'm not
sure how to do this, but this is the great
thing about the God we serve. He is not someone
to be explained. He is someone to be experienced. I'm
gonna say it again. Jesus is not something to be explained.

(46:51):
He is someone to be experienced. That's why when you
get in front of when you get a real experience Jesus,
nobody can take it away. That's why people are like,
how do you know you believe what you believe? Because
I'd experienced something with Jesus. Well, what about the space
and the cosmos and this and that. Hey, listen, I

(47:12):
ain't experienced all that, just have it.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
But I knew when I.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Was dejected and jacked up and back was in my
thinking and my heart was ugly that when I started
reading the Word and getting around people who were better
than me, God begin to do a change in my heart.
And you know he's real because I'm a pastor.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Now what you can't take away somebody's experience.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
That's like the woman that was in John four twenty
nine when she experienced Jesus, and she had been with
all of these men and then Jesus came and met
her and she said, you know, people like us aren't supposed.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
To be interacting.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
And he said, will you just please get me a drink,
because if you knew who was standing.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
In front of you, you would.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Want to give him a drink, because I will make
you drink of something at my table that will make
you never thirst again. She had an experience with Jesus
and so then.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
After her experience, he said, y'all come see now shut up,
Just come on, come see a man who told me
everything that I ever did.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Come experience in church, that's our responsibility is to get
people in a place where they can have an experience
with God. That's why the enemy tries to get you
arguing with people, because you're trying to explain him. You
can't explain something that you will never ever fully comprehend. Yet,

(48:37):
like the Word tells us, his ways are not our ways,
His thoughts are not our thoughts. He uses foolish things
to confound the wise. He does stuff backwards. The way
up is that I can't explain that, but when I
experience it, you can't take it away.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Church, we want people.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
To experience.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
The love of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
So it's our responsibility to invite them as we close.
I want you to see that it was inconvenient for
these men. It took energy, resource and time. It would
cost them something to repair the roof. So we won't
talk about that. He got healed, But who's paying? And

(49:27):
I believe that those men stepped up. We will now
we got it. What we just saw is worth every
bit a finance that we had to give. And I
want you to see this. They knew that the presence
of God would change this man's life forever. This is

(49:52):
what I imagine the end of the story goes like that.
These men are on the roof, cut through the crap.
They cared enough to get involved. They got there, couldn't
get him in, said we're going on the roof and
gonna tear the roof off. And then they start lowering him,
and I can see Jesus in there.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
He saying, and you shall love the Lord your God
with all of your what the heck? Excuse me?

Speaker 1 (50:27):
And you should love the Lord your God with all
of your heart, with all of your soul, with the
what in the whose house it? I just got my
head and shoulders on, I know.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
And you.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Should love the Lord. You're okay? What oh should love
the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul,
your mind, and your strength. And the second commandment is
love your neighbor as yourself. These two are the greatest commandments.

(51:15):
Look at verse five and one two, it says, and
looking at their faith. The boys didn't get his. The
four dudes didn't get lowered into the room. They're still
on the roof looking down like he got their way.
He don't look at it the way, And Jesus said,

(51:36):
at that moment he was looking.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Look at verse five. Put it on the screen.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
It said. Seeing their faith, the faith of the four
dudes who did whatever it tooks, it compelled Jesus to heal.
Look it went from their faith to his salvation. I

(52:01):
want you to see. There's not face in the story.
It said, seeing their faith, Jesus said.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
To the paralyzed man, my child, you says a forgiving.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
It's over.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
You have salvation. Dundal. I looked at the.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
People who did whatever it took and knew they believed
in me too much. And if they did all of
this to lower them down, I gotta heal them, I
gotta deliver them, I gotta set them free. That I'm
a good, good father. So when you do everything that
it takes to get people here, God's gonna look at
your faith. Man.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
They went through a lot this week.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
To really keep inviting that cousin, that brother, that family member,
that boss, that ceo, that cop. They kept trying to
invite them, and they actually came. I have no other
choice but to prove myself as God by touching their hearts,
touching their minds, and touching their lives.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
This is the thing that we have to realize.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
He said. God is so faithful that he just didn't
give the man salvation. It would have been enough that
he gave him eternal life. Still paralyzed, still sitting on
the mat, still like thank you. Now I have my
soul is redeemed, but my habits, my situation, my condition
didn't change. But then the religious people started talking and

(53:20):
they said, who is this that can.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Save a man like this?

Speaker 1 (53:23):
He think?

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Who does he think he is?

Speaker 1 (53:25):
And I believe Jesus went to the paralyzed man and said, man,
this is your this is your day.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
See because your boys believe in me.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
For all these Christians who came here didn't believe that
I could really do what I can't do. So let's
shock everybody. I'm about to not just give you salvation.
I'm gonna change your condition. And as long as you
just give me glory and praise, I'm gonna make you

(53:59):
a test mony for about let's say the next eternity.
You down with that, I be he if he couldn't
do nothing, I know, he started blinking, I know, like
if he couldn't move anything. Look at verse ten, it says,
so I would prove that to you, that the son
of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.

(54:21):
Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, stand up,
pick your mat up, and go home. And the man
jumped up, grabbed his mat. He said, oh shoot, you
ain't gotta tell me twice, he said.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
He jumped up, grabbed.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
His mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They
were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming we've never seen
anything like this before.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Get the picture.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
The room that the man couldn't get into before, because
he had some people around him that did whatever it took,
was able to walk out on his own power. The
people that you have to carry into this place when

(55:10):
they meet Jesus.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
God's gonna transform them so.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
That they can walk this life out in a new
level of power. The things that are aiding them, the
things that are keeping them peaceful, the things that are
keeping them alive right now, whether it be an addiction
or a people. When they get a touch from Jesus,
they're gonna be able to stand up from that crippled,
paralyzed condition and they're gonna be able to walk out

(55:35):
in the same room that they couldn't get in before.
God is going to raise them up as a testimony.
But it takes somebody that's willing to do whatever it takes.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
Power Next Alive Baptism. So service is April twenty four.
Let the world know that you are dead to send
and alive in Christ. Sign up in the lobby today.
We elect invite all of our new partners and volunteers
to the next Activate orientation. So if you've recently joined
our church or you would like to be a part

(56:16):
of one of our awesome I Serve teams, then we'll
see you at the Activate Orientation April twenty four. Right
after service. Our b groups meet weekly in different places
all over the city. There's a group for everybody, so
visit the Connect corner today to find out where you belong.
Pre order your new represent TCT shirt today right after

(56:39):
service available April ten. Join us for Monday Night Prayer
every week at six pm. Miss last week's message. Visit
our website to watch and listen to past sermons at
Transformed Church dot us, and be sure to stay up
to date on all things TC by following us on

(56:59):
Facebook and Instagram. And we are Transformation. We love hearing
about the amazing things that God is doing in your life.
Share your amazing testimonies with us by emailing Amen at
Transformed Church dot us