Miracle in the Middle – Guest Message from Pastor Michael Alexander
This past Sunday we had the joy of hosting Pastors Michael and Jasmine Alexander from Kingdom City Church in Aurora, IL. They’re not just guest speakers to us—they’re family. As Pastor Michael joked, our churches are “ping to pong,” and our five-kid families definitely understand each other.
Before preaching, Jasmine shared a brief encouragement for Pastor Jordan, calling out the purity of her heart and urging her never to lose it. That honor and affection set the tone for the whole morning: family, encouragement, and encounter.
Pastor Michael reminded us that church is meant to be enjoyed, not endured. You can go a lot of places to feel better—a vacation, a beach, a ski trip—but only the house of God offers a true encounter with the living God.
Whether it’s the Eucharist in a Catholic Mass, the preaching of Scripture in a Baptist church, or Spirit-filled worship in a Pentecostal gathering, Jesus is actively present among His people.
“You can’t carry what you don’t believe is in you.”
He affirmed what he sees in LEV:
A house of encounter
A people who host God’s presence
Pastors who are “second to none” in character and calling
Sermon in a Sentence
Pastor Michael framed the message with one simple line:
“I cannot control outcomes. I can, however, control obedience.”
Most of us get discouraged because life doesn’t turn out the way we expected. We try to control outcomes, but that’s not our job. Our role is obedience; the outcomes belong to God.
Key Texts
Hebrews 11:1–2, 8–12 – Faith as the substance of things hoped for; the story of Abraham and Sarah.
Romans 4:19–21 – Abraham did not waver in unbelief but was fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.
Twice Scripture describes Abraham as “as good as dead”—yet from him came descendants “as many as the stars of heaven and as the sand by the seashore.” God took someone who looked finished on paper and turned him into the father of many nations.
When the Middle Becomes the Loudest Part
Pastor Michael used a funny picture:
Sometimes a song gets stuck in your head—sometimes it’s enjoyable, sometimes it’s annoying.
In the same way, between promise given and promise fulfilled, the “song” that gets stuck in our heads is often:
Confusion
Doubt
Fear
Discouragement
Questions like “God, when are You going to come through?”
In that middle place, we are tempted to:
Bless our curses and curse our blessings
“Ugh, I have to go to church again.”
“These kids You gave me…”
“This job, this marriage, this city…”
We start attaching our faith more to what we want from God than to God Himself.
Two Kinds of Promises
Pastor Michael took a moment to “theologize” a bit:
General Promises (for all believers)
You have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved.
If you’re in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
Specific / Personal Desires
Example: “I want a fully loaded Escalade.”
That may be a hope, but it’s not necessarily a promise from God.
The problem comes when we:
Attach our faith to a specific outcome God never promised
Detach our faith from the character and Person of God
“Make sure your promise from God is attached to God, not just what you want from God.”
Abraham: A Miracle in the Middle
God called Abraham at 75 years old—well past the age where anyone expects new beginnings. God promised him:
“I will make you a great nation.”
“I will bless you.”
“Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven.”
And yet Abraham:
Made mistakes immediately
Dealt with family tension and dysfunction
Tried to “help” God by having a child through Hagar (Ishmael)
Walked through doubt, cynicism, and delay
Waited 25 years before Isaac was born at 100 years old
Still, God calls him a hero of faith in Hebrews 11.
The biggest battles in your walk with God are not around you, but within you.
It’s not always:
“The devil,”
“The culture,”
Or “the big bad world.”
Most often it’s the war inside your heart:
Will I trust God—His timing, His character, His plan—or will I trust myself?
Three Anchors for a “Miracle in the Middle”
To experience a miracle in the middle, Pastor Michael gave three anchors:
1. God’s Word is the Provision
“The greatest reset button in your mind and heart begins and ends with the Word of God.”
From 2 Timothy 3:16–17:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and is:
Useful to teach what is true
Shows us what’s wrong in our lives
Corrects and trains us in righteousness
Prepares and equips us for every good work
In the middle of delay, confusion, or frustration, you will have competing voices:
Your own internal commentary
The lies of the enemy
The pressure of culture
You must keep coming back to what God has actually said.
“When your idea of God doesn’t line up with Scripture, it’s not a divine idea—it’s your idea. Let Him shatter it and build something better.”
2. God’s Presence is the Power
We often assume:
“If I think harder, work harder, or plan better, I can fix this.”
But Abraham’s story shows the opposite.
When he tried to fulfill God’s promise in his own strength, he didn’t get Isaac—he got Ishmael.
Lot chose the land that looked like Eden, but forgot the real treasure of Eden was God walking with His people.
The power is not:
Our talent
Our branding
Our strategies
Our production level
The power is the presence of God with us in the middle.
“The great struggle of faith is the daily grind of denying my lower will to take up His higher will.”
3. God’s Plan is the Protection
Pastor Michael shared a deeply personal story.
At Disney, in “the happiest place on earth,” he experienced one of the darkest moments of his life. Sitting alone while his family rode a ride, he heard a thought in his own voice:
“Your family and your church would be better without you.”
That moment spiraled into months of mental and emotional struggle, trying to muscle through in his own strength. Eventually, he hit a wall.
In that season, God used LEV’s pastors to:
Encourage him
Remind him he was still in God’s plan
Help restore hope where he had let go of it
It didn’t look like the breakthrough he imagined. It didn’t feel dramatic or glamorous. But it was God’s plan protecting him, even when his own plans had fallen apart.
“What you call a mess, God calls a miracle in the making.”
Miracle in the Middle
So what do you do if you’re stuck in the middle?
Maybe it’s:
Infertility and the ache of unanswered prayers
Wayward children far from God
A marriage that feels like it’s hanging by a thread
Finances that never seem to stretch far enough
Mental and emotional battles no one else sees
Pastor Michael’s encouragement:
Keep struggling. It means you haven’t quit.
Keep clinging. It means you still believe God is in it.
Keep declaring. Let God’s Word be louder than your mess.
He reminded us of Hebrews 10:23:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
At the end of the message, he led us to declare “miracle” over our own “mess”—not because everything looks fixed, but because Jesus is in the middle.
Where you see broken, God says whole.
Where you see failure, God says forgiven.
Where you see not enough, God says enough.
Where you see mess, God says miracle.
“The miracle in the middle isn’t just what God gives you. The miracle in the middle is what God does in you.”
Final Encouragement
LEV, this word wasn’t just for a Sunday—it’s for our season.
You are in the middle of a miracle.
God’s Word is your provision.
God’s presence is your power.
God’s plan is your protection.
And He who promised is faithful.