[Music] John chapter 11 verse 20- 28 this point in the text you all may be familiar with the Story of Lazarus dying and Jesus resurrecting him there’s a lot of context to this particular moment in the text but as I always do I’m going to ask that those of you who know the end of the story suspend the knowledge that you have to for a moment join Martha and Mary in the unknown of what’s going to happen sometimes when we know the ending it takes away from the impact of the process and yet when we find them in

this text they don’t know what the end is going to be I’m in John I start at verse 20 from chapter 11 Martha and Mary S for Jesus they were friends with Jesus and so when their Brother come on all the church girls are standing for the reading of the word and I know y’all’s feet hurt thank you Martha and Mary are friends with Jesus they think to themselves I’m in trouble but I have a friend who can get me out of trou trouble I can’t imagine what that was like to be friends with Jesus in such a way that you think

surely my trouble my emergency will be his crisis and he will respond they send word to Jesus but Jesus doesn’t respond and because Jesus doesn’t respond not only are they dealing with the grief of losing their brother they’re dealing with the reality that this connection they thought they had with Jesus is not as strong as they thought it was she’s trying to figure out why he didn’t respond when she reached out to him Jesus begins to head to where they are and Martha meets him there it says now

Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went and met him but Mary was sitting in the house now Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now I know that whatever you ask of God God will give you I want you to understand that when she says this she’s not saying okay God so now you can bring my brother back to life what she’s saying is I’m trying to make sense of this reality that you had the power but didn’t use the power I know that whatever you ask of God he’ll

do so I’m trying to figure out why you didn’t respond to the thing that I need and Jesus says to her your brother will rise again and Martha says to him I know that he’s going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day but I needed you to bring him back to life four days ago I needed you to keep him alive and Jesus says to her I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die he shall live and whoever lives and Believes In Me shall shall never die do you believe this she said to him yes

Lord I believe that you are the Christ the son of God who is to come into the world and when she had said these things she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister saying the teacher has come and is calling for you my subject is the moment of increase Spirit of the Living God there is no way in the world I could do this without you and even if I could I wouldn’t want to God the fact is that I got nothing but you so this is my offering I lay it all down these are your daughters take them to places only you

can take them give me Divine Insight wisdom and prophecy that makes it clear that it it is not me at all but it is you calling them to a deeper place in you God I pray that at the conclusion of this message that they will walk out lighter than when they came in that their faith will be stirred up and that me myself I will be reminded that you don’t need my plans you just need my surrender in jesus’ name I pray amen oh Lord help me early on in our lives like in the infancy stage of our life whenever there

are doctor’s visits the doctors ask certain questions and the questions are meant to check our development they ask things like is the baby’s head sitting can the baby sit up on his own is the baby able to handang handle the weight of his head is he rolling over is she scooting across the floor because what they’re looking for are Milestones of growth and development if they have these particular Milestones of growth and development it’s a sign that they are maturing biologically in the way that

they should that is usually just biological and cognitive development but then when we go to school they’re not just looking at our cognitive deel development they’re also looking at our emotional and Social Development they start looking at things like how well do you play with other children do you respond do you listen they’re checking to see are you developing appropriately for as other children in your age group are you’re sitting next to someone or maybe you know someone and they talk all the

time they didn’t just find out that they talked all the time when they were in second grade the teacher left a comment on the end of that report card that said this one got a mouth on her because as a part of their process they’re checking to see how you develop they’re checking to see do you share with others we’ve been introverted our whole lives we never wanted to be in the middle of the group we never wanted to share the toys with everyone we wanted to be by ourselves with our own snacks and with our own toys this is the way

that we have always been and there are usually signs throughout our development that shows who we are when we mature and interesting happens though when you begin checking enough boxes when you start checking off the biological boxes the cognitive boxes they stop asking these questions I don’t know if it’s around 14 15 18 but eventually they stop asking are you walking well on your own are you holding your head up anymore nobody cares if you’re developing anymore and that lasts for about two decades before the doctor starts asking

a different set of questions and some of these different set of questions are like do you have any pain in your body that feels unfamiliar do you notice that your heart rate exerts when you’re doing things that used to be easy these two are signs of development it’s just development in a different direction this level of development is trying to assess where you are on the decline trying to determine whether or not you’re moving in from a stage of stability into a stage of declining are you having any difficulty

walking or moving around this too is development and developmental research show shows us that development is not just progress often times when we he hear the word development we think about growth we think about expansion we think about increase but when researchers look at development they Define it in three different characterizations and that is growth stability and decline all of this is a part of the development process I’m either developing and growing I am developing and into stability or I’ve reached a

stage in my life where I am developing into decline what’s interesting is that there is no announcement when you move from the growth stage to the stability stage the doctor doesn’t say okay I’m going to stop asking questions about how you’re developing biologically or cognitively they just stop talking at all and then nobody says okay now you’ve reached the stage where I’m going to start asking you a different set of questions there is no announcement when you move from one stage to the

next and that’s why you often need someone to ask you questions because they know what to look for even if you don’t know what to look for because they understand what to look for they ask you the kind of questions to help you understand where you are in the development process when a doctor looks at a baby and says they’re a little behind for their age they’re able to offer intervention so that they can move them into a space of development that is more appropriate sometimes you can be increasing and not even realize it until

someone says to you you’re developing in an area but you don’t even see that development I think about Mary when Jesus was at the wedding when Jesus is at the wedding and they’ve run out of wine she nudges him she tells the servant whatever he says do and Jesus says woman my time has not come but he performs The Miracle anyway because Mary knows something about his development that Jesus doesn’t realize yet Mary knows that in Luke 2 when we come to the end of Jesus being lost in Jerusalem at

12 years old the scripture tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and Men He was growing but he also needed Mary to let him know that what you have gone through is now ready to be released into the world I want you to know that you have developed enough to release what is on the inside of you the stage has been set and sometimes you do not know that you have increase until someone lets you know that you have developed enough to move into the next stage of your destiny sometimes you don’t know it because you

get so locked into the process that you settle into development forever but there is a time where you move from growth into stability and when you move from growth into stability you may need someone to tell you that you’ve done enough reading you’ve done enough listening it’s time for you to release what’s on the inside of you I’m telling you that you have increased enough to move into the next stage of your destiny and the reason why we miss this is because in increase is often disguised increase is often disguise we

don’t always see it when we increase we don’t always feel it when we increase increase doesn’t make an announcement sometimes you just look up and you’re not who you used to be anymore because increase didn’t let me know that I was changing I was just being obedient I was just following the voice of God I really wasn’t even looking for increase I was looking for obedience I really wasn’t even looking for increase I was looking to offer myself as a Living Sacrifice I wasn’t looking for increase and that’s why you

need someone to let you know when you have increase because if not you will think that you are the same person you used to be but sometimes you need someone to let you know that you’re walking a little bit differently you’re talking a little bit differently and they’re trying to figure out what it is and you don’t even know what it is but I’m trying to let you know that you have increased that you’re not the person I remember when some of you wouldn’t have even been in this room on a Thursday

night going out of your way to be at a conference to hear about Jesus but for some reason I just had to be in the room why did you have to be in the room because I was increasing God’s been calling me into something he’s been moving me into something and I’ve increased in such a way that this is the only place I want to be I could be anywhere in in the world but for some reason I want to be in a room with a few thousand other women lifting up the name of Jesus which is crazy cuz I used to want to be out with a few hundred people

doing some things that we won’t even talk about and I can’t tell you how I went from there to this but I think God must have increased me I need someone to get a revelation in this room that this is not your first time surrendering that you have surrendered in the past and that’s why you’re in this room in the first place there are some women in this room who know a thing or two about surrender and when you surrendered God increased you on the low when you surrender God says now I can pour more

trust in you now I can pour more faith in you now I can give you more of my spirit you’re looking for financial increase I’m trying to let you know that the increase that God has done on the inside of you is better than any dollar amount that you could ever receive outside of you baby I’m stronger than I was before baby I believe God in a way I never believed God before that heartbreak was increased in Disguise that betrayal was increasing disguise I didn’t know it but it pushed me closer to God I didn’t know

it but it made me start crying out in a way I would have never cried out before increase in Disguise increase in Disguise it only looks like a problem because you don’t recognize that increase is in Disguise it only looks like they walked away from you because you don’t realize that increase has come in a disguise when the angel of the Lord comes to Mary and the angel of the Lord says to Mary blessed are you and highly favored are you amongst women she gets afraid because she doesn’t realize that this is

increase in Disguise sometimes God visits you and what makes you afraid is actually increase in disguise the bush is burning Moses turns away he doesn’t realize that it’s increase into SKU I don’t know what you’re up against right now and it may look like it’s actually up against you but I want you to understand that it is actually developing you that this is increased in Disguise I know you’re tired I know you’re weary but I want you to understand that every obstacle is an opportunity for increase my money may go

down but my faith is going to go up you don’t get to just take everything from me God if I have received a deficit show me where the increase is cuz I know you wouldn’t leave me with less than where you met me so there’s got to be increase somewhere I want to talk to somebody in this room who’s felt like they’ve been robbed who felt like something was taken from you and I want you to understand that God would not allow something to be taken from you if he didn’t know how to multiply you in such a way that what was

taken from you changes who you are on the inside and you become increased increase in Disguise it’s not betrayal it’s increase it’s hard but it’s increased it’s going to take everything you got you’re right because it’s increased and you want it to take everything you have because when God gets ready to multiply it you don’t want to have withheld anything God I’m going lay it all down I could hold half of it back but I’m going lay it all down because when I give it to you there’s

increase increase is often something that we just step into and when God sends someone to push us he’s also helping us to realize that there are some people who see you better than you see yourself and even if they don’t know who you are God knows who you are can I tell you a little something about increase in Disguise increase in Disguise will have you looking at a Shepherd boy with a lunchbox thinking that he could not possibly run up on Goliath saying to him you should go back to the field and let the big strong bold

people take care of this giant they said he wasn’t enough God says this this is increased in Disguise see there are some people who may look at their situation and think Lord this is not enough but God says you are increased in Disguise don’t expect for them to see what God sees David had more courage on the inside of him than they had muscle on the outside of them he was increased in Disguise that little boy had two fish and five loaves of bread they said Jesus we don’t have enough Jesus said that’s

more than enough that’s increase in disguise I want you to start looking at what you have to work with and recognize that you may say it’s not enough but God says I’ll take whatever you have because whatever you have is something that I can use it’s increase in Disguise something happens when we begin to recognize that it’s possible to move from one stage to another stage and never realize it I don’t know what’s scarier not realizing the moment where there has been increase in Disguise or missing the moment when I

begin to decline I think I think I’d rather Miss increase than to miss decline David this Warrior this man after God’s Own Heart would not fight a battle without asking God shall I go up some kind of way this same person who was so committed to following the heart of God finds himself in a situation where he is home from Battle and when he’s home from Battle he begins making choices that he should have never made so much so that when the prophet Nathan comes to him and tells him a story about himself

he doesn’t even recognize himself because he has been declining and doesn’t even realize it sometimes we Decline and we don’t even realize it we’re shocked to find out that while we were so busy producing so busy people pleasing so busy showing up that they were getting the results but we were getting the decline I don’t know what’s worse how does Jonah the prophet God’s mouthpiece find himself in a situation where he will not do what God told him to do he declined and didn’t even realize

it there are people in this room and they don’t even realize how much they have declined in their faith how much they have declined in their hope how much they have declined in their courage because it happened so suddenly that we don’t even know how we got there I know in a room this size is not everyone’s testimony but I don’t I know about you there have been some times where I looked at my life and I was so far off track that I couldn’t even retrace my steps moments in my life where I was so

far off track that I didn’t even realize that I was walking by sight and no longer by faith I had declined so busy having my purpose my vision my talent come to life that I didn’t really realized that I had taken ownership of something that started with God I started declining and didn’t even realize it it started off a blessing now it feels like a curse what happened when did I start declining when did I lose the honor for the thing that God gave me when did I lose the honor for this opportunity I started declining maybe I

should arrested when somebody said that they would help me maybe I should have asked for help because now I’m in a situation where I’m declining maybe I should have talked to somebody because now I’m in a situation where I’m declining maybe I should have asked someone to give me some wisdom and some insight instead of being Superwoman because now I am declining and nobody knows it because I’m still producing nobody knows it cuz I’m still showing up nobody knows it cuz I’m still singing

the songs nobody knows it cuz I came out of my way to go to woman evolv conference they think I’m here cuz I’m such a good church girl I’m here cuz I can sense I’m declining I’m not as sharp as I used to be I’m not as solid as I once want I feel myself declining I used to have power and authority but I feel myself declining I used to believe that no weapon formed against me will prosper but some kind of way I’m declining I used to believe that I could rebuke the devil and the devil would flee but some

kind of way I’m declining and the more that I decline the more quiet I become because I don’t want anybody to know that I’m declining what happened to me what happened to me when I meet martha in this text Martha is declining which is really interesting because most people would look at this text and say well she’s lost her brother of course she’s declining but when I look at this text I realize that we’re not just looking at a woman who’s grieving a person we’re looking at a woman who is

grieving the loss of her plan it’s one thing to grieve a person it’s another thing to grieve a plan yeah maybe I lost the person but at least I didn’t have a plan but this Martha she had a plan that should have saved her from being in this situation she had access to Jesus she thought to herself that though he is sick I know someone who can fix them and I got a plan I’m going send word to Jesus and I’m going to make sure that this doesn’t progress any further have you ever tried to intervene on your own

situation and your plan did not work were you I have a Divine mandate from God and I will not let anything happen on my watch and you did all of the things you knew to do but your plan still did not work she’s grieving her brother she’s grieving her plan she’s also grieving her faith oh God help me she’s grieving her brother she’s grieving her plan and now she’s also grieving her faith because loss is not just monolithic when we grieve something we’re not just grieving what we lost we’re grieving what we

believed we’re grieving what could have been we’re grieving what will never be again grief grief that is the issue with surrender I’ve been trying to figure out for the last few days how do I make surrender easy God help me to understand how I can give them a hunger and an appetite for surrender and God told me Sarah you want lie to them and tell them that surrender is easy surrender is only easy when you’re on the other side of it but when it’s time for you to lay it down surrender is grief when we find Jesus in the

garden and we get those famous words nevertheless not my will but your will be done we act like that was the final part of what he said but it’s not in Luke 22:44 it says and being in agony he prayed more earnestly being in agony he said it but he said it from a place of Agony because if you were waiting for surrender to be easy you will never lay it all down you have to be willing to to grieve that thing that must be surrendered people ask sometimes why can’t you just get over it why can’t you just get over you don’t understand that

in order for me to get over it I would have to create a memorial service for this thing I got to make preparations to lay this thing down you don’t just come into a space and lay down something that you thought would save your life something that you thought would be your destiny something that you thought would make the difference in your life you don’t just lay that down easy it takes a certain level of grief connected to that and what I love about Martha in this text when she comes up to Jesus she

asks Jesus she tells Jesus if you would have been here my brother would not have died what I hear Martha saying is if you really cared about me you would have responded to the thing I asked you to do what she doesn’t realizes that she wants to know if God cares about her but what Jesus wants to show her is it’s not that I just care about you that I want to care for you that I want you to understand that caring about you makes it seem like am I anywhere in his perspective but when you recognize that Jesus wants to care for you you

recognize that no I didn’t necessarily come when you wanted me to because I had a plan that was bigger than you could have imagined but I came right here right now because I can care for you in such a way that makes you realize that I still see you that makes you realize that I still have a plan if you could get over not being cared about you will begin to know Jesus as the one who cares for you I want to care for that broken heart I want to care for that disappointment I want to care for that discouragement how do I care for it I

want you to know that I’m coming to get it I’m coming to get that grief I’m coming to get that disappointment I’m coming to rectify the situation I didn’t intervene when you wanted me to but I did not ignore you all together because I care for you I care so much for you that I took the time to have an exchange with you but I you have to understand that Jesus did not have to tell Martha he didn’t have to have this exchange with Martha Jesus could have walked right past Martha and went straight to

the tomb and brought Lazarus back to life but because he cared so much for her even though he knows that he has a plan that’s going to help her he cared enough to take the time to hear your disappointment he cared enough to take the time to hear your discouragement I don’t need any perfect Christians who make it seem like oh he’s been good to me every single day maybe he has been good in hindsight but there have been some moments where I wondered if he was still going to be good to me there have

been some moments where I felt like he forgot me I learned after the fact that he didn’t leave me nor forsake me but in the moment I felt like he wasn’t going to show up God if you had been there I would have never been touched God if you had been there I would have never gone through that divorce God if you would have been there I would have never gone through that betrayal God says you can go through it cuz by time I get finished taking care of you you have no question about whether or not I cared about you I