If I tell you the depression actually can lift and you can come into a greater season
and your best days may be ahead of you, there will be a little Devil to tell you, "No way."
"You've already been to the doctor three times about this. You've already tried three different
prescriptions for this." When we say things like, "He's the God of a way," you have an Enemy who
says, "No way." That's why I love the very first four words of Isaiah 43:16: "Thus says the Lord…"
You could get happy off those four words if you knew what hung on those four words. When you read,
"Thus says the Lord," it's tagging into his name, "The Lord," "Yahweh," and it is saying that what
Yahweh says about your situation is greater than any past indicator of your potential.
Now, follow me here. It's important that you really tap into your past. If you don't ever
tap into your past, like Isaiah is doing here… He says, "He makes a way in the sea, a path in the
mighty waters." If you don't ever tap into what God did in your past… Do it right now. Just close
your eyes. I promise nobody is going to steal your purse. These are good Christian people.
Close your eyes right now where you are. "I'm watching on my phone,
and my roommate is going to think I'm weird." Your roommate is weird. They need to be watching.
Close your eyes. I want you to think and tap into something in your past (when you've got it, say,
"I've got it"), something God did that you would have said, "No way" about.
For some of you, it's the fact that your kid is in church with you today.
Your kid didn't want to come to church, and then all of a sudden, somehow, someway… Well, maybe you
dragged them. Maybe you bribed them. Maybe you had to pay them $20, but someway, God got them here.
For some of you, it is a physical illness you thought you wouldn't recover from. If
that's your testimony, shout, "That's me." Okay. It's a physical illness you thought you wouldn't
recover from. You recovered from it, and you're strong by the grace of God. God made a way.
For some of you, it is an addiction that crippled you, and now you find yourself gaining momentum,
a little bit stronger every day. Some days it's harder than others. Some days it seems
like you might not make it today, but even when you slip off the path a little bit,
you feel him pulling you back. God is making a way. If that's you, shout, "That's me."
Okay. For some of you, it is something in your life that God provided in the resource realm.
You didn't know how you were going to come up with that money. You didn't know how you were
going to do it by that date. You didn't know how you were going to make it through that
unemployment season. You didn't know how your industry was going to collapse all
around you and God was going to send ravens to feed you by the brook called Cherith.
God did not take a vote to see how he could bless you. He just tapped a bird
on the shoulder and dropped something off for you and did something for you. He did it just
in the nick of time…not early, not late. You found out he's an on-time God who makes
a way where there is no way at just the right time. As you abide in him, you bear much fruit.
For some of you, it's a revelation God gave you of the strength you didn't know
you had. You walked through the valley of the shadow of death,
but his rod and his staff comforted you. So now you're standing looking at another wolf, saying,
"I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thou art always with me. Great Jehovah, guide me."
Shout, "He made a way!" So, I have to tap into that. Now watch this. This is the important
thing Isaiah said. Tap into that, but don't get trapped in that, because the way he made yesterday
may not be the way he makes today. There are two ways to approach the past. One way is you tap into
it, and you trust God in the present. The other way is you get trapped in it, and you doubt God
in the present, because he isn't guaranteeing that he will do in the future what he did in the past.
"Break it down, Pastor. I think I follow you, but I'm a little bit confused." I can do that.
The relationships God used to support you in one season may
not be the same relationships he uses to support you in the next.
As a matter of fact, sometimes the removal of a relationship is an opportunity for a revelation,
because some of the things I trusted in were a trap,
holding me back from trusting in God who is my supply, who is my provider,
who is my help. I don't look to the hills for my help. My help comes from him!
Jesus is my help, and he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, here's the dance.
I have to tap into yesterday but not get trapped
in yesterday. I have to tap into what he did enough to trust what he's doing,
and I have to move through what he's doing even though I cannot predict where it ends up.
I keep no secrets from you. We are family. I am preaching from
a personal place. I just dropped my oldest son off at college this week.
I'm not okay. I miss him. That's my dude. Who else am I going to listen to Guns N'
Roses in the Pound and lift weights with? I don't know. Abbey, are you available?
But here's what I'm learning about this whole process.
You talk to these parents who drop their kid off at college,
and they're like, "Yeah, we dropped them off, and they graduated, and they're a doctor."
Thank you, Mike. Mike Mitchell said, "It's not easy." Thank you for saying that. You know, when
people talk about, "We dropped our kid off, and they were the salutatorian. They went to Harvard,
and then they did their postgrad at Yale, and then they invented a cure to cancel culture…"
I just don't even know. He didn't even go that far. We're still going to talk every day,
but I still miss him, and I'm trying to trust God with that.
People would tell you their own testimony like it was just a clean miracle. You
know, this is how I read the Bible. I don't know if you read the Bible like this.
When I read it like that, and it sounds too clean, like, this is the clean version
of what happened in Exodus 14… "Thus says the Lord…" Isaiah is reminding them God was faithful,
because that was something they didn't experience. That was hundreds of years
before they lived. He's trying to get them ready for something they're going through now,
so he taps into the past to teach them to trust in the present.
So, he says, "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the
mighty waters…" How good that sounds and how easy that sounds. "…who brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise…" You have to put verse 16
up there because it sounds so good. "…who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…"
I'll show you what that doesn't say.
I feel like Moses wants me to tell you this, because Moses was the one who was actually there.
Moses would be like, "Hey, hey, y'all shout about that? 'God who makes a way
in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.' It does not say…
I don't know what y'all are shouting about,
because it doesn't say, 'He makes a way around the sea.'"
This is Moses. I'm speaking on behalf of Moses. Not a path around the mighty waters. Do
you see that little word in? Ooh, when you're in it… I'm going to come to this side.
They're judging me over there. They're like, "Just trust God."
When you're in it… I'm going to come down there. I'm sick of this.
It's like, "And they crossed over on dry ground." "They went through the Red Sea,
the waters went back, and they crossed through on dry ground." How dry?
I'm not a scientist or a meteorologist, but I speculate that if there was a
sea and God sent a wind and split the sea and told them to go in the middle
where the water had just been and was still standing up on the right and the left
as they walked through it… If they stepped into the middle of where water had just been…
Let me check your shoes really quick. I'm thinking it was muddy.
Let me check y'all really quick. I'm checking to see, because
you're quick to hear about other people's miracles,
but I found out no mud, no miracles.
Let me check. Those are nice. I'm checking. I'm just checking to see…
I know this is kind of a weird thing to do. I'm checking to see
if there's anything in your life right now that's kind of muddy,
where you're in it. I mean in it. In church, it's a time for us to remember miracles.
It is also a time for us to accept the mud that comes with the miracles. I will tell you the
truth about everybody who sits on your row. If they have a miracle, they also have some mud.
I just need you to know it so you don't feel judged by all of the perfect families
that you thought were perfect. You just haven't gotten close enough to see their mud yet.
They keep their shoes clean enough when they're around you, but if you ever saw
what was really underneath, you wouldn't feel so bad about the stuff you struggle with either.
So, yeah, I have miracles. Yeah, I have testimonies. Yeah, I have open doors. Yeah,
I have victories. Yeah, I have songs. Yeah, I have praise reports. Yeah, I have miracles, but I also
have mud. What I'm trying to say to you today is if you are in a muddy situation, if you are in the
muddy middle of a transition in your life, if you are in the muddy middle of beginning a recovery
process, if you are in the muddy middle of trying to figure out "Who am I now in my life…?"
If you are in the muddy middle of sending your kid off or having your kid back or trying to
have a kid but can't have a kid or trying to raise a kid and not kill a kid or trying to
finish a degree or trying to start a degree or trying to go back or trying to get away…
If you have some mud, I have a word for you: mud means miracle!