CROSS TO COMMISSION | It Had to Happen | Matthew 26:47-56 | Lonnell Williams
48 min
•Dec 1, 20255 months agoSummary
Pastor Lonnell Williams delivers a sermon on Matthew 26:47-56, exploring how suffering and difficult circumstances are necessary for spiritual growth and purpose. Using the metaphor of his childhood diving board experience, he teaches that obedience to God's will often leads through pain, and that emotional control and trust in God's plan are essential for navigating life's chaos.
Insights
- Emotional reactions reveal unhealed wounds and past trauma rather than responding to present circumstances; pressure exposes what hasn't been addressed internally
- True power and authority are demonstrated through restraint and refusing to use available force, not through aggressive action or control
- Suffering and pain are not evidence of God's absence or failure of purpose, but rather instruments God uses to form and refine character for future seasons
- Distinguishing between unhealthy and healthy responses to adversity requires understanding the difference between reactive emotion-driven choices and purposeful faith-based decisions
- Trusting God's predetermined outcome enables endurance through present pain because the ending is already secured, making the 'what' survivable through knowing the 'why'
Trends
Growing emphasis on emotional intelligence and trauma-informed theology in contemporary Christian teachingShift from prosperity gospel toward suffering-as-formation theology in evangelical preachingIncreased focus on the relationship between unhealed trauma and reactive behavior patterns in spiritual developmentIntegration of psychological frameworks (triggers, emotional regulation) with biblical interpretation in pastoral teachingEmphasis on purpose-driven endurance over circumstantial comfort as measure of spiritual maturity
Topics
Emotional regulation and spiritual maturityTrauma and unhealed wounds as drivers of reactive behaviorObedience to God's will versus personal comfortPurpose and suffering in Christian faithTrust and surrender in adversityDistinguishing between healthy and unhealthy responses to painThe role of the Holy Spirit in guiding decisionsSpiritual discipline and emotional controlGod's sovereignty and predetermined outcomesThe cost of avoiding pain through self-protectionFormation versus force in spiritual growthAuthority and power through restraintFaith-based decision making versus emotion-driven choicesThe lifeguard metaphor for God's presence during trialsRepentance and reconciliation with God
People
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Lead pastor of 2819 Church; honored and thanked for his leadership and ministry at the church
Lonnell Williams
Executive pastor at 2819 Church delivering the sermon on Matthew 26:47-56 and spiritual formation
Peter
Disciple of Jesus discussed extensively as example of emotional reactivity and unhealed wounds in crisis
Judas
Disciple who betrayed Jesus; example of how closest relationships can inflict deepest wounds
Jesus
Central figure of sermon; model for emotional control, purpose-driven obedience, and restraint in adversity
David Rachels
Author cited for concept that triggers reveal areas where personal freedom has not yet been achieved
Quotes
"It had to happen. It had to happen."
Lonnell Williams (quoting his mother)•Opening theme
"Your deepest wounds will always come from people who have had access to your patterns. Because they likely studied you before they stabbed you."
Lonnell Williams•Mid-sermon
"Pressure will always reveal your reflex. Put you in a pressured place. And I'll tell you exactly how you respond."
Lonnell Williams•Mid-sermon
"Real authority is not doing what you have the power to do. It is resisting what you have the right to do."
Lonnell Williams•Closing section
"You can survive the what if you know the why. Purpose will carry what comfort cannot cure."
Lonnell Williams•Closing section
Full Transcript
and they take your seat. My name is Lana Williams. I'm the executive pastor here in 2018 church and I am so grateful to be giving this opportunity to preach the word on this morning. I will be remiss in this moment if we did not take a second, more than a second. We're going to pause with the calls. We're going to honor the lead pastor of this church, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell. If you've been blessed by him, just put your hands together. I'll tell you now, next week is his birthday. Next Sunday, we want to honor him and thank God for the life of the ministry of a P.A.M. and just grateful for him and his wife, Ms. Lena and their family. Just grateful that they would even give us the opportunity to be able to just minister to God's people. I also just want to shout out my wife who's in the room, my oldest daughter who's back from college for a little while. So, grateful for that. To the elders of this house, I thank God for you and I feel like one of them old Baptist churches, but you got to name off everybody the deacons on the roster, members in Christian friends, saints and saints. Amen. Listen, I'm just grateful for everyone here in the staff. With this assignment, I've been given the first gathering was interesting because I don't think I realized that I was preaching to myself. Yeah, I was preaching to myself. It didn't hit me until in the back that this was actually a word for me. So, I think I'm just preaching in the mirror. You all just don't happen to be in the room with me. But I pray that as it pierces me, that it pierces you as well. Amen. We're going to continue in this series, cross to commission, as we continue to move through the final stages of Jesus' life, his burial and his resurrection. And as we move to that exciting text, Matthew 28, 19, which is going to be an amazing Sunday here, as we get closer and closer to that. But I've been charged with Matthew chapter 26, and I'm going to read, I don't know, I'll be responsible for, excuse me, verses 47 to actually 56. And so, I'm not going to read the full text in this moment, but I want to go ahead and preface to say that the crux of my message will probably be between 51 and 56. So, we're going to move pretty quickly to get to 50. But if I had to give a title to this preachment, I would call it it had to happen. It had to happen. You're wondering why it happened. And God is saying, it had to happen. Let's begin, Father. You know, in 19, let's see, I'm 40 years old now, so 1992, I had to think about that for a minute. In 1992, I was in the Linwood Aquatic Center going through the graduation for my first swim lesson. I fell in love with swimming and my mother took me to this facility and a part of the final class was the ability to not only be able to doggy paddle in the middle of the water, but you had to jump off of the diving board. Did you jump off the diving board? And I felt very confident in this endeavor. And so, I passed the test with doggy paddling in the middle of the water for five minutes. And then my class then kind of walked our way over to the diving board, to the diving board. And my classmate jumped into the water easily. And me, being the confident seven-year-old that I was, walked up to the diving board and I confidently walked to the end of the diving board. And when I looked over the edge, I saw 14 feet of water beneath me. And slowly but surely, as I stared over the side of that diving board, I could feel my feet slowly back enough. Because you'll learn I don't like heights and I don't like hats. Those are two things I cannot stand. And as I looked over, I said, nope. But unfortunately, as I was walking back, I could not find the strength to get off of the diving board. And I felt myself at the edge doing one of these and the whole diving board was shaking because I was so nervous to jump off. And my family, my mom and my classmates were on the other end of the pool and they were saying, jump on the air, jump. And I was like, no, I'm not jumping. I refused to jump. And five minutes turned into 30 minutes. And 30 minutes turned into two hours. For two hours, I shut down the Linwood Aquatic Center. No other classes could go forward because I refused to jump. And in the moment where I thought I had gathered enough strength to jump off of the diving board, I felt this firm, yet gentle hand on my back, and it went just like this. Yeah, somebody pushed me. And so I got in the water and clearly I was alive and well. I got out and dried off, everybody clapping. Yay, I'm like, okay, I got you, right? I get off, I get into the car, my mother's like, see, see, you just have to do it. And I was like, no, I don't understand first off why you would allow someone to come up behind me and push me in the pool. Where were you? And I was mad because I was just about to do it. You know, at the two hour and one minute mark, I was just about to jump. I promise you I was. You just didn't give me a chance to. And my mother, you know, did not even realize it at the time, but she was being prophetic. She looked in the rearview mirror and she said, La Nelle, it had to happen. It had to happen. And just as it was with me, as it is with you on this morning, God is trying to move you to a place in your Christian maturity. And some moments have to happen to ensure that you walk in your purpose. Can I help somebody here? This is what I realized. I'm not saying, let me set the foundation for this text. I am not saying that bad things are God's fault. Hear me out. Evil is evil. I am not saying that bad things are God's fault. I am saying that bad things are God's fault. I am saying that the Christian life is not without suffering. Suffering is part and parcel of our Christian experience. But catastrophic, unbelievable things that seem evil, the Bible is very clear. No man with evil. Now, what he will do is he will redeem a negative thing. He will redeem it and somehow get something out of it. But he is not the cause of it. So when we think about this preachment, I don't want you to think from the lens of something catastrophic or evil. Because God is not the author of either one. But when it comes to our suffering, this is the part that we have to think through. Now, in the reality of this text, we are going to find that Jesus is coming out of the garden of Gethsemiti. Peter, James and John, and this is something I didn't say the first guy I think, but I also want you to realize this. The disciples were also there too. Now, they were in the secret place, but as Jesus is walking out, the rest of the disciples are in the space. And I can prove it to you later on, because if you look at the last verse, verse 56, the Bible says that the disciples fled. They were present, but they were silent. All right. We'll preach that later. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. So we find now that Jesus is coming out of the garden of Gethsemiti. He just said, not my will, but that will be done. We just have this experience of Peter, James and John. And then all of a sudden, the Bible says that Judas shows up. Now, here is the thing. Jesus has resolved that he was ready to do God's will, but his disciples were not. The scene was uncomfortable. The scene was chaotic. You've got all these people coming. You've got Judas leading the crowd. They've got swords. They've got clubs. They're going crazy. You've got Peter in the room with his weapon on his side, ready to go. And Jesus is the calmest person in the space. And I don't know about you, but have you ever been in a moment where you have felt extremely uncomfortable? Have you ever been in a place where everything is falling apart around you? And you don't know what to do. Have you ever felt more uncomfortable than you can even imagine? Or maybe have you been trying to discern how God would allow you to sit in a season like this, a season where you have been the most obedient. And it just don't happen to be the season that you've had the most pain. Listen to me. The fact that it is hard does not mean that you miss God. What's the other word? Okay. All right. Just because it hurts doesn't mean you're off. If obedience led Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane, why do you think obedience will always lead you in the comfort? Lord, I'm obedient. Not my will, but your will. Usher, she write to the place of pain. The story that I'm about to walk with you through is a story about reactions. It's a story about emotional control. It's a story about purpose and the text is not just happening to Jesus. It's actually happening to us. Jesus is the greatest example of how to manage our emotions in the midst of chaos. And Jesus shows us what to do in these moments and other people in the text show us what not to do. It is a mirror to our lives to see if we look like Jesus when all hell hits the fan. I've got to push this very quickly. But as we look at the story in verse 47, it says that while he was still speaking to you, this came one of the twelve. Now, this is what is so interesting to me. While he was still speaking, so Jesus is technically still in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas comes and meets him in the Garden. And this is where I was confused. How was it that Judas knew where Jesus was? He knew the Garden, he knew the routine, he knew the rhythm. This is the thing. Your deepest wounds will always come from people who have had access to your patterns. Because they likely studied you before they stabbed you. Let's keep going. Now, now, now, we see this. It says this, it says this. And with the great crowd of swords and clubs, and chief priests and elders and people, now the Breitrier had given them a sign saying that the one I kiss is the man to see him. And he came up to Jesus. And at once, he said, greetings, we're out by any system. What's interesting is this, he came with the great crowd. They were chief priests and elders. If we were to contemporize this in the modern day, these are church leaders. These are church leaders, people who stood in the front and would proclaim the books of the Jewish community. They would read from the Torah. But they were religious folks. And they sat there to capture Jesus all in the name of God. In other words, they misused the name of God for their own spiritual purpose. And I know you've never seen that before. I know you've never experienced that before. You've never seen wayward preachers who try to use the name of God to purposely prop themselves up and say, Jesus said, I know you've never been in a church where a preacher will stand before you and say, the Holy Spirit said, 300 people in this room have a hundred dollars. And man, I feel the whole, oh, shut up. I feel them in the room, right? That is a lie. They are just like the individuals in the text using religiosity to force an agenda to keep their status. The Holy Spirit didn't tell you 300 people here, got a hundred dollars. They said, you're going to have a church over budget. And you all need to raise this money or you're going to go in a hole. Say you didn't get to honorarium. And the pastor told you that you had to raise up your offerings so you can go home with something in your pockets. Is that too real? Am I being too real? I'm telling the truth, right? All right, let's keep going. I just want to make sure I say it that, here we go. Here we go. Verse 50. Jesus said to him, friends, do what you came to do. I didn't even see that. They laid hands on him. I'll tell you, lay hands on my father. All right. Greek. The Greek says this. The word friend is not like a friend we understand, not like a friend or a brother. The word in Greek actually means an associate or a comrade. So when you see him say, do what you come to do, Jesus is not confused. He's not panicking. He's not stressed out. He's not saying I'm okay with what you're doing. He's actually saying I'm okay with what God is doing through you. He's saying I am not surrendering to Judas. He's saying I'm surrendering to the will of the father. That's not passivity. That is purpose in action. He's saying when you're anchored in purpose, you don't have to fight everything that hurts. Wait, wait, wait, let me do it. Let me do it. Okay, here we go. All right. When you are anchored in purpose, you don't have to fight everything that hurts. Somethings you just got to let it happen. Somethings you have to experience because it had to happen. How do I know? Let me pose this question to you. And maybe this will speak to your truth. What if God can't complete what you keep interrupting? What if the thing you fear is actually the thing that's forming you? What if the pressure you feel is actually the proof that God trust you? Jesus, I felt that. But just do me a quick fair. I know we don't do this here, but just nuts some matter if you can and say, I'm good. God's got me. Yeah, God's got me. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I felt like I was a little Baptist. I felt good. All right, here we go. Point number one. Let's get to the text. Point number one. It had to happen. So Christ could reveal what's inside of you. Let's look at this. Verse 51 says, And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand. Now mind you, Matthew never reveals the name of the person. We all know it's Peter, but he never reveals the name of this person. I will talk to you about why that's the case in a second. And he drew his sword and struck the servant. John 18 says his name was Malkus. The high priest and cut his ear. Church, we need to pause for the calls here because Matthew is showing us something subtle and very severe. Peter did not swing because he was brave. He swung because he was unhealed. He swung because he was emotionally unmanaged. Peter swung because swinging was easier than surrendering. And I know what you're saying. No, no, no, that's not us. We don't swing like that. No, no, no, that can't be us. You've got a sword in the hand that was supposed to be surrendered. And how do I know? Pressure will always reveal your reflex. Put you in a pressured place. And I'll tell you exactly how you respond. For some of you, your sword, it's not a physical sword. For some of you, your sword is pulling back out of conversations. For some of you, it's manipulation. For some of you, it's going numb. For some of you, it's an angry attitude. For some of you, it's cutting remarks. For some of you, your sword is stonewalling. For some of you, it's playing the white knight the savior. For some of you, it's running instead of confrontation. For some of you, your sword is your spouse. You've turned your spouse into a project instead of a partner and you call it having standards But for some of you you sort as your silence You've been kind of people with it for years For some of you the people who are the closest to you have the most emotional scars from your mouth and Then you call it being direct Your sword is whatever you reach for When your world is spinning out of control and Peter's swing did not begin in the garden moment no no no no no It did not begin in the garden moment it began When he slept when God made it in the most Jesus was praying and Peter was asleep instead of being attentive and And I know you're asking to yourself what how how's that me that's that's not me. Well, let me ask you this It was the last time you opened your Bible without a crisis forcing you there Well, when was the last time you set with God when you didn't need something from him I Know I'm preaching better than you speaking, but that's okay. You've been running on last year's prayer trying to fight this year's battle How's that working You neglected the secret place and now you're panicking in the public place Show me how you would respond When all hill breaks loose Now we find ourselves In a pressure moment no clarity no peace no power And you're wondering why you keep swinging at the things that you should be praying through Peter is not our cautionary tale Peter is our testimony if we do not wake up Watch this Peter Sward was already in his hand before the mob arrived He just hadn't drawn a yet And now in the moment that the man did stability He walked into it with chaos Peter swing was not bravery It was broken this It is the visible manifestation of an invisible wound Emotions will force you to swing and miss the real issue In other texts and other gospels the Bible says that Peter actually cut off the ear of Malkus now this is the thing that confused me a little bit honestly because it's not like he didn't know how to use his sword So why would he cut off a ear? Why didn't he cut off his head? Why didn't you stab him in the heart? Why didn't he stab him to try to injure him and to kill him? I mean you you trying to defend the Lord. So why would he just cut off a ear? And it mixes and as I thought about that I realized that for some of us we respond just like him Our emotional swings are not coming from a place What's happening in that moment? They're coming from what you never healed five years ago They're coming from places you didn't heal 20 years ago and you keep blaming your circumstances But your circumstances didn't create your chaos they exposed it Amen lights all right David Rachel in his book called triggers says this What triggers show us is where we have not yet become free You're not reacting to what they did you're reacting to what you never dealt with Yeah, your response Has nothing to do with the moment Your response has everything to do With what you have not addressed It's like me for some reason and this is just me. I love the cook. I love to cook I love to bake. I love to cook you know I do have some peach cobbler staff knows I call it double double crust is laughing on peach cobbler Yes, yes double crust is slapping on my peach cobbler. It is that good. You want to slap your mama because it is delicious Amen double crust across on the top crust on the bottom is real But for yes, good see I got you But this is the thing this is the thing For some reason whenever I cook I don't know why this happens to me every single time but when I cook I burn myself Some wish it before like I don't know what that happens. I burn myself And when I do I know that it's gonna be good if I burn myself That's how I know it's gonna be good because I put my foot in it, you know like I'm in that thing So you know, I'm like oh, yeah little oil pop on me. I'm like oh, yeah, it's not gonna be good right here Yeah, the hardest must be good right here In fact, I burn myself right there. Yeah, it was good. It was good But there's the thing Whenever I do burn myself my son Who is just like me he loves to go get band-aids right? He loves to go get band-aid grab a band-aid and give it to me And if you're not careful with the child, they'll use up all the band-aids On everything for like you don't even have a scratch You just feel like I need a band-aid you know, I'm saying up with who with the band-aid I always put it on and because I become frustrated I Pull the band-aid off Pull it off usually after a day assuming that it's healed And because I don't give it the space to be healed The scar number one can never properly be handled by my body to fix but number two it always leaves the scar The wound becomes a scar and a scar that can be visible Do you understand what I'm saying? If you're not careful The thing that you don't deal with today Will become the scar of the future Does that make sense? Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Let's keep going look at let's voice the point number two point number two It had to happen so Christ could draw you in to depend on him look at verse 52 Then Jesus said to him put your sword back in its place for all you take the sword We're parished by the sword Jesus in this moment is rebuke you Peter, but it's not a traditional rebuke. It is a very subtle Very clear and surgical rebuke look what he says he says put your sword back watch this in its place He doesn't say throw your sword away He doesn't say give you a sword to somebody else He doesn't say give me the sword He says I don't want you to think that the sword is bad Right, I don't want you to think that your emotions are bad. He doesn't say there's anything wrong With having him he says, but I want you to put them in their place Your emotions aren't the enemy Your timing is And if we're honest your responses are Oftentimes your emotions just leading They're dictating they're controlling They're interrupting Your emotions were designed to inform you and not to control you And this is how I know this is true It's like the phrase when we say take the wheel Jesus Right oftentimes what we will do as believers as we actually will we will take the wheel will allow our emotions to take the wheel we put Jesus in the passenger seat And if we're honest some of us actually push Jesus out of the car completely And then we drive with our emotions and watch this our lives wind up in the ditch And then we have the audacity To say well Jesus why did you Allow this to happen to me Because we have not given our emotions the proper place in our lives We we we we we Jesus does not destroy emotions. He does not ignore them Jesus himself had emotions Look at Hebrew chapter 4 verse 15 for we do not have a high priest Who was unable to sympathize with our weaknesses? But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are Yet without sin in other words Jesus has experienced every emotion that we experience and Yet he has chosen Because your emotional responses are choice. He has chosen not to sin Jesus teaches us how to discipline our emotions He never says I don't want you to be passionate in fact he never says that you cannot be angry the Bible says to be angry but sin Not I want you to put your passions where they belong put them in their place I'm gonna say this very clearly if the only way you know how to feel safe is to stay in control You will always interpret surrender as danger You Have made control your God and called it wisdom All right Hear me control is not safety It's a sword Control is not wisdom It's self-protection and self-protection oftentimes become self-sabotage How do I know let me ask you this what had you been calling wisdom that is really just fear with a better vocabulary word? Okay, well what has your self-protection already cost you that you're still not ready to admit I'm about this what impulses Have you masqueraded as discernment? I'm just I discern I Dishermed this moment. No, that is just your faulty impulses getting human seasons that you're praying God to pull you out of and God won't move because God didn't put you there All right watch this we cannot ask God for peace when we are gripping our emotional weapons Whenever we reach for something that we're afraid we keep saying Lord help me While refusing to release it And he is saying I want to help you but you will not let go and What emotions we hold on in our hands review what we don't trust God to hold show me What you can't let go of and I'll show you what you worship That's my Jesus says put it back in It's place Jesus is Discipling Peter's emotions and hours The correction had to happen so that he could no longer respond emotionally But respond like Christ my point number three and I'm almost done. It had to happen so Christ could form obedience Inside of you what what what I mean all right look at the text verse number 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to the father and he will at once in a more than 12 legions of angels Jesus is saying Peter I'm not here because I like options I'm not I'm here because I have obedience Jesus literally says all right, so a legion is 6,000 right 6,000 Right so so if he says that the the Legion is 6,000 Jesus is saying I can send 72,000 angels At my disposal you talk about clap back Just like oh I'm the king of clap back. I got you right what says He had enough to spirit your control To discern the moment in whole back the gates of heaven Which he could have released So my question to you is Then why can't you hold your tongue in traffic Where's Rhonda shot. I all right Jesus could have escaped He could have retaliated he could have shut it down But he didn't Not because he was not powerless He did it because he was powerful I'm gonna say this real slowly for you Real authority It's not doing what you have the power to do It is resisting what you have the right to do Power is not and what you can do power is in what you won't do And Jesus had the right to fight He had the right to command the angels But purpose always speaks louder than pain Now now you're probably wouldn't go okay. What then what how do I delineate between an unhealthy response and a healthy response of Jesus is modeling for us What a healthy response to pain and being obedient is a so how do I define what what an unhealthy response is? That's very simple and unhealthy response says do anything Right now just just do it just just just just to the wind just yolo just do it all and a healthy response Says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord An unhealthy response says run escape Quit a freeze but but a healthy response says hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering Unhealthy says rewrite the story so so you won't get hurt But but healthy says run with endurance the race that is set before us that the unhealthy response says that the plan is failing and you need to take control But a healthy response that's trust in the Lord with all that heart and lean not today I don't understand any and all that ways acknowledge him and he will direct your passive This is a Baptist church. This is what I would feel good and start open But he would say now unhealthy says now or never but but but a healthy response says I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the leaving And unhealthy response says that the pain is proof that you're failing but but a healthy response says let patience have it's perfect work That you may be completely a unhealthy response says what you're feeling you'll feel forever But but a healthy response says for I consider that the suffering of this present world shall not compare to the glory that she'll be revealed Hear me every short cut The enemy offers you is sabotage wrapped in relief The devil's exits always look like entrance is Oh Lord help us he's not trying to destroy you openly The enemy is trying to reroute you subtly And the reroute feels like a rescue until it relies where you realize where it led you How do you know of this true? Well, let me ask you this Where are you tempted to rush what God is trying to refine? What what are you trying to get out of the God is trying to get inside of you Jesus could have called the angels But he used his power over the pain and if Jesus cancelled the purpose We would still be on our way to hell His escape would have cost us everything He said not my will but I will And so with yours It had to happen Point number four as I come to the close it had to happen because the scriptures had to be revealed if you look at 54 through 56 Jesus is explaining to those who are in the space be says but how then should the scriptures be fulfilled That it must be so And at the hour Jesus said to the crowds have you come out Had you come out as against the robber with swords and clubs to capture me day after day. I said at the temple teaching You didn't seize me But all this had to take place that the scriptures the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled Listen to the tone of Jesus He is not irritated He's not anxious He's not shaken and if some of us will be offered ourselves if we were put in the same place our response would probably not look like Jesus He is rooted Jesus was the calmest person in all of the chaos In something that he could have prevented And that's what happened when you know the outcome When you know the outcome When you know He'll never leave you nor forsake you He doesn't matter what comes your way When I know the outcome I'm trusting his word He says now then So the scriptures be fulfilled translation if I stop this I stop what God said If I protect myself which I can from my own pain I prevent myself from this purpose which is to die on the cross He's saying this is not happening to me This is happening for the sake of what God promised So what you have been calling confusion Heaven has been calling completion What we've been calling a breakdown Father's been calling it a setup How differently would you carry this season If you actually believe the God already wrote the ending What have you been calling Falling apart The God has been calling Falling into place How much of your purpose Have you already delayed By protecting yourself from the pain Purpose does not make pain painless It gives pain purpose I'll say this You can survive the what If you know the why You can survive the what If you know the why And purpose will carry With comfort cannot cure It had to happen Not because God is cruel But because God is completing something The required a season in your life had it mod Somebody in here is saying I am not About to waste this pain This pain will not be wasted These tears will not be wasted This heartache will not be wasted This this financial trouble will not be wasted This relationship that fell apart will not be wasted I am going to use this opportunity Not to lean in myself but to lean into the Father Let's say I trust you And to happen Why so that you Father can be glorified Not about me but about him And if we're honest with ourselves Some of us Had blamed God for seasons Where he was trying to form you in it And not force you through it It's like a pottery class my wife and I took I'm bad at it but you had to put your foot on the wheel And you know it's not a spin in and if you you were too forceful Pottery was cave in or it would fall out Then you had to start over you had to get another block of potter And slam it onto the plate and then hit the wheel And you form it and you form it and you form it If you're not careful I'll keep breaking And if some of us are going to be honest with one another This is a season where we feel like we keep breaking And we keep blaming the potter But it's actually the clay We are brittle We are broken And we keep saying Father Do something You see me in this pain you see me You see me you see me crying You see my heart broken you see me trying Do something I gotta say it Son and daughter It had to happen It had to happen Because I'm about to use what you're experiencing To form you into What I need you to be in this next season And watch this man If some of us would be honest I'll say this and I'll tell you this first The story I share with you in the beginning about the Me on the diving board and getting nervous and being pushed The part that I never shared with you was this The whole while that I was up there looking down at that 14 feet Dropping to that water What I felt to recognize that was the kelly The lifeguard Was actually waiting water Out there the whole time For two hours The lifeguard What's just waiting on me to jump I was nervous to jump in I was nervous to trust I was fearful of what would happen and the savior Was right there the whole time Shit And some of us Need to do what I did not get the opportunity to do Some of us need to take a moment And say I'm sorry Because you were there the whole time I cursed you and you were right there I yelled in my prayer closet but you were right there I fought this emotion and this pain but you were there the whole time You kept me in the midst of my trials and tribulations and I was still man I never missed a meal And I'm still man Breast in my body But I was still man Money in the bank But I was still mad And this is the moment For some of us have to say I'm sorry I'm sorry for how I showed up father And I trust you that In the season it has to happen It had to happen so that you would get the glory out of this pain You would get the glory out in so much so we're just gonna bathe Disarmament With one standard of this song And I just want I want I want the lights down so that you could have an independent and private moment with God And just tell them I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry When I just go through the motion I'm sorry When I just say another song Take me back to where we started I open up my heart to you I'm sorry And I'm sorry When I give myself away And I'm come with my own agenda And I'm sorry When I forgot that you and I Take me back to where we started I open up my heart to you I'm I'm caught up in your precious Jesus I just want to sit here at your feet I'm caught up in this holy moment I never want And I will not hear from the rest Jesus I hear from us Jesus you don't know Me Anything No, me And more than anything That you can do I just want you I just want you Lord I just want you I just want you I just want you And nothing happens I just want you, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else I just want you, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else Nothing else, we'll do I just want you, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else Nothing else, nothing else