Touré Roberts - For Us

I want us to get to a place tonight, and what a perfect opportunity for us to fall in love with Jesus all over again! I’m going to show you why. But Jesus, if you don’t do another thing, just because you’re my friend, for who you are—so, as I pray, it says, much as He is despised, Jesus didn’t have a glorious ministry. He had a glory-filled ministry, but not a glorious ministry. He was despised and rejected by men. Look at this: a man of sorrows. You would think that someone who was so good and so righteous would be happy and that life would somehow offer some sort of reciprocity for his sacrifice and for his commitment. But here’s another side of Jesus: it says He was a man of sorrows and acquainted—I might add, well acquainted—with grief. It says we hid—as it were, if it were possible—our faces from Him. See, last Sunday was Palm Sunday, and it was «Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!» Yes, our Savior’s coming! And the same people, just a few days later, were saying, «Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!» And when He went through His time of vulnerability—the time where He had to become what He had to become in order to redeem us—people switched up on Him. You—you—you haven’t been betrayed yet. I know you think you understand; you get excited when we talk about haters and that kind of stuff, but you haven’t experienced hate yet—not like Him. Not like Him. Not like Him alone. Jesus was alone. There was nobody who understood the mission like Him. It was just Him and the Father. Even the disciples—the ones that were closest to Him, even the inner three—still didn’t get it. He’s in the Garden of Gethsemane; you remember that, on His way to the cross? He’s in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He’s like, «I gotta go in here and work something out with my spirit. My spirit is troubled because I’ve got a calling on my life that nobody understands. I know you can’t do it with me, but at least pray while I’m in this moment.» I feel the Holy Spirit in ourselves right now; something’s going to be imparted unto you tonight, I sense it—the ability and the strength to become who you need to be, to lay hold of the future and the destiny that God has for you, because it is about becoming. Jesus is like, «Guys, I know you can’t go to the cross with me, but can you at least come to the garden with me and just cover me in prayer?» Any support? He goes in there and He’s sweating blood. He turns back to see His boys, like, «I’m going through, but at least if I’m going through and I’ve got my boys behind me, cover me in prayer; I’ll be okay.» He looks back, and these fools—Jesus is like, «Man, can you at least watch with me for an hour?» It happens again; He goes back, and they’re asleep. Finally, He just says, «Man, I know how to do this by myself.» He wasn’t after anything for Himself other than His destiny, but all of this was motivated by His feelings for us. And we don’t see the garden; we don’t see the prayers; we don’t see the sacrifice; we don’t see the commitment; we don’t see the blood. All we see is His life not playing out the way we thought it ought to for us, and so we turn our backs, we hide our faces. He was despised because nobody—watch this—nobody appreciates what they think is a loser. Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit, and there are some people in here who have been counted out. You’ve been counted out, and I feel the Lord. I don’t know who in the world I’m prophesying to tonight, but you have been counted out by man and counted in by God, and it’s just a matter of time. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. You say, «Well, why is it we?» Why is it we? Because humanity—all of us—to a certain degree, even now, we don’t esteem what He has done for us the way that we should because we’re looking for the next thing that He will do for us, which will always be less than what He ultimately has already done. Are you tracking with me? And as a result of it, we say, «God, I’m not going to wait for You. I’m not going to trust You because You do not seem to be unfolding in my life the way that I’d hoped.» And so what I’m going to do in this season is I’m going to hide my face from You. Haven’t we all been just a little bit guilty? A little bit guilty? Sometimes it might be failing to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, trusting that all other things will be added—but His kingdom and His righteousness now become a secondary thing. «Oh God, I must serve You when I get my money up. I’m going to serve You when I get my job. I’m going to serve You when I find my boo.» I will praise You, but I am NOT going to praise You until You bring Boaz or you find whatever your «as» might be. You know what I’m saying! That’s what I mean; whatever your «as» is. I need to move on.