The Rhythm of Resurrection | Dream Again - Part Four | Sunday Service

Let me guess sense the presence of the Lord here this morning powerfully.

Very present today.

I want to just jump right into work this morning.

Um I have some dad jokes, but I'm gonna forgo those this morning.

Some of you are thinking there is a God in heaven.

But I want to just from the outset this morning declare over your life today that dead things are coming alive again in Jesus' name.

I want to say that again.

Dead things are coming alive again in your life in Jesus' name.

One more time for those in the back of the room.

Dead things.

There's some dead things in your life that you've given up on, things you've thrown the towel in for, some things that that the wait has been so long you've quit praying for.

But just because you quit praying doesn't mean God stopped moving.

Some dead things are coming alive again in your life, and I believe some of those things are gonna happen today in Jesus' name.

Today, we're continuing our series that we began at the beginning of the year on dreams.

A couple weeks ago, Joseph showed us the journey of a dream and how that delay is really development.

That God delays the fulfillment of a dream because there's some things in us that he wants to develop so that we're ready for what he has for us.

Last week, Daniel showed us the revelation of a dream.

He showed us that just because you've received a dream doesn't mean you understand the dream.

There's a revelation that God wants to give you for the dream.

Daniel walked us through that last week, and today Jesus is going to show us how dreams are resurrected in his name.

Turn with me to John chapter 11 and stand with me as we read God's word together this morning.

John 11 · chapter mention

John chapter 11, starting in verse 1.

John 11 · chapter mention

It says, Now a man named Lazarus was sick.

He was from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha.

This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.

So the sisters sent word to Jesus.

It wasn't a long word, it was a simple word.

Lord, the one you love is sick.

The one you love is sick.

Lord, the one you love is sick.

And when he heard this, Jesus said, the sickness will not end in death.

No, it is for God's glory.

Everybody say God's glory.

It is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.

How many of you guys know that God can receive glory for everything that we walk through in our lives?

There's nothing in our lives that is off limits for his glory.

Now, Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

So Jesus loved them.

He left twice in this one passage.

The Bible indicates the depth of God's love for these two sisters and this brother.

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

Everybody say two more days.

Understand here, don't miss, don't overlook the contrast the scripture is drawing between the love of Jesus for this family and his intentional delay in spite of his love.

The Bible is contrasting something.

I'm gonna help break it down a little bit for us in a moment, but I want you to see it here in the scripture.

Jesus loved them dearly.

They send a simple message: Lord, the one you love is sick, and Jesus didn't immediately rush to their aid.

The Bible says that he waited two more days.

He waited two more days.

Now jump down to verse 17.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Everybody say four days.

Church, this is God's word, and the title of my message this morning is The Rhythm of Resurrection.

I want you to say that after me this morning.

Turn to your neighbor and say, the rhythm of resurrection.

Turn to your other neighbor and say, there is a rhythm to resurrection.

Turn around to the person behind you and say, Today is resurrection.

In Jesus' name.

Father, this morning we thank you for your word.

Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

It shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.

And I pray, Lord, this morning, that we wouldn't just be hearers of the word, but that we would be doers of it in Jesus' name.

Everybody said, You may be seated.

Thank you, Caleb.

I have a question for you this morning.

Have you ever waited for something so long?

That you stop praying about it?

Has there been an area in your life, a dream or a promise or a desire that you've pleaded with the Lord for so long and yet have not seen it come through?

So you just stopped praying about it.

Not because you you believed that God couldn't do it, but because the prayers became too painful because they reminded you that he hadn't yet done it.

Sometimes we wait so long for God to move in our lives that we simply quit praying for his movement.

This is the area where where dreams they they they don't fade, they die.

And this is where we find Lazarus in John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

The dream of his healing hasn't faded.

It's just died.

And I would dare say, if you were honest this morning, many of you are there today.

You have dreams in your life that haven't faded.

No, they've just flat out died.

Some of you have buried the dream of a marriage or restored relationship.

You've you've buried the dream of a family member coming home, a prodigal son or daughter that you've been pleading with the Lord to visit and to save, but but the weeks have turned into months, and the months have turned into years and maybe even decades.

And just the prayer for them to come home is too painful to pray because it just reminds you how long they've been away from the Lord.

Some of you have the dream of being free.

You you want, as Pastor Noah was talking about, as Pastor Meg was talking about, you have you have the dream of being free from anxiety and worry and addiction and anger and maybe even fear.

And yet you've lived with it for years, and you've resolved.

I guess this is my lot in life.

Some of you may have buried the dream of a of a purpose, of a calling, of a of a destiny upon your life.

You know God uses anybody, but it seems like he's using everybody but you.

So you've buried that dream.

I know what that's like.

As a teenager, I knew that the Lord was calling me into ministry, but I waited for almost a full decade before I entered into the ministry, and candidly this morning I had given up on that dream.

I knew that at about 16, 17 years of age, God was calling me into ministry, but I did not take that step.

God did not open that door until I was 27 years old.

And I'd given up on it and I'd laid it down and determined that wasn't the destiny he had for my life.

And then suddenly, in a very unexpected, unanticipated way, God opened a door that unlocked, that really resurrected the dream that I'd had in my life.

Church, I want to declare over you this morning before I even get into this very much, that the same Jesus that stood at the tomb of Lazarus and called him out of the grave is the same Jesus that his presence is here with us this morning, and his word is echoing down through the corridors of a time that it's time for resurrection in your life.

That the dreams that you've laid down, the dreams that you've given up on, the dreams that you've thrown the towel in, and it looks like on the surface from every perspective imaginable that it's dead, it's gone, it's over.

I'm here to tell you there's resurrection power in the name of Jesus.

And whatever Jesus speaks to has to respond.

And he specializes in resurrecting dead things.

John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

We find Jesus in one of his favorite places.

Bethany.

It's one of his favorite places because it's home to three of his favorite people.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Their house in Bethany isn't just another stop on the side of the road.

It's a place that Jesus went to when he needed rest.

It's a place he went to to get a home-cooked meal.

It's a place that Jesus went to to get refuge from the crowds.

It was a place where he wasn't just a rabbi.

He wasn't just the Messiah.

He was a friend.

This was one of his favorite places because it was home to some of his favorite people.

So when Lazarus gets sick, Mary and Martha, they don't panic.

They don't get in a dizzy.

They just send a simple message to Jesus.

They say, Lord, the one you love.

Lord, the one you love.

This one statement is filled with emotional and relational depth.

The one you love, Jesus, the one that you've spent a lot of time with, Jesus, the one that really hasn't asked anything of you, but has has made his home a place for you to retreat to.

This isn't them trying to leverage their relational connection.

It's not begging, it's just trust.

And because you love him, we know that you will come.

Why didn't you stop everything else that you were doing and run to our home?

They could have said this, which makes Jesus' delay even more unbearable.

Upon hearing the words, Jesus, the one you love, is sick.

Jesus doesn't rush to their house.

He doesn't stop what he's doing.

As a matter of fact, he just waits two more days.

I imagine to the disciples who knew the connectivity of this relationship, it had to be perplexing.

Jesus, this is Mary, Martha, this is Lazarus, this is the people that you love.

This is the people that have made their home your home.

Why are you not rushing to their aid?

If anybody deserves it, they deserve it.

I imagine the disciples were perplexed.

As they always were with Jesus' response.

The scripture says here that because he loved them, don't miss this, he waited.

See, it was love that made him wait.

Love, the Bible indicates, didn't make him rush, it made him be intentional.

He intentionally waited two more days.

Why in the world would Jesus intentionally wait two more days?

Because sometimes the miracle that we want isn't the miracle we need.

Sometimes what we think our greatest need is, isn't what God really wants to do.

And most of the time, what we think we need is less than what God really wants to do.

And that's what we we see here in this passage that Jesus delayed because he had something bigger and better in store for them.

Verse 4, when he heard this, Jesus said, the sickness will not end in death.

No, it's for what?

It's for what?

Say this deeply this morning.

For what?

It was for God's glory.

See, see, Jesus had something bigger and better in mind than just a healing and a resurrection.

No, no, he had something that would be undeniable, not just for Lazarus and the family, but it would sign the reality of his power over death itself.

So that the Son may be glorified through it.

I know this morning.

If not, all at least most of you have something in your life that you've been praying for.

And the wait and the delay has almost been unbearable in your life.

But can I declare over you this morning, the delay isn't meant to hurt you.

The delay isn't meant to take something from you.

The delay isn't because God doesn't love you.

The delay is because he has something bigger and better for you than you can possibly imagine.

The writer, Paul, in Romans chapter 8, one of my favorite verses in scripture says, God works all things, I may say all things, together for the good of those who love him.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

See, see, there's a good that you can't even begin to imagine.

There's a good that you can't fathom.

It's never even crossed your mind.

You've never even begun to uh to conceptualize the work that he's wanting to do.

Yeah, I needed healing yesterday, but maybe.

He wants to do a resurrection today.

I needed breakthrough 10 years ago.

Jesus, no, maybe there's a resurrection that's on the way that's bigger than you could have possibly imagined.

Actually, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

If you're in a delay today, if the weight seems unbearable, I want to prophesy over your life.

Don't fret, don't worry.

God's on the move, and when he moves, it's bigger and better than what you can imagine.

This is what we see here in this passage.

John chapter 11, verse 17 says, by the time that Jesus got there, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.

John 11:17

Four days mattered a lot in ancient Israel as it relates to death.

See, the ancient Israelites believed that up until the third day after death, the soul remained in the body.

But by the fourth day, death had taken full hold over their person.

There was no resurrection, there was no coming back to life again.

And so the weight of Jesus to the fourth day was incredibly intentional.

It was bigger and better than what they could have possibly imagined.

And I want to show you this morning through this story the rhythm, everybody say rhythm of resurrection.

Every resurrection in Scripture has a rhythm and it follows this rhythm.

It follows this pattern from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation.

Here is the rhythm of resurrection.

And you're gonna love number one, but but I but just hold.

All I'm gonna say is hold on to me just for a second.

Here's the rhythm of resurrection.

Number one is this every dream will experience a death.

Woo.

Every dream will experience a death.

The first rhythm of resurrection we find in Scripture is that every dream will experience a death.

The dream of Lazarus' healing experienced a death.

Later in the very next chapter, in chapter 12, Jesus is speaking about his own life, and he says this in verse 23 the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

And very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground, and what?

And what?

Come on, one more time.

And what?

It remains only a single seed.

If it doesn't die, it remains as it is, it never changes.

If it doesn't die, destiny doesn't get released.

See, the destiny of a seed isn't to remain a seed, but to become a tree.

But the tree never becomes unless the seed first dies.

See, scripture tells us that every dream first has to experience a death.

But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

If it's willing to go through a death, then it is able to transform itself into the destiny that God had in mind all along.

Anyone who loves their life will lose it.

While anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Unless we die to ourselves, we don't get to experience eternal life.

Every dream begins and experiences a death.

See, death always precedes resurrection.

It's the first step.

Let's think about this in nature.

If you have a seed, the only way the destiny of the seed can be released is if it's planted in the darkness.

It's only when a seed is planted in the darkness of the soil and it dies does it then begin to grow.

It has to die in order to grow into its purpose.

Can I declare over your life this morning that darkness that you may be going through in the dream that you have for your life, darkness isn't punishment, it's placement.

See the darkness that you go through in a dream when when it feels like it's die, this isn't punishment.

No, it's a setup for resurrection.

And so here's a key truth that I want you to want you to get.

What you call burial, God calls planting.

What we bury as dead and gone and over, nullified and no more, God says, finally, they've planted it so that now I can grow it into its full potential.

I think one of the reasons that dreams have to die is because we have dreams and the vision that we have for the dream is partial.

We never see the full reality of a dream.

Only God does.

And the only way that God can release the full destiny of a dream in our lives is when we plant it in the soil and allow him to grow it the way he wants to grow it.

Practically that means this.

Unless a kernel of wheat dies, it remains a single seed.

But if you can surrender that dream and give it back to the Lord, then He is able to grow it into the full measure of His fullness for your life.

It's always bigger and better than what you thought it was going to be.

So I want to encourage you this morning, if you're going through the death of a dream, stop viewing it as a death and start viewing it as a planting.

You're planting the seeds of the future that God has in your life.

If it's not surrendered, it can't be resurrected.

The second rhythm of resurrection, the story teaches us that is consistent throughout scripture is that every dream, every dream, every dream needs the water of your tears.

Every dream needs the water of your tears.

In John 11, verses 33 through 35, Jesus gets to Bethany.

John 11:33–35

He gets to the home of Mary and Martha.

And it says, when Jesus saw their weeping, they're weeping because their brother is dead.

And over.

And the Jews had come along with them, were also weeping.

And he, speaking of Jesus, was deeply moved in spirit, and he was troubled.

And they said, He said, Where have you laid him?

And they said, Come and see, Lord.

And they replied, and then the scripture says, Mary and Martha and those with them were not the only ones weeping, but Jesus himself began to weep over the loss of Lazarus.

I love this image of Jesus, the Bible gives us, that Jesus isn't this stoic, unemotional, detached human from the realities of life.

Jesus knows what he's getting ready to do, but he is so troubled in spirit.

That he just begins to weep with them.

What a great picture of how we should do relationships with other people.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says that we're to weep with those who weep.

We're to rejoice with those who rejoice.

And this story paints a completely different picture of our Savior, that He has been intimately touched by the feelings of our infirmities.

I'm glad today that I serve a God.

Get over it.

I'm getting ready to raise him from the grave.

Why, why, why, why are you no no?

He says, I understand.

And I feel your pain.

I think far too often we know we're we're horrible about it at funerals as believers.

Somebody is grieving the loss, and we quote the verse that Paul says all the time, well, we're not to grieve like those who have no hope, as a almost a rebuke of those who are grieving.

And this passage tells us something completely different about our Savior.

He has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

He begins to weep.

You know, I've I have found in Scripture here in this passage and in the passage that is our theme for the year, Psalms 126, the Bible talks a lot about tears, and tears don't drown seeds.

I think they water them.

I don't think your tears ruin your future.

I think your tears actually irrigate it.

Here's the key truth that I believe Scripture is trying to tell us is your tears aren't wasted.

They are watering the seeds of your future.

Let me tell you why.

Because if you're not crying over it, it didn't mean anything to you.

If when you surrender a dream, it doesn't rip your heart out, then it really wasn't a dream.

If you surrender something and it's not causing great anguish and and travail and turmoil in your heart, and you're not really weeping over it, I don't think it really mattered to you.

Because the things that we lose that matter produce tears in our eyes.

It did to Jesus.

He wept over the loss.

Why?

Because he loved him.

And his heart was rent because of the anguish that they were going through.

I want to encourage you this morning when dreams feel dead.

They're a message to the Lord, the depth of your heart for what you desired for your life, and they're irrigating your future.

The promise of Psalms 126 is those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

Listen, I know this.

If I've wept over something that I've lost, how am I going to rejoice over it when God resurrects it?

There's a direct correlation between my tears and my rejoicing.

And that's the promise of Scripture.

Oh, we may have sown some tears over what we laid down, but get ready.

There's going to be a joyful rejoicing in your life when you experience God's resurrection power in your life.

Number three, the third, third thing, third rhythm of resurrection is every dream needs the word of faith spoken over it.

What happens here in John 11, 43?

It says, Jesus called out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

Everybody say, Lazarus, come out.

Jesus spoke his word to him.

I heard theologians say this before, maybe you have too, that Jesus had to say Lazarus, because when he said to the grave, come out, everything that was dead on earth was getting ready to come out of the grave.

He said, Lazarus, come out.

What's he telling us?

It's okay.

It's okay to surrender it.

It's okay to weep over it, but we can't stay there.

We've got to take the next step beyond that and declare the word of faith over the thing that we've laid down.

And we say, come alive again in Jesus' name.

Come alive again in Jesus' name.

Come alive again.

There's things in your heart, there's things in your life that you've surrendered in your laid down.

And I challenge you in 2026 to begin to declare over them, come alive again in Jesus' name.

I declare marriages come alive again in Jesus' name.

Broken relationships come alive again in Jesus' name.

Broken bodies come alive again in Jesus' name.

Dreams and destiny come alive again in Jesus' name.

Minds that are broken by fear and worry and anxiety come alive again in Jesus' name.

If you don't speak the word of faith over it, God can't release his power to resurrect it.

We don't think things into resurrection, we speak them in the name of Jesus.

You've got to start declaring the word of faith over the thing that is dead.

It's not that.

See, faith doesn't deny death, it speaks faith anyway.

Yeah, it's dead.

But I know God deposited in my heart, and I speak the word of faith over it in Jesus' name.

This is what we see in Ezekiel.

I love the passage in Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones.

And God visits Ezekiel and says, Can these bones live?

And Ezekiel says, God, only you know if they can live.

And God says, Son, prophesy to the bones.

Prophesy to the bones.

Can I declare over your life in 2026 you need to start prophesying to the bones?

Whatever is dead, gone over whatever area of your life that you've thrown in the towel and said it's not worth it.

I'm tired, I'm weary, it's not gonna happen.

This is just who I am, and this is my lot in life.

That's a lie from the devil.

Prophesy over the dead bones of your life.

Ezekiel says, Well, God, how do I prophesy?

He said, Well, speak to the bones, then speak to the tendons, then speak to the flesh, and then speak to the breath of the living God.

What is that telling us?

It does, it means that we don't just say a word, we say words to every area that we've surrendered.

We speak life to it in Jesus' name.

What what bones, church?

What bones do you need to prophesy the word of faith over today?

Just a minute, we're gonna give you an opportunity to do that.

Fourth and final rhythm of resurrection is every dream needs a community to release it.

I saw this sometime back in Scripture, and I've been waiting to show it to you.

And today I'm gonna show it to you.

Look at John chapter 11, verse 44.

John 11:44

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face.

And Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Scripture says the dead man came out, so Lazarus came back to life.

He he was resurrected from the grave, but he was still bound.

He was resurrected, but he was still bound.

He was alive again, the dream of life had come back, but he was still bound by the strips of linen, and so Jesus then said to those around him, Now go unwrap him.

Now go unwrap them.

See, see, Jesus has the power to.

Resurrect, but it's the community's responsibility to unwrap.

Jesus resurrected Lazarus, and then he told the community around Lazarus, now you go unwrap the linen cloth.

See, see, God can resurrect a dream in your life, but you need people around you to release it.

Because the dreams that God has for our lives are always bigger than our lives, and we need people around us to help release the destiny of God through our lives.

We have a such, I talked about this last week.

I'm gonna hit it again today.

We have such an individualistic perspective in the West on everything, including our faith.

And it's not biblical.

The Bible is very, very clear.

Last week we learned from Daniel that the revelation came through community.

Today, through the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave, we understand it's the community that doesn't just bring revelation to the dream, but a release of the dream to the world around us.

Can I I implore you this morning as your pastor?

Stop trying to live this life alone.

You weren't designed to do it alone.

Everywhere in scripture, from beginning to end, God gives somebody a dream and then he puts people around that person to release the dream.

Nowhere, anywhere in scripture does anybody achieve the dream of God for their lives alone.

Jesus didn't do it.

And if Jesus didn't do it, who are we to think we can?

It's the reason Pastor Noah was talking about a moment ago.

Small groups are so important.

Get involved in community.

It's the reason that this gathering is so important every week on Sundays and every week on Wednesdays.

Why?

Because the destiny of God for your life in its fullness can't be released without the people around you.

We need each other.

I'm gonna ask my prayer team to join me to my left and to my right today.

And we're gonna pray for one another this morning.

And we're not just gonna pray, but I'm gonna declare dead things are coming alive again in Jesus' name.

Because there's resurrection power in the house this morning for the things that you've given up on, for the things that you've laid down, for the things that you've surrendered, for the things that you thought were over.

I don't know what that is for your life, but I'm declaring over your life this morning.

Come alive again in Jesus' name.

Come alive again in Jesus' name.

With every head bowed and every eye closed this morning, how many of you would say, Pastor, I've got an area of my life that if I was real honest, I would say it's dead.

It's a dream, a desire, a destiny, a hope that I've given up on.

And this morning I feel the witness of the Holy Spirit that it's time for that thing to come alive again.

With every head bowed and everybody closed, would you just raise your hand if that's your witness this morning?

Yeah, I see that hand.

I see that hand.

I see that hand.

Yeah, I see that hand.

Yeah, hands going up all across the congregation this morning.

Okay, you can look at it.

This is what I'm gonna invite you to do.

Pastor Meg and Joey are gonna lead us in a song of worship together this morning.

It's actually a song that Joey wrote from the messages that I've been preaching over the last several weeks.

And it's about dreams being resurrected.

And as he and Meg sing this over you this morning, there's some things in your heart in your life that's gonna come alive again.

But I want to ask you, don't stay in your seat, get out of your seat.

Come to one of our prayer team members and let them pray the word of faith over your life and impart it into your spirit so that the dead area of your life can begin to live again in Jesus' name.

We just stretch your hands towards heaven with me this morning.

Lord, we invite your resurrection power.

I release it over your congregation this morning.

I declare dead things live in Jesus' name.

Dead things come alive again in Jesus' name.

I declare an impartation of the Spirit of God that the wind of the Spirit of the Lord is breathing upon you today, and his breath is breathing life anew in your heart, in your spirit this morning.

Would you take a step out of your seat now and come to one of our prayer team members as they begin to sing with us this morning?