Brokenness = A spiritual state in which we come face to face with the reality of who we are.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:21-25 (NIV)
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:21-25 (NIV)
To walk through a THRESHOLD OF SCARY… we have to embrace a SEASON OF BROKENESS.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:7-10 (NIV)
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:7-10 (NIV)
The end of yourself is where you begin to really know God.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)
…having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha…So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” John 11:1-7 (NIV)
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” John 11:1-7 (NIV)
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. John 11:17-27 (NIV)
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” John 11:17-27 (NIV)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:17-27 (NIV)
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” John 11:17-27 (NIV)
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” John 11:38-45 (NIV)
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:38-45 (NIV)
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” John 11:38-45 (NIV)
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:38-45 (NIV)
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. John 11:38-45 (NIV)
What is your threshold of scary?
What is hanging in the balance of you crossing your threshold of scary?
Who’s life could be changed because you crossed over your threshold of scary?
