The One Thing Blocking Your Breakthrough

Do you know there are people in here today who are looking at their life and feeling like they're robbed, that God has left them, that my joy is gone, my peace is gone, my life is over, it's all done for me, it's gone, and I'm here at church and I'm dressed up in church, but I feel like I'm robbed down on the inside, and there's somebody else sitting in this same church with the worst situation, and because he has risen they have a perspective to know… Watch this. Sometimes it is not what you are looking at. It is what you believe about what you are looking at that determines how you feel when you see it. Look at it different. If you look at the stone being rolled as the evidence that someone came and stole the body, you will weep. If you look at the stone being rolled away as the evidence that his presence could not be contained in a borrowed grave, it will cause you to rejoice. So, I came to say today, change your angle. Change the angle you are looking at your life. The resurrection is more than just a cute cliché. When we say the stone is rolled, we are not simply saying God can do a miracle. We are not simply saying God can do great things. We are not simply saying God can do the impossible. We are saying that, but we are also saying there is no situation in your life, no heartbreak in your life, no disease in your life, no Devil in your life, no possession, no power, no scheme, no curse. There is nothing too big for our God. I want the whole church to praise him right now. I mean every single person in this church. I want you to look at the problem that's in your life right now. Is it really a problem or is it a platform? Is it really a problem or is it an opportunity for God to show you what he alone can do? Mary is at the tomb, and she is staring at the stone. The thing we wonder about Mary at this point is how could somebody drive seven Devils out of you and you not recognize them when you saw them? How could somebody do something so profound for you and you be blind to beholding them? At first, I thought it was because of Mary's tears that she could not see Jesus, which may have contributed to the fact that she couldn't see him. Sometimes our pain has a way of blocking our perspective. Sometimes you can't see the truth through your tears. See, if the Enemy gets you so discouraged that you believe this is all it's ever going to be, you'll never see what God is doing, because you can't see the truth through your tears. I thought that when the Scripture said that she did not recognize Jesus, she did not know it was him, that maybe she was blinded by her own tears. I thought,

how many of us are. How many of us cannot see him through our sorrow, even though he is designated by Isaiah as the man of sorrows. I thought about how sometimes in our life we trust our tears more than we trust what God tells us, and we will allow the Enemy to get us in a position, whether through depression or isolation or our sin or our addiction, that we cannot see the truth of who God is through our tears. That was a contributing factor for sure. But I also noticed in verse 1 it said that Mary went to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark. That helped me to realize a second reason she couldn't see him exactly. It's that she was in transition. It's difficult to see God through tears, and it's difficult to see God in transition. It's easy to see God when everything in your life looks like you expected it to look. It was easy for her to receive Jesus as a teacher as long as she could see the one who was teaching, but now he's risen. While him being risen will later be a reason for her to praise him, right now it's a problem, because she can't see him through her tears, and she can't see him in the transition. The way Jewish people marked time was very different than the way we mark time. See, we typically take a clock and tell the calendar when to begin a new day. The Jewish people marked the day not by a clock, but from sun down to sun down." Now, you have to think about Jesus' death. He died on Friday. He stayed dead until Sunday, but he was only there 36 hours. How do we say it's three days when it was only 36 hours? Because there were a few hours between when Jesus was crucified and when the sun went down. That counted as a full day. There was silent Saturday when the women prepared the spices and made their plans. We're going to the tomb. Even though we're sad, we're going to the tomb. Even though we don't know what comes next, we're going to the tomb. Then, of course, there was Sunday when Jesus got up, but notice what he did. He got up while it was still dark. What that speaks to me is God is moving before I know that he is. God does stuff in the dark. God does stuff in places that are unseen by you. God does things in places that are unrecognized by you. God does things in transition. How many are going through a transition right now in your life and you feel like it's hard for you to recognize God? Come on. Nod at me. Wave a pinky. Throw a shoe. Do something. Going through a transition right now. It's not exactly night. It's not exactly day. It's the third day, but it's still early. I'm in progress in this place in my life, and I have tears, and I have transition. The Bible says that while she was looking into the tomb,

not for Jesus but for a corpse… See, Mary was not looking for what Jesus was. She was looking for what Jesus had been. She watched him die on the cross. She watched him buried in the grave. Some of the reason we don't see Jesus is because of our tears. Some of the reason we don't see Jesus is because of our transition. Some of the reason we don't see Jesus is because we are trapped. We are trapped in the last way we saw him. We are trapped. We don't think he's moving because he's not moving like he used to. We don't think he's present because we don't feel him like we used to. We don't think he's guiding us because we're not going where we thought we would go. So, Mary, while stooping to look into the tomb, sees two angels where the body of Jesus had been, one at the feet, one at the head, and nothing in between. I love it, because it's a reversal of the cross. Jesus died between two thieves. When he was raised, his body had been between two angels. He's changing places. He's not gone, but he's changed places. God has not left your life. God has not left your family. God has not left your situation. God has not left you alone. God has not left you helpless. God has not left you without a comforter. He's just changing places. You're staring at a stone wondering, where did he go? But you should be staring at a stone asking, where is he at? Because the Bible says… I love the Word of God. I read the Word of God. It speaks to me. The Word of God gets down in my spirit, and it reminds me that sometimes I am looking in the wrong place for the right person. I have the right person but the wrong place, because you're looking for Jesus behind a stone. So, the man says, Why are you weeping? And she says, I don't know where they have laid him. I want to take that apart for a moment. Verse 13. I don't know where they have laid him. Help me to say it like I saw it, Lord. There are two things that are keeping Mary from seeing Jesus that might be keeping you. I don't know if you've felt lately like God isn't with me. I don't know if you've been feeling abandoned by God or if you've been doing pretty good, but there will be a season in your life where you will need Jesus and you will not see him, and you will pray, God, forgive me, and the Enemy will be telling you he can't forgive you for that. There will be a season in your life where you'll be saying, God, help me, and the Enemy will be telling you you are beyond help. When you get to that season where you

cannot see him, remember these two things about Mary. It wasn't just the tears. It wasn't just the transition. It wasn't just that she was trapped. It was this. They laid him. assumptions she's making here that are about to be proven incorrect. One is they moved him. Jesus said, "'Nobody has the power to take my life from me. I lay it down.'" So, there is no they in the world that is stronger than God. There is no they in the world. I speak this word to somebody who's dealing with rejection. I speak this word to somebody who's dealing with shame. I speak this word. I break the power of they off of your life, because it is not they that moved him. Well, that's the first assumption, that she said they. The second one is a little less evident. She said, "'I want to see where they laid him.'" I can't get off of that point. They. Jesus is the one who got up, and she's giving them the credit for moving him, and he's the one who… Stop giving the Enemy credit for stuff God is doing. Is this a good Easter message? Stop giving the Enemy credit. Jesus got up. Nobody moved him. He moved himself. Nobody held him. He stayed there as long as he wanted to. So, she said, "'Where have they laid him?' And look at the next verse. Verse 14. Having said this…" She did something so simple. She turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn't know it was Jesus. Why didn't she know it was Jesus? Her tears, her transition… Why didn't she know it was Jesus? Was he wearing a disguise? Why didn't she know? Did Jesus change all of a sudden? Did he have an S on his chest for Savior now that he's up from the grave and he used to look like a carpenter? Why didn't she know it was Jesus? Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing. Go back to verse 13. She said, "'Show me where they laid him.'" But when she saw him, he wasn't lying. He was standing. I came to announce on Easter Sunday he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I'm going to the cross,' he wasn't lying. When he said, "'They're going to mock me and put a crown of thorns on my head,' he wasn't lying. When he told them, "'I'm going to be in the ground three days,' he wasn't lying. When he told them, "'After three days I will rebuild this temple and rise from the dead,' he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I'm going to take the keys of death and hell and the grave,' he wasn't lying.'" Shove your neighbor and say he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I have all power and authority,'

he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I'm the King of kings and the Lord of lords,' he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I'll provide all your needs,' he wasn't lying. When he said, "'I am God, I am the way, the truth, and the life,' he wasn't lying. He was standing, and he's still standing, and so am I. So I celebrate Easter because I celebrate the King who didn't stay in the grave, an angel at his feet and an angel at his head, but step away from that stone. He didn't stay dead. He got up. He got up. He's standing. He's standing. Stand up on your feet and celebrate the King who stands at the center of the throne.'" I see King Jesus standing at the center of the throne looking like a lamb that has been slain.