Tuesday, April 11

In the middle - Steven Furtnick

Timely message for us all. Hope you are blessed by my notes. 

Jesus died on the cross between two common criminal. One thief mocked him, the other recognized His innocence. “We deserve this, but you don’t. When you come into your kingdom, remember me. Jesus replied “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

What really happens in the Marriage happens in the middle of it.

It’s in the middle of it all you find out what you are made of.  We do not get ruptured up to heaven once when we receive salvation. The reason why we are still here, it’s because we are to bring heaven down into our situation. Of course, God can save you in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Jesus said” Today, you will be with me in Paradise. “Marriage is not just Be married and stay married, it is a process? God is in the process. He can move in a moment, you do experience the word of God breaks your every chain, demonic bondage, weight to be lifted, life to be changed forever. It is today... He can save u in a moment, you die and you go into paradise. We deserve the cross, but we dun go to paradise the moment when we receive salvation and say the Lord’s Prayer, we are still on earth.

It’s all about the fight of faith in the middle of our life, the process. Sometimes u got saved, u dun feel u are safe or saved at all. When u are dead u go immediately to heaven, but u are alive, u got saved, u still need the saving every single day of your life. U still need saving. It’s a journey; the miracle is in the middle of your life journey.

Jesus showed up in the middle of the two disciples, Cleopas and his wife. Right in the middle of their conversation. They are not expecting the presence of Christ. He shows up in the midst of their disillusion, disappointment, heartache of all that have been happening. God will show up in the middle of it all. They walked 7 miles. They got to their destination, but Jesus continues on as if he were going further.

Luke 24:28

Many times, we feel as if god is leaving us. God appear as if he is walking away from u. he is creating a desire within u. when u draw yourself to him he will draw himself closer to u. he wants to create the faith in you, from feeling him to having him

As if..., devil trying to tell u. god have walked away, abandon. left u. tell the devil, boldly, holding on to this promise “ as if… he will leave me. In the scripture he says, he will never leave me, nor forsake me, no let go of me.  He will finish what he has started in me. He is in the middle of doing it.
When u asks Jesus to come in. be careful. He wants to take over. God is not settling for a shout out, not in the foyer, he is coming into your kitchen.

Luke 24:30

He walks into Cleopas house, sit down at the table, reach out to take cleopas bread and start breaking it. When god comes into your life, He is taking over. Today is the day of salvation; He wants to take over your desire, your imagination, and your thoughts. Salvation is Total surrender. God is in the middle of your life, not part of your life. Jesus sits down, takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it. When he takes over your life, he bless your life, the same hands tat bless your life, must be trusted to break your life too. When life tears u apart, Be sure that you are still saved in every situation, you still have your salvation. God is with you in the middle of it all.

I was saving. It happened. I will be saved; I will be with him forever. But I need him to be with me in the middle, in this life journey. His grace saves u once upon a time ago, u are not in the middle in between of His grace. The grace will get to where you need to be, it is with you right now. They sat down to eat with Jesus. While he was breaking the bread, He reveals his presence. God is in the process. “Today u will be with me in paradise”. The thief is trying to slip in when the heaven’s door is closing. It’s his desperate cry out what Jesus is really saying” He says to each one of us, not today u will be with me in paradise, but today I will be with you in the process, in the middle of it all. Even better, not I have his statement, I have his spirit, sealed with a guarantee, we have his Holy Spirit, and he is with me. We are not waiting for god to get us out of here. Christianity is not god’s cosmic evacuation plan. Christianity is all about the process. Peter knows about being in the middle. He was in the middles of the stormy sea. Here comes Jesus walking towards him. Peter thought it might be Jesus. In the middle of the storm, peter cried out. If its u, call me. He was walking on water, above what could have killed him. Waves on right n left caused him to lose focus. U are so focus to what behind u and so concern, anxious of what in front, u are missing Him, His presence, Him, God. He is the great I am, his presence is not for heaven, it is at hand, it is in the middle of your life, your storm. Peter wrote to the persecuted church,

1 pet 1:9

U are receiving the end result
One day it will be complete? U dun need to wait one day or when.
Children show us how. Adult are so goal focus. Things have to be in a certain way in order to enjoy god’s presence? When I complete I will enjoy, but it is in the middle, His grace is always available. I am riding a bike on rainy day, but my child ride through the big muddy pool. EPIC!! Mud puddle is the perfect thing riding in the rain. He is gg thru it, life is not abt…its here and the now. It’s in the mud, dirtiest, god is a gardener, he likes to get down on the ground, put  His hands in the mud, to kneel down in the dirt, He wants to be right in your disappointment, your mess, your agony. God is not gg ard that mud in your life; He is getting thru it together with you.
You are moving forward, you are right where u need to be. In order to grow into whom god wants u to be. You have the grace you need, especially in the middle of change, process, storm, fire. Stay blessed, stay in the storm, I am with u in the fire. You need the gaps to be grateful and gap that makes u grow. The grace that brought u out of darkness is with you.

He begins the good work in u will be faithful to complete it. It is not the final stop. It is just the middle. U can be sure he wouldn’t give up in the middle. Good stuff happens in the middle. Your dream is not over, we know the grave is not the end, the cross is not the end, and it’s just the middle of the gospel. The goal is in the middle. I press toward the mark, forgetting what is in the past. I will not quit, I’m just in the middle. This is not the end. It is significant, when they reach the Emmaus. Jesus reveals the scars, his presence. They turn ard. They got to the place they tot they were gg.

Luke 24:32

Our hearts are burning. In the middle.
You get it, you grow, and he shows up in the middle. In the middle of the night, jus u n pastor pillow. No one wants to text u, u will hear his voice. Whatever u is in the middle of, look at the cross. What they tot is the end, they just want to be disappointed and eat bread n sleep. They realize when Jesus was with them. It was a 7th mile miracle? Salvation is just not to get u out, it’s to get u ard, stop running from what god save u out for. Run towards what god save u for. Cleopas got up at once, in a moment, and return to Jerusalem.

It’s a strongest message of salvation. Look at the cross which he died. He died on the hill of skull. Between two thieves, the cross of salvation is in the middle. The way he died is symbolic the way we live now, I am crucified with Christ, it is not who I live now, it is Christ live in me now. Grace of god is not in your death bed, not in your pass, he is the great I am. He is in the middle cross, between the two thieves in the middle of your pass n future. Dun worry abt your future. He is with you in your middle. He is here right now, right here, with u in the middle of it all. He is with u in the middle. It’s not abt god getting u out, he wants to get in to your life, tats why he died for u on the cross... your faith is hanging between two thief. What it was, what is in the future is unknown. Glory of god is in the middle. God didn’t get them out of the fire. 7times the furnace is burnt hotter. He got in the middle with them; he is the fourth person in the fire. When they refuse to bow. 

The same grace that gets u out from darkness is the same grace that leads u onto everything god is preparing u for. See his power not in your strength in the middle. I want god’s presence in the process. He took it, blesses it, and broke it. The miracle is in the middle. Not when u gets out, but when u are in the middle of everything. In the pig pen. Same grace tat stayed with u in the pig pen is still with u, this is just the middle. God is with u. in the middle of that fiery furnace. The reason u are so drain n strain, it’s because u are at the centre, not Jesus. Peace n power, presence of god needs to be in the middle, not you.  U can’t stay there if u wan Jesus to be there.



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