Miracles | What If God Is Trying To Show You Something?

I want to welcome you.

Welcome to Freedom Church.

Man, we're so uh so excited that you're here with us.

This is obviously a big weekend for us.

It's our grand opening, and uh, I know we have, yeah, absolutely.

I know we have several first-time guests in the room as well.

I just want to welcome you as well.

Man, we've been waiting for you, we've been preparing for you, and so we're we're really glad.

And like Bethany said, we're super honored that you would come here and and uh celebrate the weekend with us and check it out and see see what it what that's all about.

I know it can always be a little bit uh unnerving to come and visit a new church.

You know, you never know what you're gonna walk into.

What do these people uh what are they doing and what are they all about?

And so anyway, like I said, we we are glad that you're here.

It's been it's been a little bit of a road.

And for all of you that call Freedom Home, you know that this has been a little bit of a road getting to uh this weekend.

You know, we moved in last weekend, and today is our official grand opening.

And uh, we've been we we've been working right up to the last minute.

And so you might say we got our CO just a little bit late.

I don't know, it just depends on your perspective, I guess.

But over the last couple weeks, we've had upwards of you know, nearly a hundred of our serve team members at any given time just coming up here and and doing all the final touches and all the last things to to get church ready.

And so, I mean, I'm super grateful for all of you, and uh and I've heard some great, some really neat stories too, just on and off over the last couple weeks, and as teams are preparing, and you know, we have some new served teams.

I love seeing some of our parking teams.

I saw some I saw I saw some of our students out there serving, and and uh if you if you're not familiar with Freedom, uh we we consider it a joy to be able to serve and to serve you, and so I just love seeing our served team, just honestly, just some all-star serve team members out there driving golf carts around trying to help people park and help you avoid the mud a little bit.

So, yeah, we're super grateful for you.

And and uh yeah, I like I said, we're we're what a gift that they are to to us.

Um, I want to say this too.

I man, what a weekend to be here.

We are starting um uh something that's that's really not new for us as a church.

We're starting uh we we call it like a spiritual journey, is the way we often talk about it.

We're starting that today.

It's called miracles.

You've probably seen some of that, or maybe you saw some books on your on your way in.

And this is not, oh, you're we're gonna pull it up.

You don't have to pull that up yet.

Give me give me one second here before you do that.

I'm just I know that's up because I'm blinded for a second.

I gotta get my vision back here.

Okay, so I I we're starting this this journey.

I I again, this is part of the culture here at Freedom Church.

This is not our first time to go on one of these journeys.

It is a new series, but it's more than that.

We are we are embarking on a season of what we would say like in intentionality.

And and today, today's kind of an introduction to this.

And so as I go along today, I'm gonna invite you to come along on this journey with us.

And there's some things that happen along this journey that that and that we say every time.

Like I said, we've been doing this for a few years, and many of you in the room have been on this one of these journeys with us before.

And it's it's it's actually rather simple.

Now, that's your cue.

There it is, right here.

There it is.

And so uh it's it's actually really simple.

It's it's it's simple, but it's it's intentional.

And it's really it's really simple.

You you attend the series, you, you, you go out, you you purchase a guide.

These are these are these are guides.

I think we're selling them for like ten dollars.

We're not making money off of them.

There, it's just literally just to cover some of the cost of the books.

This is actually written by a friend of mine, and uh, he put together a great resource, and so a friend of mine and a friend of our churches, and so we're gonna be going through this.

And and then and then we're saying, find your people, gather with your group.

And uh, and and here's what's gonna happen as you go, it's a simple process, but it's intentional.

And if you and if you go along on this journey with us, here's some things I can guarantee you are gonna happen.

You will grow relationally and you will grow spiritually.

That's that's what that's what this is, that's what this is about.

And and we know this because, well, we've done this uh a few times, and so I'm I'm inviting you to come along with us as we embark on this.

Our our groups will be gathering here in the next couple weeks.

They'll begin gathering so you didn't miss anything, you're not late for anything.

Our group finder is open right now, and so I would encourage you on your way out.

There's um there's a kiosk out there, and you can sign up for groups there, find a group.

Um you can also go to our website or our app and and uh you can find that our groups are accessible there.

We're gonna be talking all about this idea of miracles.

In fact, I'll I'll start out by by this verse.

This is out of Psalm 77, verse 14.

Psalms 77:14

It says, You are the God who performs miracles.

You display your power among the peoples.

You know, miracles are uh they're they're they're they're inundated, like the Bible is inundated with miracles, but probably not a topic we normally spend some time on.

It's not necessarily a topic we normally talk about.

So I've I've got five kids.

If you didn't know this, I got five kids, and my middle daughter, she's fun.

That's why I like this guy.

She's she's the she's fun.

You know, she's the life of the party.

She's she's out there.

We I love her.

She's just like I said, she just she's just fun.

And I remember this is a few years ago.

Christmas time was rolling around, and the kids always like to make their little, you know, their their their Santa wish list, you know.

Like, oh, Santa.

That's another story for another time, okay?

So just talk to me later, okay?

So they're making their list of Santa, okay?

And this is what they want, you know, they want what they want, all their Christmas presents.

And so now my older kids, you know, they're pretty good about this, you know.

They they're like, you know, dad, I want some new basketball shoes or something.

I'm like, oh, okay, yeah.

You know, and then my other daughter, she's real responsible.

Maybe she got like one or two things on her list.

It's like, oh, yeah, you know, and then here's my middle daughter, and she's just like, somebody say Santa, you know, and she just like she's got like 30 things on her list.

And and she just and nothing, there's nothing is off limits with her.

I mean, everything from a pony to a new house or something, you know, it's just like it's all on the list.

And and uh, and I'm just like, my goodness, I'm like, I'm like, girl, you gotta like narrow this down a little bit.

She was so confused as I'm telling her to narrow her Christmas list down.

I'm like, narrow this down, like, where's the priority here?

You know, it's just like 30 seems just as important as the first one, and and she's just so confused.

I remember the presents start showing up under the trees, and she starts counting them, and she's just like, one, two.

She's like, Santa's not real.

And I mean it just clicked.

I was like, she's she thought I thought we all just kind of knew Santa wasn't real, you know.

She she didn't realize Santa was spelled D-A-D.

She didn't know that.

So here she is, what there's not 30 things under the tree.

I think, I think this is about how a lot of us think about miracles.

I think we think like this.

Miracles are like, we're not necessarily opposed to it, but it feels like something just sort of like other.

It feels a little bit, and honestly, it can feel sometimes.

I think there's a lot of tension around how we think about miracles.

Because we kind of feel like we're just kind of making some imaginary wish list of I'm gonna ask God for a miracle, I'm gonna think about miracles.

But it but it's hard to get away from because the truth is if you call yourself a Christian, if you call yourself a a Jesus follower, if you if you believe this book, then pretty much everything you believe hinges on some miracles.

You can't get away from that.

But it feels but again, there's some tensions around this whole idea of miracles.

I think about some some ways we often think about miracles.

I think some of us we think of miracles almost like an SOS call.

Like it's it's you know what we tried everything else, but now, my goodness God, we need you to show up.

This is the moment.

Here's the other side of that coin.

You also have to be in the in a position to receive a miracle, like you got to be a candidate for a miracle.

I don't know about you, I don't really want to be a candidate for a miracle.

You know, you read a story about Israelites and leaving slavery, Egypt, and they go to a Red Sea.

Everybody knows this story.

I just heard this story at one point, and Moses comes along, and God threw Moses, he parts the Red Sea, and everyone's like, wow, can you imagine seeing that pass?

Like, I'd rather not.

Because it requires you to be at the Red Sea believing you're going to die.

And this is like, I'd just rather just not be there in general, you know?

So that's the other tension.

It's like it's an SOS call.

You also have to kind of like that.

There's some tension, you got to be a candidate for a miracle.

And I don't, again, I don't think we're opposed to it, but like I said, there's a little bit of tension with that.

Here's another way I think a lot of us wrestle with miracles.

We think of miracles almost like a as a problem to solve.

It's it's a problem to solve.

We're trying to, we're trying to figure out sort of what's the what's the formula?

What's the formula so I can maybe uh maybe produce it.

Maybe, you know, after all, we all gotta do we all gotta play our part, right?

Everyone, everyone's gotta do their part.

And so we're trying to figure out what is it?

Well, hold on a second.

I know miracles can't be for everyone.

They can't just be out there for for all the taking.

So we feel like we gotta figure out what what's my part in this exactly?

Well, because we all gotta we all gotta do our our thing.

We're trying to figure out what's what's the formula to understanding this.

I know some of us, we have some like intellectual barriers to under to like accepting miracles.

In fact, I've even heard it even said almost in a derogatory way.

It's like, oh, you're a Christian?

It's like, yeah, I'm a Christian.

So so do you actually believe in miracles?

And it's just like, well, I mean, like I said, the whole our whole faith kind of hinges on some miracles.

But just so you know, it's just like a miracle isn't somehow God coming in and breaking natural law.

That's not what it is.

I know it can look like that.

What it is is that we believe that God exists.

And therefore, he's made natural law, therefore, he has authority over natural law.

So it's not so, it's not so crazy that the God who made it actually has authority over it.

The question isn't, do you believe in miracles?

The question is do you actually believe in God?

That's really what it comes down to.

But I get it.

I I'm not, I we have some barriers.

There's some there's some tensions around this.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is this story, it's really short.

It's it's at a John 12.

We I you know what I hear this a lot.

You know, if I just saw a miracle, everything would change, right?

Come on, we've all thought this at one time.

We're like, God, you know, you showed up for them.

Why don't you show up for me?

If I just saw it, that would make all the difference in the world for me.

I love this story.

This is John 12.

It's on the screen here behind me.

He says, Father, this is Jesus praying.

He says, Father, glorify your name.

By the way, this kind of an odd prayer for us when we read this, but it made sense to them, and we don't have time to go into it, but you'll you'll see the point here.

He's praying out loud, Father, glorify your name.

Then a voice came from heaven.

I have glorified it and will glorify it again.

And the crowd that was there, they heard it.

That's listen, God speaks to you in an audible voice.

We call that a miracle.

That's kind of crazy, right?

And if you didn't hear it, you're like, I think you're crazy because you claim that God spoke to you in an audible voice, right?

But here they all are.

God speaks in an audible voice, they heard it, and they all go, thunder.

Not a cloud in the sky, but I'm pretty sure thunder is somewhere in the distance, you know.

Couldn't have been God.

I just I love that story because we assume that if God just were to show up, we assume that I just I need God to show up on exactly my terms.

And if he does, then I won't miss him.

And the truth is, is that I would be willing to bet he's probably showed up many times, but how many times have we gone, thunder?

Oh, something, something.

We just assume we're we're not gonna miss it.

People have been missing it for forever.

They've always been missing it.

Here's another way we often attention around this whole idea of miracles.

We often can see miracles as almost like a transaction.

As a transaction, like, God, I'm gonna do my part so that when I need you, you can do your part.

And I think there's two sides to this coin because I think for some of us, you come into a place like this and and you go, I don't even know if I'm really like, it's like you're gonna talk, I'm I'm here, I gave it a shot, somebody invited me, I I'm gonna, I'm I'm willing to listen, but it's just like, and I've and I've I've heard it once, I've heard it dozens of times, it's just like, yeah, but if you knew all the things that were going on in my life, if you knew all my past, if you knew what I did, I'd make you blush, preacher.

I've heard it so I've heard all that.

It's somehow like I'm not worthy of it.

And this is one of the things that we're gonna learn as we go along this journey, talking about miracles and and and and looking at the miracles that Jesus performed while he was on earth, is that if you feel a deep sense of inadequacy coming to the Lord, I want you to know you're exactly the kind of person Jesus would have come to.

That's that's the irony of Jesus' miracles.

He repeatedly comes to people who feel entirely inadequate to be in the presence of God.

But there's the other side of the coin because some of us, some of us, we're like, no, I think I'm pretty good, actually.

I've been following the Lord for a long time.

I've been faithful to go to church.

And then you're like, now I need a miracle.

There you are.

You're you're you're at it's SOS call, right?

And you're going, I need a miracle.

And what if what do you do when God doesn't come through for you?

Or at least it doesn't look like he did.

What do you do when you feel like you're not reading your miracle?

God, I've been faithful, I've been doing my I've been doing my part.

I go to church, I read the Bible.

My goodness, I even invited people for grand opening, and I needed a miracle.

And God doesn't seem to be coming through.

Again, we think of miracles like a transaction.

Again, is God gonna I hold up my deal while you hold up your your deal?

I want to challenge you with this idea.

I want to challenge you around the tension of miracles.

I by the way, I'm not opposed to the tension.

I I think you might as well voice some of the tension.

You might as well not just sit on it.

Some of my favorite conversations I've had with my my kids.

Back to my middle daughter, one of my favorite conversations I've I've had with her, who's fairly recent.

She comes up to me.

When we've said this to all of our kids, when they're scared at night, when we always say, hey, say your say your memory verse.

Not because it's a magic spell.

We we're like, remind yourself that God is with you and you don't have to be afraid.

There you go.

That's a pro-parenting move right there for you.

We tell our kids, say this verse at night so you don't, you know, remind yourself.

And then, and I love it because my my my fun daughter, right?

She comes to me one night and she and I said, and I tell her this.

And she goes, she looks at me, just and she's as serious as could be.

She looks at me, she's just disgusted that I said this to her again.

She goes, What is that supposed to do for me?

That's what's like, I was like, What are you?

It's supposed to remind you.

And she's like, What is he invisible or something?

He's like, What's that gonna do me?

I need I he needs to be here.

I need she like she wants a bouncer in the room.

She's like, it's scary.

I need a bouncer at my door.

Like, that's how she is.

I'm like, yeah.

She's like, You're telling me he's here.

I don't see him.

Yeah, where is I love that.

I'm not gonna lie.

I love those questions.

I love that challenge.

I love that.

And so I would say this when you have tensions around God, when you have tensions around your faith, and as we go through this series, this is what I'm gonna encourage you to do with the tension around this topic of miracles, is allow the tension to pull you closer to the story of Jesus.

Allow that, allow that don't you don't have to run from the tension.

And just because you don't know the answer doesn't mean there isn't an answer.

Just because you don't know how to respond doesn't mean that that there isn't a response.

But allow the tension to pull you closer, closer to the story of Jesus.

This series, this this journey that we're about to go on is not a series, it's not a journey about how to secure your miracle.

That's not what this is.

It's it's a it's a series, it's a it's a it's a journey about seeing Jesus clearly.

And and this is what you need to know is that the early church, 2,000 years ago, they had some clarity around this topic of miracles.

By the way, this is what happens when when Jesus arrives on the scene.

He has this way of clarifying things.

That's one of the ways, you know, if you're confused around the topic, it's because you're not actually seeing Jesus in the topic.

You're not actually seeing Jesus.

When Jesus arrives on the scene, he has this way of clarifying things for us.

And this is what's gonna happen through this series.

And I love it because the early church, there's a story in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

If you got your Bibles, we're gonna go there here in just a moment.

Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And and Jesus at this point has he lived, he died, he rose again.

People saw him, they saw him for four miracles, he's ascended.

He said, It's better that I leave.

It's better that I leave that I'm not here with you because when he's here, he's just one person.

And and as one person, he can't be in multiple places at the same time.

And he says, So I'm gonna leave, and it's better for you because when I leave, I'm gonna send my Holy Spirit, and now all of us are going to be able to experience the presence of God, regardless of where we're at.

I'm gonna I'm gonna send my spirit upon you.

And so Jesus does this.

He he ascends, he leaves, and then sometime later, several weeks later, the Holy Spirit descends on the early church, and it's amazing.

People can't believe what's happening, like people's lives are beginning to change.

People are experiencing the presence of God in a way that was never accessible before this, and so here they are, and they have this moment because people want to know what is going on with the crazy people.

That's what they really want to know.

This church is a little bit crazy, and they want to know what's going on.

And I love this because this guy named Peter, he speaks up and he says this in Acts 2, verse 22.

Acts 2:22

Look what he he says to them.

He says, You fellow Israelites, he says, Listen to this.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs.

By the way, he he didn't do miracles because he needs to justify himself.

He needs to, it's not about that, it's for you.

That's why he does this.

He does it for you, for me, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

And I want you to see because I don't have time to read the this entire thing.

He spends the next 15 verses going, you you saw it.

You saw this Jesus, you've heard the stories, many of you saw the story, you saw what he did.

And then this is where it's leading because for a lot of people they're looking for something.

Like many of us, they're looking for something.

These people were looking for something, and they had some expectations as to what it is supposed to be like when God shows up on the scene.

And he spends the next 15 verses saying, You expected him to be the God who shows up and makes your nation great.

You expected him to show up and be the one who conquers all your enemies for you in the here and the now.

And he spends the next 15 verses and he says, actually, the God who performed miracles so that you can see that he is not just some weak God.

He actually comes in power, he actually comes in miracles and wonders and signs, signs pointing to something.

Pointing to what?

That he's not the God that came to conquer your enemies, he actually was willing to be conquered, and one day, one day he'll he'll conquer, one day he'll establish that.

But he says, I he says, this God, this Jesus, has come in power.

He lived for you, he died for you, he died for your sins.

You thought the problem was all the exterior stuff.

He says, actually, the problem was your sin, and he comes to the end of it.

And he and and the people are hearing this and they're going, Oh my goodness, I thought it was supposed to be this, and it turns out it was something else entirely.

And he lays out the gospel message to them, and I love how they respond because they look up at him and they go, What is it?

So what are we supposed to do?

If we've missed it, is it too late?

What are we supposed to do?

What shall we do?

And I love how he responds.

He says, Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and for the forgiveness of your sins.

I love this.

Repent, it's not too late.

He actually came for this reason.

Miracles.

He's going, the miracles of Jesus, they're not meant to just be some static event that we all look back and just go, ooh, an awe.

No, no, no.

They're pointing to something, they're pointing ultimately to your salvation.

He says the miracles of Jesus are actually pointing to something, to a promise that's actually far greater than you have realized.

I want to tell you what's going to happen as we go along this journey and talk about miracles.

I I um I was in the Navy years ago, I was in the Navy for several years, and I remember the first team I was on.

So small, it was a small group of us, I think there were eight of us on our team, and and I had a chief.

So I was a we had our chief, you know, our head enlisted guy on our team, and and um the original our original chief, we had a there's some some something that happened with another team, and so he ended up leaving our team and filling a hole on another team.

So our team, we were down, we needed we need a new chief.

And so it was like, man, who are we gonna be?

And we heard a couple names come up.

And uh, I didn't really know, I'm fairly new to the community, and so heard a couple names, and so guys are starting telling me about two of these guys.

And one of them in particular, they're just like, you don't want this guy on your team.

Like, he's gonna make your life absolutely miserable.

You don't want this guy, he's like super short, and he's got small man syndrome, and he's gonna make life miserable for you.

And I just like I'm hearing all these like nightmare stories about this guy.

I'm like, My goodness, we don't want this guy on our team.

So we so we go to this practice, we're doing some like practice ops stuff, and sure enough, a couple pickup trucks roll up, and these guys get out, and could spotted that guy from a mile away because he was all four ten of them, gets out of that truck, and I'm like, there it is, great, here it is.

I thought I was gonna have a great time on the teams here, and we're gonna.

Have a great time.

Nope.

Nope.

This is going to be miserable now.

And so we're sitting, my buddy and I were talking.

We're like, somebody go up there and say something stupid.

You know, just act like an idiot, pretend like you don't know what you're doing.

Maybe he'll just be like, I'm moving on.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to operate with these clowns, you know.

Just do something, you know.

And and uh, and so we're we're going along, he's out there next day.

They're like, Hey, your new chief's here.

We're like, Well, who is it?

Sure enough, there he is right there.

And I'm like, man, this is great.

You know, life's gonna be miserable for the next two years.

And so um, you know, what's funny is that over the next year, year almost honestly, over the next couple years, um, not only did he become the chief of our team, he actually became my partner because we were running two-man teams.

And so it was him and I.

So I got stuck with him the whole time.

And he ended up becoming my closest friend for all those years that I was in the Navy.

Honestly, I just nobody was closer.

He and I, I mean, I just thought, and I remember sometime later just thinking, man, I'm so of all the people, I'm so glad this guy ended up on my team.

Thank God I didn't say something stupid and run the guy off all those years ago, you know.

I I say that because you need to know this about the enemy, because there's an enemy.

There's a God who loves you, and there's an enemy who hates you.

And make no mistake, one of the enemy's biggest goals is to distort your view of God.

It's to corrupt the way that you think about God, it's to get in the way.

He wants to poison that.

It's amazing how many times I talk to people and they go, Well, you know what I believe about God.

Can I just say this with all due respect?

Who cares?

We all got ideas, most of us got bad ideas.

Who is God?

How about we just go straight to the source?

Like, who who is he?

I mean, this is this is not a new tactic.

This goes all the way back to Genesis 3, right at the beginning.

Don't eat this tree.

Did God really say, is really is God that kind of a God?

It's just a seed intended to distort the way that you see God.

There's this verse in John 10, I love it.

Jesus is, he's the kind of God that comes to give you life and give you life, not just like a small amount of life, but like overflowing life, life filled to the brim, abundant life, better than you ever thought possible kind of life.

I love that verse.

But you did you know it's contrasted, right, with this other phrase that says, oh, and in case you didn't know, the enemy's the one who steals and he kills and destroys.

So, in case there's any confusion about what bucket the things and the events in your life land in, stealing, killing, destroying, that's the enemy that's not your loving God who's come to give you life that's better than you ever imagined it could be.

I'm just telling you, the enemy wants to come in and distort your view.

Revelation 12, there's this verse where they're they're worshiping in this scene, this is an angelic, heavenly scene, and they're worshiping.

Why?

Because they've overcome.

And the accuser, the one who actually comes into your life and accuses you, has actually been cast down.

Some of us hide from God, we've been hiding from God.

We avoid, we've been avoiding church like it's the plague.

We don't want to talk about God.

It's just sort of this like, I'm I'm willing to.

We you know, as long as we can keep it to that like felt figures in Sunday school when we were kids, if we can keep it there, that's fine.

But we don't want to have an honest conversation about God.

And we think that we're avoiding God because we because of the truth we believe he knows about us, but really we're avoiding him because of the lies that we believe about him.

The enemy wants to pollute and rob your view of God.

In fact, this is one of the things I believe is gonna happen through this series, and this is what miracles do.

They change your view of God.

Miracles do that.

This series is gonna do that.

I think it's gonna, I think it's gonna redeem some stuff in your life.

Some of you that your your view of God has been shaped by some really unfortunate things.

You've got you've got a father figure in your life that you just rather not talk about.

And so, because of that, God is this overbearing, uh judgmental figure in the sky, ready to to come down on you.

He always says it comes with conditions, it's never really what it looks like.

There's always conditions.

God's a God with one hand behind his back.

It's like you say he's good and you say he wants to give me life, but I just want to see what's in the other hand.

You you have this approach toward toward God, and I'm just telling you, all of those events, all the unfortunate ones, all of the ones that you couldn't control, you may not even think about it actively.

They're they've been ingrained in your subconscious.

You just you just naturally approach God with some suspicion.

I'm just telling you, I believe that through this series, God wants to redeem that.

He wants to make that right.

He wants to show you a side of his character that I would be willing to bet that you've probably never seen or or recognized before.

You know, miracles the series is not so that we can all stand around and get excited about miracles.

Miracles are it's much more than that.

In fact, do you know there's actually even the Bible even talks about there's counterfeit miracles.

Like there's there's counterfeit miracles and counterfeit signs.

Like that's not what it is.

It's like wherever somebody claims to be there, there's a miracle, it's like suddenly that's that's it.

No, no, no, there's there's actually counterfeit stuff.

Some of you, I don't know what your church history is.

For some of you, this is the first time you've even recognized or been willing to talk about something like miracles in a church service.

It's just like, that's just something you don't talk about.

That's something that that died away.

And and then some of you, you've been exposed to some like the other end of the spectrum, and it's just like you're just like, is this the part where he starts running around going signs and wonders?

Like, is this the is this where it gets weird?

And and and Jesus has he said all kinds of stuff about this.

He actually, he actually says, Yeah, he actually says, like, don't don't be don't be a sign chaser.

I love this.

And in Matthew 12, he actually says this.

He says, actually, those of you that are demanding signs and wonders, like somehow that's the litmus test everywhere we go.

Signs and wonders.

He said, actually, it's a wicked and perverse generation that seeks a sign.

So this isn't about running around trying to be some sign chaser.

Matthew 7 says, even says, like Jesus says, he knows just because there's miracle claims doesn't even mean that you know Jesus.

He's he's he makes it real clear.

One day there's going to be people that stand before him and go, We did miracles in your name.

And he goes, Who are you again?

I don't even know you.

Second Thessalonians says that there's actually counterfeit works out there.

There's actually things that are that look like miracles, maybe even have some level of power behind it.

But he goes, It's not of me.

It's not, it's not Jesus.

Let me give you my working definition of miracles.

Here, here's a miracle.

This is my working definition.

It says, A miracle is an unusual act of God that shows his power and points us to who he is.

Shows us power and points us to who he is.

Now, I don't mean not like a magic show.

Like that's not what miracles are intended to be.

It's not like a magic show that's intended to entertain you.

Rather, it's like a sign that's intended to show you what he's actually intended for you all along.

And not only that, but what he's ultimately gonna do one day.

We say it this way.

It's a sign.

Miracles are a sign that point to a promise.

And the promise is better than the sign.

It's pointing to something that's actually far better.

You know, you read some, we're gonna we're gonna talk about some of these miracles that Jesus did, and they're some of them are amazing, some miraculous healings, and people that have, you know, were struggling with illnesses for 12 years.

He he raises a 12-year-old girl from the dead.

It's just like you're just going, my goodness.

Can I give you a spoiler alert about where they all ended up, how it all ended?

I can tell you, the Bible doesn't say how their stories end, but we what we know based on experience how all of their stories ended.

Do you know how all their stories ended?

They're all dead.

Woo!

Thanks for uplifting me, Pastor.

I feel super encouraged.

We're all gonna die.

There you go.

That's the story of life.

That's where they all, you know why?

Because it's temporary.

Because it's just a sign.

It's a sign that's pointing to a far greater promise.

And the promise is your salvation.

Your promise is your salvation, your salvation now, that you can be made whole now.

But even though it's not complete, even though you're going, yeah, you say I'm whole, but my back still hurts.

So I need that miracle.

And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's it's yes, but it's also not yet.

And so he's saying it's pointing to a it's pointing to your salvation.

You're gonna be made whole, and one day you're gonna be made whole entirely.

The miracle is just a sign, and it's pointing to a promise that's far, far better.

Now, this is this leads to another level of tension around here, and it's just like around the whole topic of miracles.

It's like, okay, well, we're gonna talk about miracles, we're gonna we're gonna say we we believe that Jesus did miracles, we we even believe in that that Jesus still does miracles.

We would we would even say that it's that that God like He kills He still can do this, and He still does this in our lives, and some of you need a miracle, and we're gonna encourage you to ask God for a miracle, we're gonna encourage you to put your faith out there and you go, Well, that's a little bit of a tension because what if it just doesn't happen?

So we don't like to talk about it, because I don't know about you, I'd just rather just not be disappointed.

I'd just rather not be disappointed.

So we can just let's focus on suffering well, let's just do that part, which that's good.

We're called to suffer well, but we can also ask and seek and knock.

Ooh, that's some tension.

What happens if it doesn't if he doesn't come through?

What are we gonna do with that?

You know, did you know that mature people, mature people, emotionally mature people, can hold two things, two things can be true at the same time.

This is hard for some of us to wrap our heads around because we like we like all or nothing.

You're either our hero or you're the villain.

We like that.

That's that's just easier.

It sells better, it's better in the media, just fit, it's easier to put in like one or two sentences online.

It's just a lot easier to be like all or nothing.

But that's not how mature people are.

Mature people, when you're emotionally mature, you can hold two truths at the same time.

I can think of lots of examples.

I mean, I told you I got five kids.

In this hand, I love my kids.

And in this hand, sometimes I want to strangle my kids.

Come on now.

Don't look at me like you're better than me, okay?

I've been around some of y'all as kids, and y'all know you're holding two truths at the same time, okay?

Two truths at the same time.

We can do this, and we can do this, we can do this even around the topic of miracles.

This is one of my so I love this story in the Bible.

This is out of Daniel chapter three, and we'll kind of wrap up with this a little bit.

This is out of Daniel chapter three.

I love this story.

It's this, it's these three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And if you don't know the story, uh, essentially they're they're faithful to the God of the Bible.

And this guy comes along, the the the the the king that of this place that they're in, the empire they're in, he makes his golden image and he demands you're all gonna worship him.

You're all gonna bow down.

And they're just like, no, no, no, we're not we're not doing that.

And so he says, Well, if you don't, I'm gonna throw you into this like really hot furnace, and it's gonna be a very grim ending for you.

And I love how they respond.

Look at this, Daniel chapter three.

They said, Well, if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it.

Look what the look at this hand, look what they're putting in this hand.

Our God is absolutely able to do this.

This is nothing's out of reach for our God.

In fact, we even believe he will deliver us.

How about that?

We believe he will deliver us from your majesty's hands, but even if he does not, two things are true at the same time.

Even if he doesn't, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.

We believe it.

But even if I don't, here's why it doesn't change God's still faithful, and because he's still faithful, I'm still gonna be faithful.

Two truths, two things can be true at the same time.

I love that.

I want to encourage you, but my this is my invitation for you as we go along on this journey is I want to extend the invitation to you too.

First of all, just go on the journey.

Go on the journey, but go on this journey with us with an open heart.

You know, we can read all the miracles that we want in the Bible.

There's some really wild, miraculous stories that we that we read about in the Bible.

Can I tell you what the greatest miracles that I've seen?

The great, and I've seen some, I've seen God operate in ways that were totally unexpected.

I've seen God move in my own life in ways I never thought he would or might, and and and yet he has.

And but can I just can I tell you, honestly, that might surprise you what the greatest miracles I've ever seen are?

Some of you, you are the miracle.

You're sitting right out here, and I don't mean this in some tongue-in-cheek way.

I mean some of you, you know your stories.

It wasn't that long ago.

Some of you, you were as godless as possible.

There's some of you in the room, you were once a cheater, and now you're faithful.

I'm just telling you, you know your stories.

I can see your faces, I know some of your stories.

See, that's the greatest miracle.

And listen, you didn't you didn't change because of your willpower.

You changed because you got a revelation of Jesus, and by his spirit, he turned you into somebody that nobody ever expected you to be.

He changed your heart.

And I'm telling you, that's the greatest miracle.

The fact that you, the fact that Jesus can get a hold of you, and that he has the ability, he has the ability by his spirit to change you from the inside out.

A changed heart is the greatest miracle.

This is the story of the Bible.

I don't know if if you didn't know that, this is the story of the Bible.

People continually trying to make themselves, to put themselves in a position to access God, and it never works.

Why?

Because nobody's able to change their own heart until Jesus comes along by this life, death, his resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of the Father, he sends the Holy Spirit, and by that now he's able to come in.

He's actually able to take your hard heart, your your stone heart, your heart that was impenetrable.

He's able to take that and replace it with a heart of flesh, and you're able to be more like him.

That's a miracle.

Some of you, you don't even recognize yourself.

You don't even I believe that.

Because that's a that's an incredible and incredible miracle.

One of my favorite stories, Mark chapter 2 is a story of Jesus, he heals a paralytic.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

I mean, can you imagine that?

Imagine being, but and in this guy, because he's a paralytic, and he says, he doesn't say immediately get up and walk, he says, your sins are forgiven.

And everyone's a little bit disappointed.

That's a little bit disappointed.

We were expecting a miracle, and they didn't realize that's a far greater miracle.

And he says, and just in case you don't think I can do it, he says, go ahead and get up and walk.

And he does, and he just making the point the forgiveness of your sins and the fact that your heart has changed is by far the greater miracle.

That you are once dead and can be made alive again is the far greater miracle.

Jesus wants to do that for you.

He wants to do that for you today, but he also wants to do that for you through this series.

He wants to, he wants to bring dead things in your life back to life again.

I'm telling you, if you go on this journey with us, I assure you, you're gonna see God do some incredible things in your life and in the people around you.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we love you.

I want to pray for every person here, Father.

Help us as we spend the next couple minutes in prayer.

Would you help us to identify the steps that we need to take?

You're you're not a static God.

You're you're not a God that calls us to press the subscribe button on some philosophy or even theology, but you you actually call us to follow you, to take steps, to walk with you, to live our life with you, which means that you have a next step for all of us here.

And so I pray, would you help all of us in this next few minutes to identify what those steps are that we need to take as we say yes to this journey with you?

Some of you, you've never even committed your life to Jesus, or maybe you did a long time ago, and you just need to take, you need a moment, you need to recommit your life to Him.

This is the moment right now in your own way, right where you're at, to just tell him, Jesus, I give you my life.

Jesus, I'm I choose to follow you from this day forward.

You can tell them in your own way, Jesus, I believe you died for me and that you rose again.

You you died for my sins, and that when I follow you, you actually raised me to new life with you.

And so right now, I can you right now I believe several of you are making this confession of faith right now.

You're you're just saying to him, right now, between you and him, Jesus, you're my Lord.

And I'm committed to following you for the rest of my life.

If you prayed that prayer, here's what I'm gonna ask you to do today.

I when we leave here, at some point you need to let somebody know.

There's a card in the seat back.

You can you can go to the there's some there's some other next steps I'm gonna have for you, but I'm gonna encourage you to let somebody know.

Come in, come and pray with our prayer team down front at the end of the service today.

They would love to connect with you and and actually tell you how to move forward in your due faith with Jesus.

I'm gonna pray for the rest of us though, too.

It isn't all we're here to reach people, but you also want us to build our lives on you as well.

And so for some of us here, we need we need help, Jesus.

Help us to identify our next steps.

Some of you, you need to say yes to this journey.

When you go here, you need to grab a guide and you need to say yes, you need to commit to be here over the next several several weeks.

Some of you, you need to go to our intro to freedom class.

It's right after, it's at 12 45.

It's right, it's gonna be downstairs.

You need to go, you need to take a next step, whatever that is.

And so, Father, I pray for each person here as you're working on them, helping them to identify next steps, what they're doing.

Maybe it's just as simple as coming back next week.

Whatever that is.

Jesus, help us.

Give us the courage to take that step to follow you no matter where you lead us.

Jesus, we love you.

And it's in your name we pray.

Everybody said, Amen.