Death and Life | John Challinor

Well, welcome to those of you that will be watching

this online and those of you that will be watching

this at the 930 in Prescott. You may be wondering

why you're watching a video today. It's because

I'm actually at Prescott Valley Live today and

we're just honoring what we've set up for the

summer with Prescott Valley and our location

there. And so you get a video today. So you get

to honor them and in the same time we get to...

We get to walk this together. So welcome to those

of you at 930. Welcome to those of you in the

online family, Baghdad, Paulding, at our locations.

That's you. We're grateful for you. Welcome to

those of you again in the room. Just so, so fun

to do this together, right? Like, I don't know

about you, but I love summer. Summer just brings

different rhythms. For starters, I love not having

to drive my kids to school at the crack of dawn.

Like, that's just a nice switch up in the whole

thing. Summer, the rain has been amazing. The

change in, instead of it being blazing hot, we

now have these things called monsoons that show

up. And I also love summer because some of the

rhythms, I don't know about you, some of the

rhythms I love and some of them I'm like, eh.

And it comes and goes because it messes up for

when the fall comes, right? But one of the things

I love about summer is that we, as a family,

get to take vacations. But our vacations have

turned into where are our kids right now? And

that's where we're going to plan our vacation.

So we were gone for a week. We were in Long Beach

and getting to see our kiddos. And the way the

trip was planned was our younger kiddos were

going to go stay with their older sister and

her husband for the first couple of days because

they get so excited about that. They love the

time together. And I'll be real honest with you.

I love the time with Cindy without them. OK,

so let's just be clear on that. Now, it still

exists, by the way, like time with your spouse

when you have kids. It's amazing. You know, sometimes

it feels like it doesn't exist anymore. But but

getting that getting to spend time with her.

So we got an Airbnb the first thing and we're

like sitting on a peninsula on the beach with

a book. And I'm like, I can't even read my book.

And she's like, why? Why can't you read? And

I'm like, well, there's just so much to look

at. She's like, what is there to look at? And

I'm like, there's houses and boats and like things

moving and all kinds of things to distract me.

Like little kids. You ever watch little kids

run on a beach? At some point they are going

down. You just know it. They just bounce back

up and they're in the water. And so we're sitting

there and we just get to be for a couple of days.

And that was like just. And then we moved, the

second part of it, we moved to a different Airbnb.

We kind of planned the trip kind of last minute.

And so things were a little chaotic. And so the

place we stayed in, we were upstairs. And downstairs,

somebody lived there, but they're not the person

that owned the upstairs. So it's kind of this

whole thing, right? So I decided I was going

to get up in the morning and I was going to walk

down to the pier and the beach and take a book

and cup of coffee and just sit and read. And

so I leave the Airbnb. I walk down the stairs.

And of course, I forgot something because that's

just me. So I go back up the stairs. And on my

way back up, I see something move behind the

grill. And I'm like, the neighbor has a cat.

I mean, it wasn't small. OK, so let me just clarify,

like size of a cat. I'm like, well, the neighbor

has a cat. Well, then I just stood there to wait

to see if this thing was going to come out. It

comes out and I'm like. That's like no cat I've

ever seen in my life. Take a look. I think we

have it. I mean, that guy's just hanging on.

He's just making it. I ain't never seen that

in my life. I mean, I'm not even joking. When

the thing first came out, I went, who shaved

their cat like that? And then I realized I was

looking at him like, I can get my phone. And

I'm watching. And so then I send that video to

my family and I'm like, good morning from a hardworking

mama. And so then I'm like, okay, chat, I know

nothing about what I just seen. How long do raccoons

carry their? Chat goes, possums carry their young

through adolescence. I was like, thanks, chat.

Needed that. Grateful. Oh man, it's so good.

But here's something, right? Like you see, I'm

watching this happen and I came back from my

walk and she was back in the front yard walking

through again. Looked like she'd lost a few,

so I don't know what that means. And there's

just something you feel inside. Like just seeing

it, you're like. First of all, I feel her pain

of carrying children around. You know what I

mean? Well, I don't, but if you're a mother,

you're like, I get it. Like, I look at that and

I go, that's motherhood. That's the picture of

motherhood. You feel like you're just carrying

them all the way through, right? And they just

keep hanging on. And you're like, let go. And

they keep hanging on. And I also feel just this

beauty of this moment. of our mama and our babies

and we're meant to feel. We're meant to feel.

And especially like just the idea of when we

read the scriptures, when we read a story in

scripture, understanding what is it I'm supposed

to, why does this exist in scripture? Why did

God preserve this? And there's a story in Luke

chapter seven. Some of you are like, we only

sang one song. You realize that, right? Like,

did you miss something? Because the band was

still here. I didn't miss nothing. I didn't miss

nothing. And I'll give you something. Well, I'll

tell you something in a little bit. We'll get

there. But in Luke chapter 7, there's a story.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

And I found myself asking the question, why?

Why this lady? Why this mama? Why did God, out

of all the women, That Jesus could have had an

interaction with why this one at this time. And

it says in verse 11, Luke 7, verse 11. Soon afterward,

Luke 7:11

Jesus went to a town called Nain and his disciples

and a large crowd went along with him. OK, so

the context before the story is Jesus was in

Capernaum and in Capernaum. There's a centurion,

a Roman soldier, a leader of the Roman soldiers

that came to him and he's got a sick servant.

And due to the illness of the servant, the centurion

basically gets to the point he sent people, but

Jesus is coming and he goes, hey, I don't deserve

to have you under my roof. Just say the word

and my servant will be healed. To which Jesus'

response is, I haven't seen this kind of faith

in... Faith this great in all of Israel. And

the servant is healed. The very next story is

this one. And it says that Jesus, soon after,

Jesus went to a town called Nain. I just think

sometimes words are so important that Jesus went.

There was movement from Jesus from where he was

to where this is happening. And sometimes I think

we give the wrong messages when it comes to...

comes to Jesus and it's like, you've got to come

to Jesus. You have to come to Jesus. That couldn't

be more wrong. Jesus has been coming to you the

whole time. Jesus is the one on the move. We

just get to realize he's always been moving towards

you. Right? Like sometimes we get this false

narrative of gospel of like, well, Jesus is over

there and I'm over here. And when I choose to

stop doing what I'm going to do, I'm going to

go find Jesus. I'm going to go to him. No, no,

no. Jesus comes to where you are in the midst

of what you are and finds you where you are.

Why is that so important? Because the other one

makes it a work that I do versus a work that

Jesus is doing. And it says that Jesus went to

a town called Nain. And his disciples and a large

crowd went along with him. So the picture being

given is that Jesus is going, his disciples are

going, and there is a large crowd. Okay, so on

one side of it, you've got this person who is

Jesus, who is life, who is God incarnate. And

now around him, you've got people that are following

him that are close followers, but you also have

a crowd of people. that are the extra ring around

that, if you like, that are following because

he's been doing all these moments and miracles

and they don't want to miss what could happen.

They got FOMO, basically. They don't want to

miss what's going to happen. Verse 12 says, as

he approached the town gate, a dead person was

being carried out, the only son of his mother.

So he's approaching this town. And as he's approaching

this town and he's got his crowd around him,

he's approaching and what's coming out is a death

march from this town, from this village. There's

a march of death. Death has done what death does.

Death always wants to kill, steal, destroy. Why

do we know that? Because that's what the enemy

is about. So we know that the end game of the

enemy is this idea that life would not exist

as God intended it. And so now this death march

is coming out of this village and we're told

that it's the only son. And then it adds another

layer to it, right? The only son of his mother

and she was a widow. Why this widow? There are

many other widows. If you're familiar with scripture,

Elijah, who was a prophet, and he goes to a widow

who's lost her son, and scripture specifically

says there were many other widows he could have

gone to, but he went to that one. Jesus could

have gone to many widows. Why this one? And I

think the purpose of this is that we would feel,

that we would feel what is happening in the narrative.

That we would feel what's actually happening

within the story. What do I mean by that? Well,

we're told, we're given the clue that she's a

widow. That she has already suffered loss. She's

already suffered the loss of her partner who

she thought she would build a life and a future

with. That she would grow old with. She's already

in the midst, she's already experienced, and

we don't have times, dates, we don't know ages,

we don't know at what point or why. All we know

is that the context we're given is she has suffered

loss already. And in the midst of that loss,

it says that the only son of his mother. Well,

now she's suffered complete loss. Because now

she's socially alone. I don't know how you enter

the room, but aloneness in our culture and our

time is an epidemic. Feeling isolated, feeling

unseen, feeling alone is something that in 2026

we can resonate with. She suffered complete loss

in the sense of anyone relationally that could

have been a support and that she could build

a life with is gone. So we know from that that

there's deep pain because of loss. And I, you

guys, I just, the amount of people we'll have

in rooms this weekend, the amount of people we'll

have across screens this weekend. The amount

of people that are sitting where this lady is

sitting, they go, I get it. I get it. I'm sitting

in the midst of pain. I'm sitting in the midst

of loss. And I'm sitting in the midst of what

she also loses is her future. A lady in this

culture, in this context, she would have had

her plans of how things were going to stay stable

and they've all been removed. She would have

not been able to work more than likely or find

work very easily. There wouldn't have been a

lot of opportunities. And so now she's going

to be dependent maybe on the charity of others,

if not end up begging. Her whole future just

got lost in this moment. You ever had a moment

in your life where you had your plans and you

had your future laid out and then all of a sudden

that shifts? Maybe you're sitting in that right

now that you're going, I didn't think life would

end up where it is. And I'm sitting in the midst

of an unknown future. That's where this lady

is. This lady is sitting in what is fresh grief.

How do we know that? Because we see the body

being carried out. The death march is happening.

And as the death march is happening, what we're

told by that is that he has died recently and

now has to be buried by sundown. So this is fresh.

This is not something where they've waited a

certain amount of time and that time has passed.

This is, it has happened and she is in the moment

of the pain. And all of those things are crashing

down on her in this moment. That she is now feeling

hopeless, right? You ever go to the town as you're

driving to California, it's called Hope and you

get to the other side and they go, you're beyond

hope, right? She's hit the point where she's

now beyond, beyond hope. Like why this widow?

Because there's so much here that we can connect

to. The financial struggle that she now enters

or has been thrust into. The lack of future.

The loss of social, the loss of relationships,

the loss of, And I think, I think we're supposed

to let us, let ourselves feel what this lady

is feeling to understand the story. I think sometimes

we gloss over and we go, well, she's the only

son, widow, okay. But I think we're supposed

to slow down and go, no, this is a mom that has

lost everything. And it's in that context, it's

in that context. That it says, and a large crowd

from the town was with her. What the large crowd

from the town that was with her, what that's

doing is it's actually emphasizing their pity

towards her. Now, there was a time in this culture,

it was you could hire mourners like it was. You

went out and you hired a group of people to mourn

with you for a certain amount of time because

that was appropriate. This is not who that is.

They don't believe that this was a group that

was paid. This is a group that has such sorrow

because they feel her pain that they are walking

with her. But look what they're following. They're

following death itself. It's a death march. It

is everything that death represents. And when

we talk about what's happening around us, when

we talk about death in our lives, this is what

death wants to produce. Hopelessness, loss. It

wants to put us in a place where we don't know

how we make it through. And it's in that context

that there's a crowd who are following death

along. Verse 13. When the Lord saw her, when

Jesus saw her, his heart went out to her and

he said, don't cry. When the death march is going

and they're coming out of the town and on the

other side, Jesus is coming, life is coming to

meet death head on. As life comes, Jesus sees

her. And when we say this a lot, but you guys,

we can't say it enough, that Jesus sees you today.

That whatever it is that you're sitting inside

of, whatever questions, whatever struggles, whatever

hurt, whatever pain, that Jesus, Jesus here in

Prescott, Jesus in this moment sees you and sees

where you are within your pain. That's also true

of Baghdad. That's also true of Paulding. That's

also true of the 930 gathering here. Jesus sees

you. You're not lost to him. He's got eyes on

you today. But notice, Jesus sees her, verse

13, when the Lord saw her, when Jesus sees her,

his heart went out to her. Now I've sat in counseling

enough, there's a question I absolutely cannot

stand. I love it and I hate it all at the same

time, if that's possible. I like it and dislike

it instantly. And as I'm sitting in counseling,

and at some point she goes, could you show me

physically where you feel that? And I'm like,

ah, there's the right answer. Because that's

my performer in me. And inevitably, I'll show

her where I feel the pain of the thing we're

talking about. And she goes and connects all

the dots for me of why that spot is where I would

feel it. Jesus, it says, his heart went out.

If we could ask Jesus, Jesus, where do you feel

the pain? You see this lady, where do you feel

the pain? He would say, he would point to, he

put his hand on his gut. Because the word here

is in his gut, in his bowels, in the deepest

part of who he is. He feels this lady's pain.

He sees her and he feels her pain. And then notice

what he says. Don't cry. Now that sounds completely

tone deaf to me. I'll be honest with you. She's

got fresh grief coming out. She's lost everything.

And Jesus goes, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

That would be completely tone deaf if not for

what happens next. Then he went up and touched

the buyer. They were carrying him on and the

bearers stood still. He said, young man, I say

to you, get up. He went up. He went up. Notice

what Jesus does. He went up. Jesus enters. Jesus

enters the pain. He sees and he feels. And when

he feels it, he doesn't just go, don't cry. Come

on, boys. It's a little late. Let's go to Chick

-fil -A. It's closed on Sunday. Go somewhere

else. He doesn't have something where he goes

and he sees and he moves. He enters into. Why?

Because Jesus is in the pain with you today.

Jesus is in the pain. This is theologically.

Really important that we grasp that Jesus is

in the midst of your pain. God himself is in

the midst. He's not moving away from your pain.

He's moving into your pain. Sometimes we think

God's back here like a puppet master and he's

the one causing the pain. God does not cause

pain. He uses pain. How? By stepping into the

pain with you and walking with you in the midst

of the pain. And in the midst of the pain, look

what he does. Verse 14, then he went up and touched

the buyer. Now, if you were here a couple of

weeks ago, you know where I'm going because we

had a story about a leper. If you remember the

story about the leper, he touches the leper and

leprosy should have got on him, but it doesn't

because he reverses it, right? Like it's this

whole Jesus thing. And he touches something that's

completely unclean. The buyer would have been

like, if you've ever watched soccer, this is

the best picture I got for you, okay? If you

ever watched soccer. Player goes down and he's

actually hurt. Not the ones that roll around

for five minutes. Those guys, you know, we all

hate those guys just so you know, right? This

guy's actually hurt. He broke his leg. Four guys

come on with a little drop it. He gets on. They

carry him out, right? That's the same idea as

what's happening here. There's four poles. There's

two poles. And in the midst of those poles, there's

four people carrying it. And it's kind of like

a hammock in the middle. And they're carrying

him along. The dead body is on it, which means

that this, this. buyer that he's on is now unclean

to touch. And what does Jesus do? He touches

it. He touches it. He's now scared of what death

can do. And notice what happens, you guys. The

death march, when Jesus enters, the death march

stops. It says, touch the buyer. They were carrying

him on and the bearers stood still. They stopped.

The whole entire death march stops. Why? Because

Jesus entered it. And when he touches it, he

then says, young man, I say to you, get up. Young

man, can you imagine that moment for that guy?

It says next verse, verse 15, the dead man sat

up and began to talk. What was that like? I mean.

We can imagine what it was like for everybody

else. What was it like for him? Because more

than likely, they've wrapped his body at this

point. They've washed him, wrapped his body,

and laid him on there, and they're taking him.

The grave's been dug, by the way. The grave is

there, and Jesus robs the grave. Why? Because

Jesus is a grave robber. Just so you know, Jesus

is a grave robber. Next tattoo, that's what you

can get. Jesus is a grave robber, right? Because

the grave is dug. He's on the way to the grave.

Jesus stops, and he robs the grave. Because that's

who Jesus is. The point of this whole summer

is that you would see who Jesus is. The reason

we're spending time in these stories is that

you would see Jesus for who he is and experience

him for who he is. This moment that is helpless

and hopeless, this boy, can you imagine? He's

wrapped. He sits up. He's like trying to pull

it apart to look around. He's probably like,

how'd I get here? Why are we doing this? He sat

up and he talked. They were saying in commentaries,

that's proof of the miracle. Why did he include

he sat up and he talked? Because it's proof of

the miracle. The miracle has happened. I want

you to catch something. Because up to this point

in the book of Luke, you got guys that rip open

this roof and they lower people down inside,

right? You've got that that happened. It goes,

when Jesus saw their faith, right? You got the

man, the centurion, the story before him. What

does he say? He has such great faith. I haven't

seen this kind of faith in all of Israel. There's

no mention of faith in this story. There's no

one. It's not that he comes along and he sees

the mama and he goes, oh man, her faith. It's

so great. Even through the tears, I'm going to

go. And he doesn't say that. It says that Jesus

saw her, felt her pain, moved into the pain and

created a miracle. He did it void of faith. This

is really important because we got some things

where we begin to project to one another. If

you just had enough faith, that's not what's

in this story. What is in this story is Jesus

is who Jesus is. And Jesus enters into it void

of whether there's faith or not. Why? Because

he's going to be who he is. And who is he? He

is a grave robber. And he's going to raise the

dead to life. And sometimes, sometimes we, we,

we want to project that it was someone's faith

in the story is why this happened. That is not

what the story says. Jesus was being Jesus. And

notice what he does at the end of verse 15. Jesus

gave him back to his mama. That's beautiful.

That's amazing. That's who Jesus is. Jesus restores

the things that are dead. That's who he is. That's

his whole plan. Why this widow? Because it was

hopeless. She had no hope of restoration until

Jesus. Why this widow? Because this widow had

reached a point of complete loss. And what does

Jesus do? As death is marching in all of its

power and all of it, Jesus maneuvers through

death. Why? Because he feels the pain. He goes,

he touches, he raises the dead. Why? Because

Jesus is a grave robber. He turns graves into

gardens. That's what he does. I mean, you want

to talk about a king that's worth hailing, it's

Jesus. But I got a question for you because I

believe that scripture is also supposed to read

us. I believe we're supposed to feel it and it's

supposed to read us and we're supposed to find

ourselves within it, right? That's how these

stories come to life in our life. And so I got

a question for you. Which character in this story

are you? Which character are you? And what I

mean by that is this. There's groups of people

in here. Like clearly you're not Jesus, just

so we're clear. Jesus is Jesus in the story.

Let's just set that one aside. But there's a

crowd. With Jesus. There's a crowd with Jesus,

and then there are disciples, it says. And the

crowd with Jesus are there because they're just

looking on. They got FOMO. They don't want to

miss out. It's a good place to be. It makes me

feel good. I like to see him do this. I just

wonder, are you on that outer crowd today? That

you're just following Jesus, but it's from a

distance. It doesn't cost you anything. Can I

just kind of, I'm going to be honest because

I'm honest anyways. You guys, if your faith doesn't

cost you anything, you're doing it wrong. If

it doesn't cost you something because it said

to be a disciple of Jesus, it was going to cost

you. Pick up your cross and follow me. That does

not sound like it's cheap. And there's some of

us, we're just in the crowd. We're just hanging

out. I got FOMO. I don't want to miss what they

do today because somebody might ask me about

it. Then you got those, the disciples, they'd

left everything and they're following them. They're

in. But on the other side, you have a death march.

But you realize a death march also had a crowd.

There are some of you that are following the

march of death to your death. What do I mean

by that? You're enjoying all of the things that

go wrong with having fun as the world calls fun,

right? All the ways of enticing and all the things

that the enemy loves to do and all the ways that

he loves to make things shiny for us and really

they're leading us to death. Death has a crowd

and you may be in it. You may be following things

that promise life, but they're actually bringing

death. I mean, maybe you're the mom today. And

you walk through the door and you're like, man,

I am at complete loss and it is hopeless today.

Life just hurts. The pain is overwhelming. I

need restoration. I need some kind of hope. And

what I love is here comes Jesus. If that's you,

here comes Jesus. The Jesus who is in your pain.

The Jesus who meets you there. The Jesus who

is for you. You may be one of the people who

are holding the buyer. You're carrying death

for others. You're carrying others pain. You're

carrying, you've got those in your life and you're

carrying their, and you're in the midst of the

march carrying the pain and you're tired and

it's heavy. And it's making you unclean and it's

hard and it's difficult. And you just need to

know, you just need to know that if that's you,

if that's you, just own it. That's where I'm

at. I'm tired. And I want to be honest with God

with where I'm at. There's also the son. And

you may be the son today that you need Jesus

to look at you and go, get up, get up. I came

to give you life. I came to rob. Get up. I came

to turn your grave into a garden. Get up. But

what it all begins with, whatever character you

find yourself in, and I'm going to be, I'll tell

you something in a second. As this death march

is happening, what changes the death march? is

King Jesus. There's nobody else in the story

that changes the death march. The death march

has to stop when it meets who? Jesus. This moment

has to change when it comes face to face with

life. And whatever you're in today, the beginning

point is that we just recognize this is where

I'm at, God. There may be a group of you that

it's okay. You're in the disciple crowd and you're

seeing the miracles and you're seeing the graves

being robbed and you get to celebrate today.

You get to declare all hail this King Jesus.

And you get to tell stories of how he's transforming.

But you may also be on the other side and you're

like, John, I am in the midst of the struggle.

then I want to encourage you. We're going to

worship, and the reason we're going to worship

is because what happens is you get to declare

for yourself in the midst of your pain things

that are true. You get to sit and let the words

wash over the moment that you're in. You get

to use your voice to declare, this is where I'm

at, but this is also true, that even in the pain,

he's still king. Even in the pain, he's still

a grave robber. Even in the pain, he changes

graves into gardens. Even in the pain, we'll

say all hail King Jesus. I just feel like I have

to say something. We have a habit as a church

is we just leave early. And I'm not throwing

shade on anybody. But we're going to sing a little

bit and I'm going to come back and I'm going

to wrap this thing up and we're going to sing

one more time. Please don't miss it. Because

I think God's got something for you to experience.

God's got something for you today. Where you

are, he wants to speak. And so if you would stand

in song, we're going to let God speak to us.

The Holy Spirit speak in this moment and work

right where we are and work it out for us. So

we answered the question, why this widow? But

why this town? We've seen Jesus who is. Present

in pain. The Jesus who stops the death march

in its tracks. The Jesus who is in it void of

whether I have enough faith or not. The Jesus

who robs the grave. But why this town? Why did

he choose to do it here? And sitting on that

question, the town itself, is roughly about 25

miles from the last story we had. So it's about

a day's journey. But it's kind of out of the

way. And so to go there would have been an intentional,

this place matters. And the town itself was built

into a hillside. And as it was built into a hillside,

they put a wall all the way around it so that

when it says there's a gate, there was only one

way in. and one way out of this gate. And the

picture we're given is from the village, the

town of Nain, where the word Nain in the Hebrew,

transliterated, means beautiful, delightful,

and pleasant. That this place that is named after

beautiful, what is beautiful, what is delightful,

and what is pleasant, What is coming out of it

is death. What should have been beautiful is

producing death. And what you have meeting it

on the other side is life itself. And there is

one way in and one way out. Did you get the picture

yet? Planet Earth. That God goes, it is very,

very, very good. It's very good. What's been

created is beautiful. It is pleasant. It is delightful.

And what's coming out of planet Earth? Death.

Pain, struggle, hurt. This place is nuts. And

the picture we're given is there's one way out.

And it's death. And there's one way in and you're

born. And what does God do? He goes, I'm going

to be born into what is beautiful. I'm going

to show up into what is beautiful and I am going

to stop the march of death. Once and for all,

I'm going to show up and I'm going to stop the

march of death. Why? Because I am just that good.

And the picture that's captured, I don't know

about you, but there's so many moments in my

life. One happened on Friday in my backyard.

My mouth is running towards my wife. And I know

I shouldn't be saying what I'm saying and I can't

stop it. Why? Because what should be beautiful,

this thing of marriage, that is a picture of

Jesus and his church. What's coming out is death.

But I am so thankful to know that I have a savior

who is Jesus, who is restoring. Remember the

purpose of the story is that the boy is brought

back to who? His mother. There's relational restoration

that is happening. Why? Because he is just that

good. There is restoration of life that is happening

in your life today. Why? Because he's just that

good. And I can't think of any better way to

finish. A story about Jesus who is in our pain.

A story about Jesus who is going to do it whether

we have faith or not. A story about Jesus who

showed up the one way he could, born on this

earth to be a savior to us. So if you would stand

where you are, we are going to party as we leave

the place, okay? Because he's just that good.