Come/Come Forth

🔥 COME / COME FORTH

Peter heard “Come” in the middle of a storm.

Lazarus heard “Come forth” from inside a grave.

Different situations. Same requirement:

When Jesus speaks, something has to move.

This week’s Weekly Dive is all about what happens when one word from Jesus requires a response.

Evangelist T. Lowe

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hello, and welcome to Living Life on Purpose Podcast. It's time for another weekly dive. This is your host, Evangelist Tammy Lowe, aka T Lowe, and I'm so looking forward to diving into this word with you guys today. So our topic is going to be come come forth. When one word from Jesus requires a response. So Matthew 14, 28 starts out, and Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. So he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt? Flipping on over to John chapter 11, verse 38 starts. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go. There are moments in Scripture when God gives somebody a detailed instruction, and then there are moments when he gives them almost nothing. One word, one command, one invitation. And somehow that one word carries enough authority to change everything. Peter got one word, come. Lazarus got to come forth. And the more I sit with those words, the more I realize something. When Jesus says come, something has to move. Peter had to leave the boat, Lazarus had to leave a grave. Abraham had to leave what was familiar. The disciples had to leave their nets. Again and again, when God calls someone forward, his invitation requires a response. So today I want to ask you, what happens when Jesus says come? Peter, when come calls you out of safety. Matthew 14 tells us that the disciples were in a boat in the middle of rough water. The wind was against them, the waves were moving, and sometime during the night Jesus came walking toward them on the water. Peter said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And Jesus answered him with one word. Come. That's it. No explanation, no five-step plan, no guarantee that Peter would feel comfortable. Jesus simply said, Come. And Peter climbed out of the boat. Now here's what gets me. The weather didn't change first, the wind didn't stop, the water didn't suddenly become solid. The circumstances were exactly as impossible after Jesus spoke as they had been before. The difference was that now Peter had a word. And suddenly the impossible had an instruction attached to it. The command of Jesus can authorize you to stand where circumstances say you can't. Peter was not walking on water because Peter had developed some new ability. Peter was walking because Jesus said, Come. His confidence could not be in the water. Water had never been trustworthy enough to hold him. His confidence had to be in the one who spoke. Which means Peter's real footing wasn't the water. His footing was the word. And maybe that's where somebody is today. You keep looking down, trying to decide whether the circumstances can support what God told you to do. They can't. Sometimes God calls you somewhere where your only legitimate reason for standing there is. Then Peter does something we talk about all the time. He starts sinking. Matthew says, but when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. But wait, the wind wasn't new. The wind had been blowing before Peter ever stepped out. The storm didn't suddenly appear after obedience. What changed? Peter's focus. He began with his attention on the one who said, Come. Then he started studying the conditions around him. And the conditions began speaking louder than the command. That'll preach. Because sometimes we obey God, step out, and then halfway through the assignment we start looking around. What if this doesn't work? What are people going to think? How am I going to afford this? Maybe I misunderstood God. What if I failed? But the wind you are noticing now may have been blowing when Jesus told you to step out. Don't let circumstances talk you out of the word that got you there. Come was still valid. Jesus had not changed his mind. Peter simply gave more attention to what he saw than to what he had heard. And I love Peter even here because when he started sinking, he knew what to say. Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand. Even Peter's imperfect attempt at obedience put him close enough to discover that when his faith faltered, Jesus was still there. Sometimes come means leaving what feels safe. The boat was not evil, that matters. Jesus was not calling Peter out of sin. He was calling Peter out of something reasonable. Boats belong on water. People belong in boats. Everything about staying where he was made sense, except Jesus was standing outside of it saying, Come. Sometimes the hardest things to leave are not bad things. They are safe things, predictable things, things that have worked before, things other people understand, and then God says, Come. And suddenly the place that once represented wisdom can become the place you are using to avoid faith. So here's the question. What if your boat is not something sinful? What if it is simply something you trust more than the word Jesus gave you? Wow. Let's hop on over to Lazarus. When come forth calls you out of what looked final. Now we move from Matthew 14 to John 11. Peter is alive and afraid. Lazarus is dead, not struggling, not sick, dead, buried, wrapped, stone in place, four days. The people have already moved into mourning. And as far as everyone standing around that tomb is concerned, the story is over. Then Jesus arrives. And Martha tells him that by this time there is already a stench. In other words, Jesus, this has gone too far. There are some situations we still believe God can fix because they look recoverable. But then there are situations where we start saying, that's dead. That opportunity is gone. That dream's over. That relationship can never recover. I missed my chance. It has been too long. Martha was not describing a possibility. She was describing decomposition. But Jesus was not intimidated by the evidence of death. Move the stone. Before Jesus calls Lazarus out, he says, take away the stone. Now we know Jesus could have moved it. The one who is about to call a dead man back to life does not need help moving a rock. So why tell them to move it? Because there are things God will ask us to do that are within our responsibility and our power to do before He does what only He can do. There are stones that we're responsible for moving and resurrections only Jesus can perform. We can't resurrect, but perhaps we can forgive. Sometimes we keep asking God to do the supernatural while resisting the very natural act of obedience he placed in our hands. Move the stone, have the conversation, make the call, take the step, get rid of the thing, open the door, do what he said, then stand back and let Jesus be Jesus. Then Jesus cries with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. I love that Jesus speaks to Lazarus personally. What Jesus calls for cannot remain where death put it. They wrapped Lazarus, they buried Lazarus, they sealed the tune, but they did not get the final word. Jesus did. And I wonder how many things we have mentally buried because people, circumstances, or time told us they were finished. But if Jesus is still speaking to it, it is not finished simply because you smell evidence of death. Let me say that one again. The voice of Jesus has more authority than the condition of the tomb. Peter left the boat. Lazarus left the grave. Now put these stories side by side. Peter hears come. Lazarus hears come forth. Peter is being called out of safety. Lazarus is being called out of confinement. Peter has to leave the place he trusts. Lazarus has to leave the place that held him. And that tells me, sometimes when Jesus says come, he is calling you out of your comfort. Other times he's calling you out of your confinement. One says, leave what makes you feel secure. The other says, leave what tried to become your permanent identity. Either way, come means you can't stay where you are. But Lazarus came out bound. Now this part deserves attention. John 11 says Lazarus came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes. He was alive, but he was still wrapped in evidence of the grave. That means resurrection happened before complete freedom. Oh, somebody needs that. Because sometimes we expect that when God brings someone out, every sign of where they have been should immediately disappear. But Lazarus came out alive while still wearing grave clothes. Listen, don't mistake grave clothes for death. Someone can genuinely be restored and still have things God is removing. Someone can be alive in Jesus and still be learning how to walk without what once bound them. Someone can come out of addiction and still need healing. Come out of trauma and still need their mind renewed. Come out of a broken season and still carry survival habits that don't belong in the new one. Jesus looked at Lazarus and said, loose him and let him go. The grave couldn't hold him anymore, but the grave clothes still had to come off. Coming forth was the beginning of a new process. Then I think about Abraham. When come means leaving without knowing. Genesis 12:1 says, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. Notice I will show you. Future tents. Abraham had to move before he knew the full destination. God gave him enough information to obey, but not enough information to control the journey. And there's the pattern again. Peter gets one word. Lazarus gets one command. Abraham gets direction without a map. God often gives enough word for obedience before he gives enough information for comfort. We keep asking, where exactly? How long? What happens afterwards? What if? And sometimes God's answer is simply come. The disciples left their nets. Jesus walked up to a fisherman and said, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they left their nets. Again, the call required leaving. You can't follow while insisting on staying exactly where you are. That doesn't always mean geography. Sometimes you have to leave a mindset, an identity, a habit, a level of comfort, a relationship dynamic, an excuse, a season that ended, an old version of yourself. Every come contains an invitation, but it also exposes an attachment. Jesus' invitation reveals what we are holding on to. You may not know how much you trust the boat until he calls you onto the water. You might not know how attached you are to the familiarity until he says go. You may not know how much the grave has become part of your identity until he calls you to come out of it. What has to move? So maybe the question for this entire week is not simply, is Jesus calling? Maybe it's what has to move because he called. Peter had to move, Lazarus had to move, Abraham had to move, the disciples had to move. The word demanded a response. And here is where obedience becomes personal. Because we can celebrate Peter stepping out while refusing to leave our boat. We can shout over Lazarus coming forth while staying wrapped in something Jesus told us to leave behind. We can admire Abraham's faith while demanding that God show us the destination before we take step one. But Scripture was not given merely so we could admire what they did. It was given to teach us how to respond when the same God speaks to us. When one word is enough. But there are also times when we know he has spoken. And at that point, the issue is no longer revelation, it's response. Peter asked for a command. Jesus said come. And Peter had to decide whether one word from Jesus outweighed everything the storm was saying. That's faith. You don't always need a paragraph from Jesus when one word is enough to move you. Sometimes come is enough. Peter heard come over the sound of a storm. Lazarus heard come forth from beside a grave. Abraham heard the call without knowing where he was going. The disciples heard follow me while their nets were still in their hands. Different people, different circumstances, different things to leave behind. But the same question, is his voice enough to make me move? Maybe your come is calling you out of comfort. Maybe it's calling you out of fear. Maybe it's calling you out of something you thought was over. Maybe it's calling you away from what has defined you. Maybe it's calling you into an assignment you don't fully understand yet. Whatever it is, remember, the water does not have to make sense. The tomb doesn't get the final word. The destination doesn't have to be visible. You just need to know who called you. Because when Jesus says come, the question is no longer whether the circumstances can support you. The question is, is his word enough to move you? Let's pray. Jesus, give us ears to hear when you call. Give us courage to step out when you say come. Help us release what feels safe when you're calling us deeper. Call us out of every grave, every identity, every fear, and every place that has tried to hold us beyond its season. Give us faith to obey before we understand every detail. Show us the stones we need to move, the boats we need to leave, the grave clothes we need to remove, and the steps that you're asking us to take. And when the wind gets loud, remind us of the word that called us out of it in the first place. Your voice is enough. Your word is enough. And when you say come, help us answer with our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. When Jesus says come, something has to move.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Thank you for tuning into Living Life on Purpose with Evangelist T Lo. We pray that this message was a blessing to you. If you would like to reach out for prayer or other resources, email on purpose collection at gmail.com. Remember, live today intentionally. Love people genuinely. Follow Jesus completely. Walk in purpose.