Miracles | Week 3 | Daniel Goulding | Echoes Church

death in a little boy in a mom. So it'll it'll tie in to Mother's Day a little bit. But before I get there, I gotta I gotta kind of startle all of us. Okay? I gotta kind of scar some of us real quickly because I wanna talk about phobias because all of us in this room, we have them. Now my greatest fear in the world is to walk into a room that looks like this. Okay? Like, if I were to walk into a room and that's happening, it's just like burn the house down.

I'm not going in there. I don't think God made many mistakes, but for sure, spiders were one of them. Right? Anybody else terrified of spiders in this place? K. They're the worst things in the world. I don't know why God made them. But for some of you, it's not spiders. It's this thing that my sister's terrified of. Right? I know. Snakes. You're like, welcome to Arizona. They're everywhere. Right?

And it's really funny. My sister, even to see a photo like this, would be, like, not stoked. And so we as kids tormented her. We buy fake ones, put them all over her house, put them inside her, like, bedding. Like, it was it was a real joy for her to get to be around us. Right? For some of you, it's not necessarily snakes. It's more like claustrophobia.

Right? Like, really tight spaces.

I've had buddies, like, invite me to go on, like, this hike, and you gotta go through a space like this. And I'm like, no, man. You just take photos and tell me about it once you get there. Like, I'm I'm good. You know? I don't wanna die. And the funny part is is now, like, these are all I feel like real fears, but there's now a fear that's called nomophobia,

which is literally the fear of not having a phone or not having Wi Fi. Like, it's a legitimate fear. And I'm like, we are raising the weakest generation in the history of the world. Okay? Get a real fear like spiders. Alright? Like, that's legitimate.

But the part that's funny, the reason the reason that that I start there is they've done a lot of research on

phobias and fears, and they're all connected. All of those things that we're, you know, afraid of, they're they're connected to a greater fear, which is the more universal one, is the fear of the fear of death. And really, the spiders, the snakes, the open seas, the claustrophobic moments, it's all because it connects into

this thing that we can't control called death. And I know on Mother's Day, you're like, wait, we're gonna talk about death. It's like, well, yes, because the good news of the gospel is that what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary is he actually defeated

death for us. And one of the greatest things that we need to understand as followers of Jesus is that death is supposed to be different, that we've actually been given victory over death. Paul says it this way in first Corinthians chapter 15. He says, oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?

For sin is the sting that results in death and the law gives sin its power, but but here it is. Verse 57, but thank god, he gives us victory over sin in death through our lord Jesus Christ.

See, the interesting part is that you and I, we were created in the Garden Of Eden to be eternal beings. Remember Adam and Eve had access to a tree called the tree of life? And when they would eat of that, they would live forever. We were supposed to be able to eat of that tree and live forever with God in paradise, but but what happened?

Picture and sin began to enter brokenness into what was supposed to be paradise and so god in an act of grace and mercy and compassion, he kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden Of Eden so that they would no longer have access to the tree of life. But now,

this thing called death began to enter the human experience that wasn't a part of the original design. But you gotta understand, see, we see we see death as a punishment. We see death as this really bad thing. But when you understand that what god was doing is he was actually bringing death into our broken experience

so that at some point, there would be an end to this brokenness that we live in so that we could transition back into the the second earth and begin to live with God forever in restored paradise in heaven in him with him in eternity. See, death isn't supposed to be this thing that we're terrified of, but most oftentimes,

we don't have a proper understanding of it. And what Paul is saying is that when you understand what Jesus did on the cross, victory is something that you can have over death, that we don't have to be terrified of it. What I wanna show you today in this little miracle tucked in Luke chapter seven is three simple points. K? I wanna just put my cards on the table. Here's what I hope you walk out of here with today. The first one is understanding that death does not have the final say,

and that you and I, as followers of Jesus, don't have to just succumb

to dead things staying dead. And I don't just mean physically. K? For some of us, there's finances that are dead. There's relationships that are dying. There's purpose that feels like it's dead. There's addictions that have been destroying us, and they feel like they've been decaying us forever.

Death does not have the final say because we have access to resurrection power. The second thing I want you to see that this proves to us is that if that's true and if that's real, it means that your story isn't finished,

that God is not done writing your story. It doesn't matter how bad the last couple years have been. Doesn't matter how bad the last season. Heck, last night could have been a train wreck, and yet still,

your story is not done because death doesn't have the final say. But all of this is contingent on us really believing the third thing, which is that Jesus still does miracles. The reason the miracles of Jesus are so important is because the scripture say, that Jesus is the same yesterday,

that he is today, and that he will be tomorrow. And if he was a miracle working god then, that he's a miracle working god today, and he will be tomorrow. All of that gives us the framework to get to the story. Luke chapter seven

verse 11 is where we find this story beginning. K? It says, soon afterwards, Jesus went with his disciples to a village of Nain. Everybody say Nain.

Just because it's a funny word. It's kinda like Nain. Do you remember Nain? Like, that stuff was disgusting. You, like, burn people's hair off. Like, who who don't do that. K? He went with his disciples not to Nair but to Nain, and a large crowd

followed him. K? Again, I know it's one verse, but it kind of gives us the context where we find this story. And it's important to see. Jesus is leaving and he's got a large crowd that's with him and he's headed to this random town called Nain. We don't see this verse or this town anywhere else in the Bible except this little story. Then the reason this is important is you gotta understand kinda geographically where Jesus' ministry took place. K. I wanna put a map up here to kinda give us some frame of reference.

This is the Sea Of Galilee. K. This is the area where Jesus operated in most of his ministry. On the North side is a city called Capernaum. Capernaum is where Jesus did most of his ministry. Most of the miracles we see recorded in the Bible, they're in Capernaum.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He grew up in a city called Nazareth but then when he grew up, he moved away and he went to Capernaum and that's where most of the ministry of Jesus takes place But in this story, we see Jesus introduce a new city to us and it's called Nain. The reason that this is important is again,

the city that Jesus is coming from, Capernaum, it sits about 600 feet below sea level. One of the lowest cities in the world in relation to its position in compared to sea level. Nain sits about 700 feet above

sea level, and it's almost 30 miles away from Capernaum. Here's why I belabor the point. It tells me that the story starts with Jesus

doing what your dad and grandpa told you they did on their walk to school. Right? It was 50 miles. It was uphill both ways. There was freezing cold in the snow. They had to have a hot potato to keep their hands warm, and that's all they had to eat for lunch. Right? It's this

it's this treacherous journey that Jesus is making, leaving his comfortable hometown to go to this seemingly insignificant village, and it's costing him a lot to get there. Here's why I tell you that. Jesus doesn't just accidentally stumble and end up in name.

He's going out of his way to get to this place. And the reason that it's important for us to see is because it tells me that god

god does a lot to come after you and I as well. That we serve a god that is willing to do what it takes to to reach us. I just believe that Jesus is willing to go to extreme measures for you and I. I think the story starts by telling us and introducing us a Jesus that's found in the Bible that's willing to do whatever it takes to reach his his lost and wayward and struggling children.

I think sometimes if we could peel back the layer between the physical world that we work in and we can see in and the supernatural realm that's taking place around us, we would begin to see that God is orchestrating all types of details to begin to interrupt our lives. The reason that you ended up moving to Arizona, the reason you got that job and you started talking to that coworker that had you follow this person on Instagram, you saw that one post, and you ended up in church today. Like, it's it's not random.

It is a god that is in relentless pursuit of you. It's funny. These last couple weeks, I got a small glimpse into some of the big nature of who god is. I've been kinda going through this thing of trying to really listen when the Holy Spirit nudges me to do something that sometimes can be uncomfortable.

I felt like God a couple weeks ago told me

to send my gardener some money and really invest in his story. Again, JR is an incredible guy. I hope someday you'll get to hear his story. He spent a bunch of time in prison and got out and started the landscaping business because he couldn't get a job. But he's trying to scale his business, and he was sharing with me that he's trying to get a second truck. Well, randomly, out of the blue, God kind of nudges me, hey. You should invest in this guy. So I send him some money. It's an insignificant amount of money, but I basically tell him, hey, man. I feel like God was speaking to me today about you. And I just wanted to tell you God sees you. He loves you. I think he's got an incredible plan for you. Here's some money to invest in this next thing. He sends you back this super kind message. I think that's kind of the end of the story. And then a couple days ago, when he's at my house, he's like, hey, pastor Daniel, can I talk to you real quick? And he sits out there with me and my wife, and he says, hey, That morning, man, I just I was struggling. I wasn't doing well. And so when you sent me that message, you sent me that gift, like, just it it, like, invigorated

my soul. He said, but then a couple hours later, I got a phone call from my brother that my my dad had a heart attack and died.

And he said, I I I had no idea how I would have received that news had not been a few hours later. God basically told me, see you, and I know that you're working. And I sat back and I just was like, the fact that God would nudge my heart to send me this guy a a message and just say, man, God sees you knowing full well that in a couple hours he was about to get some of the hardest news he's ever received, that God cares about him so much that he would do all of that to just remind him, I see you in the middle of this brokenness.

It tells me that you and I serve a God that is so much bigger than we often think that he is. And I promise you, if you look for his fingerprints in your life, you will see them all over. And I know we're one verse in, but I need to tell you that God loves you more than you could possibly imagine, and he is in desperate pursuit of you. I love this quote from Saint Augustine. He says it this way. He says that God loves each of us as if there was only as if there's only one of us.

He loves us as if we're the only child, the only son, the only daughter, and he is in pursuit of you even when you don't feel it. So Jesus is going

from Capernaum down to Nain. And then in verse 12, we see why Jesus would make a ten hour journey to a city that he's never been to before and we see this in verse 12. A funeral procession

was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow's only son and a large crowd from the village was was with her. See, you're reading the Bible, you gotta see there's important details in there. We start to get some color for this story. Why Jesus is making this journey? He walks in and there's a a funeral procession,

and there's a widow, a woman whose husband has died, and she's now there to gather to bury her only son.

And like, it's a it's a terrible scene even if you don't understand first century Jewish culture, but when you begin to understand their context, the story becomes even more bleak and dark because again, in first century Jewish culture, a husband would take care of his wife but when he would pass away, his fortune, his estate,

it didn't pass to like they do in our culture to his wife. It would pass instead to his firstborn son but when the first born son passes away, that money, if there's kids left, it goes to the other kids but if there's no kids left, it actually gets absorbed into the community.

It doesn't go back to the wife. So, you're talking about a woman who literally has lost everything financially. She's lost her husband. She's lost her son. If she had like a truck that broke down and a dog that died, it would be a country song in the making. Right? Like, it's just

it's a woman who's gone through just a horrendous season of life and with her is a crowd that is navigating the complexities of our human experience going, God, how can how can we say that you're good when you would let all of this stuff happen?

Why would you not intervene? And on one side of the story, there's a crowd that is there watching a widow go through the worst day of her life. And what's really interesting is then a crowd from Capernaum comes led by Jesus, and they're not led with despair and frustration and disappointment.

These are people who've been watching Jesus do all types of miracles. Some of the people who've been healed are in this crowd. So you have one crowd that's filled with despair and another crowd that's filled with great anticipation for God to do amazing things in their life. And they come smack in the center.

And I look at that and I go, that's a picture of our human experience on this side of eternity. So you think so often, we think that, emotions are just singular. It's either despair or joy. But here's the truth of what I know is potentially going on in the hearts of some of you even today on Mother's Day.

Is it there's some of you who are trying to rejoice with the children that are still alive while also grieving the child that has passed away? There's some of us who are trying to celebrate our moms while also grieving the tension of going, I I wanna have kids, but I just my husband and I can't get pregnant.

And the problem is is when you think emotions are supposed to be binary, sometimes we we can miss the opportunity of living in the tension of both despair and joy. And sometimes the co captains, the co pilots of our lives will be joy and despair together. And maybe

maybe the miracle that God wants to do in your life, it's not in spite of the tension of the feelings that you have, but it's actually right in the middle of the gravity of the difference between the things that you're experiencing in this season.

The reason that I love this story is because we see a woman on her worst day being countered by a God that would take a 10 journey to get to her because her pain matters, and Jesus is in pursuit of her. And I think sometimes you and I, when we look at situations that are similar to this, all we can see is the natural.

This is hopeless.

There's no way this gets better. Her life is just gonna be a continual downslide from here. But here's what I feel like God brought me here to tell some of you this morning that also feel because of things that you've done or things that have happened to you that you feel like you're in a hopeless season as well. I'm here to remind you that we serve a Jesus that specializes in bringing hope to hopeless situations.

We serve a god whose best days come in the middle of some of our our worst days. His specialty is bringing hope to otherwise hopeless circumstances. Here's here's how the story continues. These two crowds come colliding together, and Jesus, verse 13,

says that when the lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion, and he says, don't cry. So I think the problem is so many of us, we think that when we invite God or Jesus into our worst moments,

we're terrified that God's going to come to us and just say, you know what? You're living in what you deserve because you you did this. You're just getting what you deserve, and that god comes to us and he's he's angry, he's frustrated, or he's disappointed,

and yet this story tells us that god, when he looks at us in our worst moments, when we've done the thing that we swore we would never do, ended up going down a path that took us way further than we thought it would ever take us. When we finally wave the white flag of surrender,

the god of the universe comes and the thing that he's compelled by is not anger, it's it's compassion. It's it's the love of god that compels him to do something to us, to move towards us. And it tells me that maybe

instead of hiding the things that we're ashamed of, instead of hiding the places that we we feel brokenness, that we can actually trust that god can deal with them and that god cares about these things even if it's a if it's a disaster of our our own making. See, it's easy to look at this woman and go, yeah, of course, god would have compassion for her.

She didn't do anything. This wasn't her fault. Yet so often when we end up in pits of despair that of our own making,

we can be tempted to believe that it's just our fate to live there forever. And I'm here to tell you if your life is full of some tough moments because you've created some or you've made some poor decisions

or you've just ended up in a situation because things have happened, I'm telling you, it's the compassion of God that moves him towards you, not his anger and not his wrath. I feel like god wanted me to tell some of you here just a simple point that Jesus' heart is for you,

that god's for you. He's not mad at you. And even today, no matter how bad this season has been, no matter how bad the heck last night could have been, that God still has incredible plans for your life. And his future, his plan for you is a thousand times better than anything that you could possibly imagine.

And yet Jesus moved by the compassion of his heart towards this woman. He says something to her that you're like, wait, isn't that insensitive? At the very end, he tells her, don't don't cry.

Imagine for a moment after church today, we, like, go to a local funeral home and we find a lady whose husband died six months ago. And her son is up in the front in the casket, and she's just weeping bitterly because she she's heartbroken. Imagine if we walked up to her and said, hey. Don't cry.

Like, that would be incredibly insensitive.

Right? It makes sense if your toddler comes to you and they're crying. You're like, why are you crying? Like, because my sister kicked over my Legos. You're like, okay. Don't cry, bro. Like, there's real problems in life. Right? Like, it makes sense to say it then. But to a grieving widow who's just lost her only son who's now thinking about, what's the future in store for me? Like, I I have no idea what tomorrow holds.

Why would Jesus tell her don't cry? Because maybe

maybe Jesus knows something about her future that she didn't know that we need to know as well. See, I think this is the thing that Jesus is doing. Why he would have the audacity to tell a broken widow who's lost her son to not cry because he knew that wasn't the end of her story.

So you think sometimes what what you and I do is we unintentionally we put one of these where it's not supposed to be. See, this is this is a period. See, we say things like that the child has died, period. The cancer has returned, period.

The finances are in ruined, period. The the marriage fell apart, period. The relationship collapsed, period. And we think that's the end of the story. And maybe

maybe the reason that God would have the audacity to walk up to this woman and tell her don't cry because he knew that wasn't how her story was going to end, because he still does miracles and because death doesn't have the final say that what happens is is where we put periods, god god is thinking just a a comma.

And some of us need to stop putting stop putting periods where god has just put a comma. Here's what I mean. So you can say, yes, the relationship has end, but instead of a period, it's like comma, but God is gonna bring something healthier. Hey, the cancer might be back, but comma,

God potentially is working out a testimony in me that's going to reach generations to come. My finances might look bleak. They might literally be empty when I look at the bank account, but, comma, I'm about to watch the god of the universe open up the floodgates of heaven and begin to pour out blessing on my life.

The cancer might have returned, comma, but god's gonna do something incredible. What I'm trying to get you to see is that maybe

if death isn't the final the thing that has the final say, that maybe your story is not done too. And what you and I have to stop doing is put a stop putting a period where God has just put a comma. It's just a moment in the story. It's not the end of the story.

And if you still have breath in your lungs, it means you still have potential for tomorrow. Your story is not being done written. Here's how the story continues. Verse 14, Jesus tells this woman, don't cry, and then he walks over to the coffin and he touched it and the bearers

stopped. It is it is literally impossible for me to set up the tension of this moment that would have been there in real life. Again, you gotta remember these are these are real people, real events in real places.

This is a random rabbi that nobody knows who he is. K? He's walked here from a town with a crowd. He walks up to this woman, tells her not to cry, and then he walks over and he touches the coffin. Now again,

most of the time on Sunday mornings, I'd say 99% of the time, I'm reading out of what's called the New Living Translation, the NLT. It's a phenomenal translation because of the readability of it, but sometimes they will translate words that that aren't super

great for the translation because the the original word is not a coffin, but I know why they they use coffin because the moment you hear coffin, we can all picture it. K? You see the box. You see the people that are there carrying the coffin, but they didn't use coffins like that in the first century. They used this thing that's gonna excite some of you that was called a beer. K? Not that kind of beer. That's Irish funerals, but this type of beer, I'm Irish, so I can say that. K? The the beer that they would use is called a b I e r. K? I wanna show you a photo of it. So when they're seeing a coffin, this is what they would have been carrying.

This is a picture of what this boy would have been being carried on, open, exposed, his his body there.

And you've got a bunch of first century Jews who follow Levitical law. Levitical law is clear that you cannot touch anything that's dead. So that means that the reason that the poles have extensions away from the body so that they can all ensure that nobody accidentally

touches it. And now a random rabbi walks from nowhere, shows up, tells a woman to stop crying, and then he walks over and he touches the dead body. Like, this is a crazy person. So when it says that the the pallbearers

stop, it's like the understatement of the the world. Like, you could have heard a pin drop in this moment. Like, what is this crazy person doing?

It's enough for a Jew to touch a dead body, but for a for a rabbi to touch a dead body, this is crazy talk. And so the question that has to be asked is why is Jesus doing this? Because again, we see multiple moments in the New Testament where Jesus heals somebody from the dead and he doesn't ever touch them. He just does it by faith.

But in this scene, he walks up and he touches this dead boy,

and he begins to rewrite his whole story. And it tells me that maybe what Jesus was doing, the reason that he stepped in is because he knew that he needed to take control of the situation. He needed to let everybody know that he's in control of everything including death.

See, what Jews understood, we looked at last week the calming of the storm. They knew that the greatest force in the world was the sea, but they knew the only one that controlled the power of life and death was God.

And now he walks up to a dead thing, touches it, and we're gonna see in a second tells it to to tells him to get up and begin to live. Jesus is, I think, trying to get us to see that when when Jesus takes control of a situation, here's what's on the other side of them, miracles.

Miracles are to be expected. That's what's on the other side when you invite Jesus into a situation that feels dead. But here's where you and I have to be careful. See, our our temptation

is to do the exact same thing that first century Jews would have done with a dead body, to think that this is something that is untouchable.

And the problem, the reason that so many of us stay in situations where we're stuck for years, we stay in cycles of addiction for decades instead of just days because we are convinced

that we cannot invite anybody into this thing. And if anybody knew about this dead thing in your life, everybody would be shocked and there's no way that god would do something for you. And what I'm telling you is that you can't heal the things that you won't reveal. And as long as you keep it in the dark, it's gonna continue to have victory over you. But maybe if you can trust that addiction, you can trust that dead marriage, you can trust that failing business to the savior of the world that one touch from heaven can begin to change the entire story and you can actually begin to see victory

again. I love that Jesus walks up to him. He touches him and then look what he does. He says, young man, I tell you, get up and then as if the story wasn't crazy enough, then the dead boy sat up and began to talk and then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Like, the craziest scene in the world. Like, when I read the Bible, I'm just like, what? Could you imagine being there? Like, people would have been freaking out. Like, this kid is dead. They're carrying him. The random rabbi walks up, tells the lady, stop crying, touches the body. Now the dead kid's alive and talking. You're like, what? What is happening right now? And we're like, oh, the bible is boring. He's like, it's not boring. You're boring. Okay? Read the bible. Like, it's crazy.

And this boy just stands up and all of a sudden there's life again. There's hope again. It's all restored in an instant and it tells me that what you and I need, the cry of all of our soul, we don't need another Instagram influencer

to give us enough inspiration to live differently. We don't need a coach that we can call every day to tell us how to live better. We don't need the right cold pledging routine. Like, all of that can be great supplemental work, but here's what we all really need. We need a touch from heaven. We need the God of the universe to step into our situation, to put his hands on them, and to speak life

over them. And in one moment, things that are dead can come back to life. That's who Jesus is. That's why we do all of this stuff because we believe that Jesus is still rewriting stories today. He's still doing miracles today. And if you have things in your life that are dead and dying and are in need of resuscitation,

we serve a god that specializes in resurrection.

But you've gotta entrust him to put his hands on things that are are falling apart and dying in your life. And the wild part to me at the very end of this passage, if you see it, is that Jesus tells him, hey, speak, and he starts talking. And then he says he gives him back to his mom. It's like, well, who else was he gonna give him to? Like, the random guy? Like, it just it's one those verses like, it doesn't make sense. But it's what Jesus is saying is that part of the reason he does the miraculous is because he's restoring the order that the enemy is always constantly trying to break. See, the enemy is coming in and trying to destroy God's plan on the earth, but God is always Jesus is always coming behind and restoring

what has been broken. Here's why the the boy is given back to his mom because again, he's the mom's provider. He's the covering both spiritually

and financially over his mom and it tells me, here's what Jesus is doing in this moment that he wants to do to you and I. Yes, he wants to revive us to go from death to life, but that's not the end of the journey. That's the beginning of the journey.

But after revival happens, now there's a restoration to your purpose. See, this is where I think so many Christians get stuck is all we ask Jesus to do is to revive us spiritually, to come back to life. And then from there forward, like, it's just our job to kinda finish the role. And I'm here to tell you, here's what Jesus wants to do. He doesn't just revive you. He actually wants to redeem your life and restore your purpose.

And what you and I have to understand

is part of the reason that even Christians get stuck in the cycle of sin where it just feels like we're just white knuckling it. We're just trying to to stop doing whatever that sin is that we struggle with, and we try to get accountability partners. We try to put software on our phones and our computers. Like, all of that stuff is helpful.

But what the enemy is gonna convince you to do is to just stay on the defensive

and to just sit back on your heels and try to fight sin until you get to heaven one day, and then it'll all be over. What I'm trying to get you to see in this story is that maybe the best way to wage war with sin is to stop sitting back on the defensive and to start to live into your purpose and to begin to realize that the revival that God has done in you is to put you back in the position of going. You've got purpose. You've got a mission. You've got a kingdom to expand and people to rescue, and the enemy doesn't want you to know that when you begin to live into that purpose,

you won't have time to sin anymore. It won't just be sitting here and waging war with sin anymore. 'll be like, no. No. No. We're we're watching god do what only he can do. But if we're convinced that Christians just sit in a bunch of pews and wait until the day that Jesus calls us home and that's the totality of the Christian experience,

no wonder we keep getting our butt kicked out there. But what if god actually has a purpose for your life?

That not just me, not just the people who you think are professional Christians, but every single one of us, there's purpose in your bones. There's purpose in your DNA, and you begin to ask questions to god of, god, god, what is my what is my purpose? What if what Paul says in Galatians is actually true? That the moment you give your life to Jesus, you go from death to to life, from darkness to light, and in that moment, your life is no longer your own, that you now live a life that is in power through the resurrection, but you don't get to be the lord of your life anymore.

You now have submitted to a completely different master. But in there, there's beauty when you begin to lean into what your purpose is. Paul says it this way in Ephesians chapter two. He says, for we we are God's masterpiece. Here it is. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus.

We are new creations in Christ. That's the good news of the gospel. But why? Why does God make us new? Because here it is. So that we can sit around and do nothing and complain on social media about politics. No. It's not what it says. He says, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So you have a purpose. You have good things that you're supposed to be doing. And as long as you think that your Christian experience is encapsulated in an hour on Sunday mornings and that's it and the rest of your week is your own, I'm telling you, no wonder we keep getting our butts kicked as Christians.

But if a bunch of people sitting here that live in the East Valley Of Arizona would wake up and realize that we have purpose,

there's meaning and significance to our life and that God has not only revived us spiritually, but he's also restored us to a position of purpose, man, I'm telling you, we could begin to change things for the world. Look how the story ends. Verse 16.

It says, a great fear swept amongst the crowd, like the greatest understatement of the world. The people were terrified watching all of this. And then they praised God saying, a mighty prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people today.

And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside. Now, again, when you see the fear of God swept over the people, it's not like they were literally scared of God. It's this, like, deep sense of awe. It's one of things like when you see, like, the power of who God is,

you realize, okay, this this is not just another human like us. And that awe and wonder began to spread around the entire countryside.

I think the awe and wonder is the position that we're supposed to live our lives from. I think the reason that we stop believing for the impossible to be done, the reason we stop asking God to do miracles is because we've somehow over time, whether it's just been culturalized out of us or it's just life has taken it out of us, we've just lost our our awe and wonder.

And I'm praying and I'm asking that God would restore the awe and wonder that we have of his supernatural miracle working power again. I'm asking God to stir our community of faith, to just take our faith up another level. You know what's interesting to me with this story?

Why and how did Jesus even hear about this whole thing? This next thing I'm about to say is pure conjecture. It's not in the bible. I'm making this up, so I could be right. I could be wrong.

But it's interesting to me to think about the fact that Jesus would travel ten hours to a city that's otherwise not mentioned in the bible. Maybe the reason that he was doing it because there was one mom that was desperate in her pursuit of God to move in her life.

And the scriptures are clear that the righteous who pray, they move the heart of God. And I just wonder what would happen if we would actually begin to pray and believe that God would answer our prayers again.

I wonder how we would pray if we really believe that God, when we pray, the heart of heaven is moved. And I look at the story, what's really interesting to me to think about is that one woman was praying so earnestly for God to show up in her life,

to rescue her child who has passed away, that Jesus would hear her prayers. He would travel some ten hours to her to meet her in the middle of her mess. I also feel like prophetically today on Mother's Day, I know that there's some of you there's some of you moms who are here who are are really nervous about where your children are today.

And I just wanna tell you, don't stop praying for them.

I'm telling you without a doubt, the only reason I'm in the position that I am today, and I'm not in jail or dead somehow is because my mom and my grandma, man, that lady was a prayer warrior like crazy. She told me all the time, Danielle, I'll pray for you every day. I got a dragon tattooed on my arm. She's like, you got the mark of the beast, but it's fine. I'm gonna pray it off of you. And I'm like, I'm not sure that's the mark of the beast, but, like, okay. Well, agree to disagree there. You know? Like

but I know my life was changed because the prayers of the righteousness I'm telling you, they move the heart of God. Don't stop praying. Don't stop believing that God is going to. He's going to bring those plans to completion in some of your children. And I just wanted to tell you that on on Mother's Day. Let me get you out of here, guys. Couple points. Here's why the story matters to us. Because all of us in the story, you know who we are?

We're the dead boy sitting on the on the beer that have no ability to redeem ourselves, no ability to revive ourselves.

That's what the scripture say abundantly clear. Ephesians chapter two verse one says that once you and I were dead because of our disobedience and our our many sins. Our disobedience and our sin, it makes us dead spiritually

but this is where Paul says, here's the good news. Ephesians chapter two verse four, but god is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by god's grace that you have been saved. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ Jesus and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united

with Christ Jesus.

Paul says that resurrection power comes to us because God has come for us. He's come searching for us. And so often, we say things that are well intended. We're like, well, that's I found God five years ago. And I always wanna ask people when they say that, like, where'd you find him? You know? Like, where where was he hiding? I can tell other people where he is. Right?

I I know the intention of it. But you gotta understand that it's God that pursues us. It's not us that pursues God. The scriptures say that we're actually dead. We have no ability to seek after God. The bible says in Romans that even our our good deeds are like filthy rags in the eyes of a holy god, but the good news is is that god is pursuing all of us. And what I want you to see again, my three simple things I'm hoping you walk out of here with today is remembering

that death does not have the final sayings. There's things in your life today that are dying. They don't have to stay that way. One of the stories of Jesus that brings a guy back to life is a a man named Lazarus. And in this exchange, Lazarus' family who are really close to Jesus relationally,

even they are experiencing doubt. And they ask Jesus at some point, like, can you actually bring him back to life? And Jesus responds and gives us one of the most important verses in the Bible. John chapter 11 verse 25, Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live. Here it is, even

after dying. See, it's not that Jesus offers resurrection, it's that Jesus is resurrection.

It is in believing in him that we can see dead things come back to life. But for us to truly believe, the second thing that our story is not finished. We've got to receive a promise that is recorded in first Peter chapter one. This is what Peter says. He says, all praise to god, the father of our lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again because god raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Here's what we can get to do. He says, now we can live with great expectation.

I feel like this whole sermon was a setup to get me to this point to tell some of you sitting here today. It is time for you to turn the page and begin to live with expectation again. And I don't know what it is that's been hard. I don't know what it is that's been heavy,

but it's time for you to live a life of expectation. The people of God being indwelled with the holy spirit, we're supposed to be people who live with great expectation that our best days are still in front of us. Not because the past didn't happen, not because those things aren't real, but because the gospel is clear

that our our our future is still in front of us unlike my water bottle. Verse four verse four, says, and we have a priceless inheritance. An inheritance that is kept in heaven for you pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. Peter saying is all the things in world can fall apart in a moment.

All of our status, all of our wealth, all of our prestige. I'm telling you, you give it a couple weeks, all of that can come collapsing down. But there is a hope that is in heaven that cannot be destroyed. Nothing can take it away. And because of that, we can live with great expectation.

Yet, the question is is why are so many Christians? Why are so many followers of Jesus living with empty senses of hope? Empty senses of purpose. I I wrote it down this way and I want you to truly believe this that the power of resurrection means that nothing but the tomb is meant to be empty.

We're not supposed to be people who live empty lives, empty purpose, empty significance. No. We're supposed to be people who live life to the full. John ten ten, Life and life abundantly,

Jesus has come for us to have. But for us to really believe that our story isn't finished, it requires us to really truly believe this third thing, that Jesus still does miracles.

Do we serve a God that's the same yesterday than yesterday and he will be tomorrow? If he was a miracle worker, it means that he's still a miracle worker today. And I believe that God wants to do a miracle in your situation. Whatever it is, if it's financial, if it's relational, if it's health related,

I believe that God wants to bring a miracle into your home. But I also wanna tell you, again, to kinda shoot my shot. I know some of you are just here because your mom forced you to be here. It's Mother's Day. It's part of the contract. Like, I'm not gonna see you again for at least a year. And so I just wanna I I wanna shoot my shot while you're in this room. The greatest miracle of all that God wants to do in us, the greatest miracle that is available to us that will happen 100%

of the time when we pray for it and ask for it is the miracle of salvation.

The miracle of people going from death to life. Here's what Paul says in Romans chapter eight, last verse I have for you. He says, the spirit of god who raised Jesus from the dead, he lives in you. And just as god raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you. See, the scriptures say that you were born with eternity

in your heart. The spirit of god is alive in you. It's why sometimes you have these moments where you start to realize, man, there's something bigger to all of this. And then the scriptures begin to teach us what it means to go through the process of receiving the miracle of salvation, of being born again.

This is the beauty of Christianity is you you don't have to earn it. You you can't achieve it. It's a gift that you receive by faith. John will say almost 90 times in his gospel, here's how you go from being lost to found, from going from death to life, darkness to light. What you do is you you believe.

You put the total weight of your life on the reality that Jesus came. He lived a perfect life. He died the death that we deserve. He was hung on a cross and brutally tortured not for his sin but for my sin.

And after dying on a cross, he was put in a tomb. And two days later, he actually got out of that tomb, and today he's alive and seated at the right hand of the father. And he's been crying out to you ever since. He's been moving on your heart ever since that moment. And just like you were born once physically,

you must be born again spiritually. And to do that, you have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is lord. And when you do it, you're saved.

And I don't wanna miss this moment with with you. I think something that God is teaching me in this season is don't miss the promptings of the Holy Spirit. See, sometimes when we wait, we talk ourselves out of it. We'll go, oh, I'll do it next time. All of sudden, next time doesn't come. And for some of you right now, you you know that you know that you know that God is speaking to you.

And you need the miracle working God to intervene in your circumstance, in your situation. And I wanna give you an opportunity right now. If it's the last time I see you on this Mother's Day, I wanna give you an opportunity to surrender your life to Jesus, to bend the knee to the lordship of God,

and to watch what a life submitted to him will do. I know we're in a series about miracles and running after the supernatural, but here's what I believe more than anything. If you want supernatural in your life, start with surrender. You you can't control supernatural. You can control surrender,

and I promise you what's always on the other side of surrender is supernatural. So I'm gonna ask everybody in this room. Just close your eyes, bow your heads

as I'm eight minutes and twenty six seconds over. I just wanna create a private moment with you. The red clock is just, like, telling me, you gotta go. People need to get to lunch. Right? I just wanna create a moment right now before you leave.

I believe that there are people here that God orchestrated all types of details and situations and circumstances to get you here. And this is a moment that was marked before all of eternity began. The God that knows you better than you know yourself. He's here. He's speaking through me to you

to tell you how much he loves you.

And this is a moment for you to respond by faith to what God is speaking to you right now. If you're here and you're in this place and you've you've never surrendered your life to Jesus or maybe it's just been a really long time, you've been living your own way, and you want to right now just rededicate

who you are to Jesus.

I'm gonna ask you in just a second to respond physically to what God's doing inside of your heart. Something happens when we respond physically. It's like we by faith, we put miracles into motion. And I think some of you are gonna do that right now. I'm gonna ask you when I count to three to just right where you are with eyes eyes closed, heads bowed. Just throw your hand in the air just symbolizing, God, I'm responding to you, acknowledging that you're speaking to me. When I get to three, if that's you, you know it's you. I'm telling you, don't miss the prompting right now. One,

this is your moment. Two, don't let the enemy talk you out of this. Three, if that's you, just throw your hand up right where you are. There's hands going up all over this room. Don't be ashamed. I see your hand. Throw them up throw them up high. Let God see your faith responding to you.

Father, I thank you for every heart that's saying yes to you right now. I thank you for every person that's saying, Lord, I'm surrendering all I am to you. Father, thank you for faith rising up in this room. You can put your hands down.

If that was you, would you right now just pray a prayer with me in the quietness of your heart? I would invite all of you in this room to pray it with me. Just say, Jesus, with all the faith that I have, I acknowledge you as savior and as king.

I believe that death doesn't have the final say. My story is still being written, and you still do miracles. Right now, I acknowledge you as my lord, as my savior. I ask for you to come into my heart and set me free. It's in the mighty name of Jesus all god's people said. Amen and amen.