SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Mud Creek, how are we doing this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that may not know me, that have not had the chance to be introduced to me.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jesse.
SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed to be the lead pastor here at Mud Creek Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: So, among other things, that means for the next few minutes, I'm going to yell at you from the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Now, take your Bible this morning and turn with me, please, to the book of Acts and the ninth chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter number nine.
SPEAKER_00: That sound that you hear right now is one of my favorite sounds in the world.
SPEAKER_00: The sound of people opening their Bibles to hear the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that it's 2026, and I know that some of you don't have a Bible with you today because your Bible's right here.
SPEAKER_00: Or your Bible's right here.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not going to judge you for that.
SPEAKER_00: I can't hear you finding your Bible, but I can see the glow of heaven on your face from your device.
SPEAKER_00: And so it counts.
SPEAKER_00: But whether you use a Bible Bible or whether you use an app, I think it's very important that we do have some form of the Word of God in front of us when we gather together as the church.
SPEAKER_00: For a lot of reasons.
SPEAKER_00: One is so you know I'm not just making all this up.
SPEAKER_00: But two is because when we come to church, we need to use our brains.
SPEAKER_00: We do not want to shift our mind into neutral while we interact with God.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says about your mind that you are to love the Lord your God with all of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that you are transformed, Romans 12, 2, by the renewing of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible verse that we memorized, or at least I hope you memorized, with your church family last week, Isaiah chapter 26 and verse number 3 says that the Lord keeps us in perfect peace when our mind is fixed on him.
SPEAKER_00: Our mind.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to make contact this morning with your brain.
SPEAKER_00: Because your brain, that three-pound mass in your skull, is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given you.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, depending on how you look at it, that brain is you.
SPEAKER_00: That brain determines the decisions you make.
SPEAKER_00: That brain determines your personality, your consciousness.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing in the created world that we have found in the oceans, that we have found in outer space, that we have found living on this planet that rivals the capacity, the complexity of the human brain.
SPEAKER_00: Your brain has the ability through quadrillions of neurological connections to think through and process information in real time so that you think, on average, 70,000 thoughts a day.
SPEAKER_00: 80% of those thoughts are negative, but nevertheless.
SPEAKER_00: That's true.
SPEAKER_00: 70,000 thoughts a day.
SPEAKER_00: You may be surprised to know that on average, the brain of a grown human male is bigger than the brain of a grown human female.
SPEAKER_00: Men's brains are bigger than women's.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't help, but it's true.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are just more efficient.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, our brains, as much as they're studied, and even as much as doctors and scientists are able to go into your brain and tinker with your brain, the brain is still very much a mystery.
SPEAKER_00: Even to those of us that live with one every day.
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways that the brain is a mystery, think about this, is when you have nightmares.
SPEAKER_00: You ever thought about what a nightmare is?
SPEAKER_00: A nightmare or a bad dream is when your brain plays tricks on itself while you're asleep.
SPEAKER_00: That's weird.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your memory.
SPEAKER_00: Scientists and doctors who study this say that you actually never forget anything.
SPEAKER_00: You just lose your capacity to recall memories.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, we all know that we do forget things, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we all know that sometimes our memory goes haywire and we remember things very, very vividly that actually didn't happen the way we remember them.
SPEAKER_00: Our memories can be askewed.
SPEAKER_00: One of the weirdest things that happens in our brain is this phenomenon that we call deja vu.
SPEAKER_00: Deja vu is what happens when we experience a moment for the first time, and yet our brain is telling us, you've been here before.
SPEAKER_00: It's weird, ain't it?
SPEAKER_00: You've seen this.
SPEAKER_00: You've met this person that you just met.
SPEAKER_00: Currently, scientists have no idea why that happens.
SPEAKER_00: There are at least 40 different theories as to what's happening in our brains when we experience this glitch in the matrix that we call deja vu.
SPEAKER_00: Somehow, our brain can interpret the present as if it's the past.
SPEAKER_00: And it's eerie and it's unsettling and it's weird when it happens.
SPEAKER_00: But as I read this text in Acts chapter 9 today, I'm going to be honest with you, I am overcome with the most profound sense of deja vu.
SPEAKER_00: These Bible stories that we're going to look at today, they look awfully familiar to me.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've been here before.
SPEAKER_00: Even though the Bible's taking us to new places, even though the Bible's introducing us to new people, if I'm honest with you today, something about this seems very, very familiar.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to read to you today, beginning in Acts chapter 9 and verse number 32.
SPEAKER_00: And as we read this, I want you to see if your sense of deja vu is triggered like mine.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 9, 32 says this.
SPEAKER_00: Now it came to pass as Peter went through all parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lida.
SPEAKER_00: There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter said to him, Aneas, Jesus the Christ heals you.
SPEAKER_00: Arise and make your bed.
SPEAKER_00: Then he arose immediately.
SPEAKER_00: So all who dwelt at Lidda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas.
SPEAKER_00: This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did.
SPEAKER_00: But it happened in those days that she became sick and died.
SPEAKER_00: When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
SPEAKER_00: And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter arose and went with them.
SPEAKER_00: When he had come, they brought him to the upper room.
SPEAKER_00: And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed.
SPEAKER_00: And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise.
SPEAKER_00: And she opened her eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And when she saw Peter, she sat up.
SPEAKER_00: Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
SPEAKER_00: And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.
SPEAKER_00: The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord abideth forever.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: For those that maybe have not been with us over the past few months, if this is your first Sunday visiting or second or third, let me catch you up to the book of Acts that we're studying together on Sunday mornings.
SPEAKER_00: We started studying every verse, every story in the book of Acts way back in January.
SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord gives us favor, we'll be done by Christmas of one year or another.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the book of Acts is actually the second volume of a two-volume account written by the same man who wrote the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: The Gospel of Luke is the most detailed and the most exhaustive account we have of the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Acts is volume two.
SPEAKER_00: Luke records the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Volume two continues the ongoing story of those who knew Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's overlap in the ending of Luke and the beginning of Acts, where Jesus, who's been crucified in Luke 23, resurrects from the dead in Luke chapter 24.
SPEAKER_00: And then he speaks to his disciples for a few weeks and ascends back to heaven in Acts chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: But before he ascends back to heaven, Jesus tells his disciples that as he ascends, the Holy Spirit will descend and empower them to continue his work and to continue his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: So if we ask the question today, where do we see Jesus at work in the world now?
SPEAKER_00: Where is Jesus' presence?
SPEAKER_00: Where is his power?
SPEAKER_00: The book of Acts would tell us that the power and the presence, the mission and the ministry of Jesus continue in his people, the church empowered by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus ascends in Acts 1, the Holy Spirit comes down in Acts chapter number 2.
SPEAKER_00: The first Christian sermon is preached, 3,000 people are saved, they're baptized, and they're off to the races.
SPEAKER_00: A similar event happens in Acts chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter, that we read about here, preaches 5,000 people are saved.
SPEAKER_00: And you see the church start to experience this explosive growth.
SPEAKER_00: And you see the first Christian martyr by the name of Stephen.
SPEAKER_00: You see the church dealing with administrative problems, how to care for ministry needs.
SPEAKER_00: You see the church dealing with internal conflict, and you see them dealing with external persecution.
SPEAKER_00: And then you see this incredible triumph for the Christian movement beginning in Acts chapter number nine.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the conversion of this man, Saul of Tarsus, who was reluctant, who was not willing, who was not expecting to meet the resurrected Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And then on the road to Damascus one day, Jesus reached in and changed his life.
SPEAKER_00: The next chapter in Acts chapter 10, there's another, maybe less well-known, but as equally important conversion.
SPEAKER_00: The conversion of a man named Cornelius, the first non-Jewish Christian welcomed into the church, whose conversion impacts literally every person in this building today.
SPEAKER_00: And sandwiched between the conversion of Paul and Acts 9, the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10, is this story of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, the outspoken follower of Jesus, the leader of the early church.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, the patron saint of people who really, really love Jesus, but they got a problem with their mouth.
SPEAKER_00: That's some of y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, who's just checking on things, who's just going around doing ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Yet as he does, these miracles that he performs, the life that he lives, the things that are happening around him, I'm just telling you, I've got the most profound sense of deja vu.
SPEAKER_00: Because Peter, living his life following Jesus, looks an awfully lot like the kind of life that Jesus lived.
SPEAKER_00: And what this text puts in front of me today is the reminder that you and I, as people who are living for Jesus, have the incredible privilege of triggering this divine sense of deja vu, that as they see a Christian, they think, that looks an awfully lot like what I've heard about this man named Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So let's work through this story together today, considering these moments that matter, that trigger the memories of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And see if your deja vu is triggered here.
SPEAKER_00: See if you recognize Jesus in the life of his follower here.
SPEAKER_00: First, I think my deja vu is triggered when I remember this kind of life-altering mercy.
SPEAKER_00: So the Bible tells us that Peter, verse number 32, he's just kind of riding around being a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good way to spend your time.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes to check on the followers of Jesus north of Jerusalem in this town by the name of Lydia.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably preaching to them, he's probably encouraging them, discipling them, just seeing if they need anything.
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of on a goodwill mission from the church of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And while he's there, he hears about a man by the name of Aeneas, who's been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Bible does not say how Aeneas came to be paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: Clearly, he was not born that way, but something had happened eight years prior to Peter's visit that had put him in this condition.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if he had some kind of neurological disorder.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if there was a muscular problem.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it was a camel accident.
SPEAKER_00: It could have been any number of things.
SPEAKER_00: No, you shouldn't laugh at that.
SPEAKER_00: Because there are literally dozens of people every year that are killed by camels.
SPEAKER_00: Almost as many people in our world are killed by camels every year as are killed by sharks.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you are worried about getting the ocean.
SPEAKER_00: Camels are the problem.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever happened to Aeneas, the Bible says he's been bedridden for eight years.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine what this would have been like.
SPEAKER_00: Not only in your life, but imagine in the first century world when your life has been reduced to your bed for eight years.
SPEAKER_00: This is a world before daytime TV to watch.
SPEAKER_00: This is a world before word searches.
SPEAKER_00: This is a world before seducco math problems.
SPEAKER_00: His life has become exclusively limited to the confines of his bed.
SPEAKER_00: He's not productive, he doesn't work, there's no social life much to speak of.
SPEAKER_00: His life has become his mattress.
SPEAKER_00: And then Peter hears about him.
SPEAKER_00: And as you may expect, I mean, like if you know the Bible, anytime you see somebody who can't walk, you know what's coming, right?
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, Peter, true to form, goes to visit this man.
SPEAKER_00: He prays with him and he lifts him up and then he tells him to make his bed, which I love that.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, dude, you need to make your bed.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're getting out of it today.
SPEAKER_00: And you read that and you think, well, yeah, that's exactly what should happen.
SPEAKER_00: But does this trigger for you a sense of deja vu?
SPEAKER_00: Is it not the case that this is exactly the same kind of thing that Jesus did in his ministry?
SPEAKER_00: That when Jesus encountered people in crisis, he was there to help.
SPEAKER_00: That when Jesus encountered people with sickness, he offered a hand of healing.
SPEAKER_00: That when Jesus met people who needed help, Jesus took time for them.
SPEAKER_00: You can read story after story.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 2, four friends.
SPEAKER_00: Raise or lower a crippled man down through the roof.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus heals him.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 5 at the pool of Bethesda.
SPEAKER_00: Story after story where Jesus was there for people at their point of need.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter here is living out that same story.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that most of us probably don't have the power, like Peter did, to heal the sick literally in this way.
SPEAKER_00: But I do want to say that as the people of God, we should spend our lives the way Peter does, showing kindness, showing mercy, and helping people at their point of need.
SPEAKER_00: See, Peter is important.
SPEAKER_00: Peter preached sermons and thousands of people came forward to get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, he preaches 3,000 people come forward.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts 3 and 4, he preaches and 5,000 people come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how long it takes to baptize 8,000 people?
SPEAKER_00: Peter did.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was important.
SPEAKER_00: He was busy.
SPEAKER_00: He was, as it were, the leader, the senior pastor of the church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He mattered.
SPEAKER_00: And now people come to him and say, hey, we've got a buddy over here that's been laying in bed for eight years.
SPEAKER_00: And my thought is if he's been there for eight years, then he'll be fine for a few more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Peter takes time to go and care for somebody who needs him.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's good for us to recognize today that there are people around us that have a multitude of needs.
SPEAKER_00: Some we can see, some we can't see.
SPEAKER_00: And yet some of us are so important, some of us are so busy, some of our schedules are so full that we do not have time to be interrupted for the sake of helping people that need a touch from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is especially true for those of us that are in full-time vocational ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Because we can be so busy in ministry that we never actually get around to ministering to anybody who needs it.
SPEAKER_00: But y'all, our Lord, when he was in this world, Jesus spent all of his time with sick people.
SPEAKER_00: He spent all of his time with demanding people, he spent all of his time with broken people.
SPEAKER_00: And he wanted to show them mercy and make their life easier by giving them grace.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, God has put us in this world to do the same thing, to show love to our neighbor and make their life a little bit better.
SPEAKER_00: And so he does that.
SPEAKER_00: People see it and they rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: But while he's doing one miracle, an opportunity for another miracle presents itself.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm triggered, my deja vu is triggered by this sort of life-altering mercy, but I'm gonna say my deja vu is also triggered by what I would consider life-changing ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Life-changing ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We're told that while Peter is in Lida, two disciples from the church at Joppa, some miles away, here he's there, and they come to him on behalf of their sister Tabitha.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we don't know if Tabitha was sick when they left, and then she died while they were gone, and they thought Peter can come, you know, he's healed one sick person, maybe he can heal another one.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe she was already dead.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe they just said, Hey, Peter, you're an apostle from the church of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: We would love just to have you present for her funeral service.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly the details.
SPEAKER_00: But regardless, we do know about the lady in question.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that her name is Tabitha, and the Bible also gives us the Aramaic version or the Greek version of her name, which is Dorcas.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are far more mature than I am.
SPEAKER_00: Because Dorcas, that's rough for a little girl.
SPEAKER_00: My big sister used to call me that when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_00: Dorcas is not the most beautiful name.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have a single lady in our church that's about to give birth that says, you know, my little girl really, Dorcas, this is just.
SPEAKER_00: But it actually is a beautiful name because the name Tabitha, the name Dorcas, means a gazelle.
SPEAKER_00: It means a gazelle.
SPEAKER_00: So her parents looked at her and said, the way a gazelle just effortlessly bounces through life, our little girl is going to bring life and she's going to bring joy.
SPEAKER_00: And evidently, Tabitha really did live up to that.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible says about Tabitha, specifically, that she was a woman full of good works and charitable deeds.
SPEAKER_00: This was a dear sister and a dear saint of God.
SPEAKER_00: Who not only told people she cared, but more importantly, she showed people that she cared.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible even tells us how she did that as the narrative moves into what we would call her visitation service after she dies.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that Peter arose, verse 39, and he goes with these disciples.
SPEAKER_00: They come to the upper room, and then verse 39 says, And all the widows stood by him weeping.
SPEAKER_00: It's always a good idea to live in such a way that people will cry when you die.
SPEAKER_00: And they show him the tunics and garments which Dorcas has made while she was with them.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Tabitha was a seamstress.
SPEAKER_00: So we have a sewing ministry that meets here at Mud Creek every Tuesday morning.
SPEAKER_00: And for those ladies that are involved in that ministry, this is your girl.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: This is your Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: This is your sermon.
SPEAKER_00: This is it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting ready to put the spotlight on you.
SPEAKER_00: Because you are able to do literally what she did, and you are able to use hooks and needles in ways that I can't even fathom, and take thread and yarn, and you are able to produce something tangible that serves other people.
SPEAKER_00: Like this.
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Horton mentioned a little while ago that Pastor David is going to Ukraine on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: Please do pray for our brother as he travels.
SPEAKER_00: I have told him that if he goes over there and gets killed, he's fired.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm flexible, I'm not flexible on that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a hard line, brother.
SPEAKER_00: So pray for his safety.
SPEAKER_00: But do you realize that ladies in our sewing ministry have sewn different things, I believe hats for babies and different things, that we have sent to our missionaries in the Ukraine for those people that have lost everything due to war?
SPEAKER_00: We have ladies in our church that are doing just what Tabitha did that are producing something real and something lasting to serve people in our world that have need.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly the kind of lady that Tabitha was.
SPEAKER_00: And so I look at Tabitha and I think, you know, I've seen something like this before.
SPEAKER_00: Because the word of God says that Jesus in his life went around doing good.
SPEAKER_00: He went around doing good.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Bible does not tell me that Jesus ever knitted a pair of socks.
SPEAKER_00: He's the Son of God if he wanted to.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that he could make socks.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, in all the different ways Jesus lived, he went around doing good.
SPEAKER_00: The way Tabitha goes around doing good.
SPEAKER_00: I can imagine being at her receiving and people weeping and crying and showing Peter say, Oh, brother Peter, you've got to see this.
SPEAKER_00: When we brought our baby home from the hospital, she was so much smaller than we anticipated.
SPEAKER_00: And we had those newborn clothes and they just wouldn't fit, so we had to get some premium stuff, and before we could even get to the store, Sister Tabitha showed up with a onesie, with some hats and some socks to make sure our baby was warm.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, brother Peter, you gotta see this.
SPEAKER_00: See this right here?
SPEAKER_00: When our house burnt down and we lost everything that we had, Tabitha was there with coats so that we could stay warm.
SPEAKER_00: She produced something real because she loved deeply.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, I just want to say to you, well intentions, good intentions, they don't keep people warm in the winter.
SPEAKER_00: Good vibes don't have any calories.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, somebody's got to do something.
SPEAKER_00: And Tabitha did something, and it was something very ordinary.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know, and I especially want the ladies in our sewing ministry to know, that ordinary Christians doing ordinary things are not ordinary to God.
SPEAKER_00: This woman made a difference, this woman was noticed, this woman mattered, and all she did was sow.
SPEAKER_00: You can sow for the glory of God and the good of your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we need to hear this today because a lot of us are so fixated on celebrity Christians, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're fascinated by the Christian who will charge us$700 a ticket to go watch him sing at the Bilo Center.
SPEAKER_00: And we think this person is serving Jesus, and we miss the ordinary Christians that are just making scarves.
SPEAKER_00: But y'all listen, most of us are just ordinary Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Ordinary jobs, ordinary families, ordinary church.
SPEAKER_00: But we are not ordinary to God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you to be an ordinary Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, at times God does cause some of us to go on mission trips to Ukraine.
SPEAKER_00: God does send us to do radical things for him, but most of us are going to be ordinary.
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing wrong with living a quiet and a peaceful life and a godly life in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in seminary, one of the books that I was forced to read was this little biography of a man named St.
SPEAKER_00: Anthony of the Desert.
SPEAKER_00: It was written by St.
SPEAKER_00: Athanasius.
SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the most influential books in the history of the Christian movement because this book was actually influential in the conversion of another saint named St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine.
SPEAKER_00: Or just saints pouring off this book, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Saint Anthony lived from 251 to 356.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that because it's on the cover.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't remember it.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really, I didn't really like this book.
SPEAKER_00: But you know how it is in school.
SPEAKER_00: You just read what you got to read.
SPEAKER_00: And Saint Anthony was a young man from Egypt who, raised by Christian parents, but became very just disappointed by a worldly culture, became disappointed by the worldliness in the church.
SPEAKER_00: So he said, I'm just going to sell everything I've got and move out in the desert and spend time with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he did.
SPEAKER_00: Pioneer of monasticism and all this kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: And he writes in this book about doing miracles, he writes in this book about having visions.
SPEAKER_00: He writes in this book about going on these fasts for like six months without food or water, seeing the devil, battling demons.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm reading this and I'm thinking, buddy, you weren't seeing the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Your blood sugar was low.
SPEAKER_00: You needed to eat.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm a critic.
SPEAKER_00: I'm cynical, I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_00: And our teacher loves St.
SPEAKER_00: Anthony.
SPEAKER_00: I was constantly, man, you've got to be like St.
SPEAKER_00: Anthony.
SPEAKER_00: This is, you know, all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, yeah, okay, the man probably lived a remarkable life, and I'll probably have to apologize to him when I meet him in heaven about some of the things I've said this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm also thinking, Saint Anthony was never married.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Anthony never raised children.
SPEAKER_00: As far as I can tell, St.
SPEAKER_00: Anthony didn't have a job.
SPEAKER_00: He was not a normal Christian living in the normal world, shining his light for Jesus in the way God calls most of us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if God calls you to sell everything and go out in the desert, please come see me and let's talk about that first.
SPEAKER_00: But I know God has called you to love your family.
SPEAKER_00: I know God has called you to be the best worker at your job.
SPEAKER_00: I know that God has called you to be saw and light.
SPEAKER_00: I know that God has called you to be faithfully committed to an ordinary church.
SPEAKER_00: And God uses that in incredible ways the way he did with Tabbitha.
SPEAKER_00: I recognize this sort of life-changing ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But finally, today I want to say this.
SPEAKER_00: I recognize my deja vu's is totally triggered by this sort of life-giving miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is at her visitation.
SPEAKER_00: And something moves inside of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what or how.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord seems to speak to him and say, Peter, funeral's over.
SPEAKER_00: And you're ending it.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter runs everybody out of the room in verse number 40.
SPEAKER_00: And then he kneels down and prays.
SPEAKER_00: And I wish the Bible says what Peter prayed in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I knew what Peter prayed before he resurrected the dead.
SPEAKER_00: I think it was probably something like, Lord, this is your idea.
SPEAKER_00: And so you better show up and show out because I ain't never done anything like this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first resurrection in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: It's unparalleled.
SPEAKER_00: And yet it's so familiar to me.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Mark chapter 5, Jesus resurrected a little girl from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Her father, by the name of Jairus, comes to him and says, My 12-year-old little girl, and since I became a girl dad, man, this story hits hard.
SPEAKER_00: He says, My 12-year-old little girl is dying.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I believe you can help.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus makes his way to help.
SPEAKER_00: He's willing to be interrupted the way Peter was, but he doesn't get in a hurry.
SPEAKER_00: Stops and does another miracle on the way, has conversations.
SPEAKER_00: The word comes that the little girl has died.
SPEAKER_00: He goes into her room.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine this, 12 years old.
SPEAKER_00: 12 years old.
SPEAKER_00: She's got a Roblox poster on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: Justin Bieber on her cell phone.
SPEAKER_00: 12 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Still warm, but not breathing.
SPEAKER_00: Parents are weeping.
SPEAKER_00: People in the community are weeping.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are with Jesus in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus runs everybody out of the room except Peter, James, and John.
SPEAKER_00: Peter runs everybody out of the room.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Bible says that Jesus spoke to the little girl in Aramaic, which would have most likely been his kind of native language, similar to Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: And he says to her in Aramaic, listen carefully, the Bible tells us this.
SPEAKER_00: In Aramaic, he said, Talita kumi.
SPEAKER_00: Which translated is basically, sweetheart, it's time to get up.
SPEAKER_00: I love that image of Jesus walking into this little girl's room who's sleeping the sleep of death.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, honey, it's time to wake up.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all didn't get that, but my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Now Peter, with Tabitha laying dead, sends everybody out of the room.
SPEAKER_00: And assuming he spoke to her in Aramaic, which he most likely did.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas Jesus said, Talita kumi.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said, tabi to kumi.
SPEAKER_00: One letter difference from what Jesus said to what Peter said.
SPEAKER_00: As I thought about this this week, I realized that what Peter is doing is he is showing the power of the Lord Jesus over death.
SPEAKER_00: That he is, as a follower of Jesus, taking resurrection with him in his life, so that the resurrected Lord Jesus is conquering death through his hands and through his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought about that, I realized that the people of God in Acts, these are people that have resurrection coded in their DNA.
SPEAKER_00: And Mud Creek, I want to tell you this morning that we are a resurrection people.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible says that we are a resurrected people.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Bible says that at one time we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that we were by nature the children of wrath and of disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: But God, Ephesians 2, 4, but God, who is rich in mercy, with his great love wherewith he loved us, has resurrected us together and seated us together with Christ in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: He has saved us not by works, but by grace through faith, lest we should boast.
SPEAKER_00: That what happened to me when God saved me is deeper than something water in a baptistry can do.
SPEAKER_00: It's deeper than something my mind and a decision can do.
SPEAKER_00: But I was resurrected by and with the resurrected Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And that now as a child of God, I go into this world with resurrection hope, with resurrection peace, with resurrection anticipation, and with the resurrected message.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus, I want to say to you today that our message to you is that 2,000 years ago the Son of God, the Prince of Life, came into our world.
SPEAKER_00: He died in our place, and three days after he died, he rose again, and he says to us on the other side of his own grave, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: And because he is alive, we proclaim to you today that he is able to resurrect you.
SPEAKER_00: He's not merely able to give you a better life, he's able to give you eternal life because the eternal life that he has is what he offers.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus at another funeral in John chapter number 11, not long before he was crucified, when he stood there with two sisters named Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_00: Mary weeping and Martha doubting.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that Jesus, through the tears in his eyes, he walked up to the grave of his friend named Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: And our Savior did not stumble and he did not stutter, but he spoke to the dead man and said, Lazarus, come forth.
SPEAKER_00: And somehow the man who had been dead for four days heard what a dead person cannot hear and responded to the voice of God who gives life.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying to you today is that our Savior gives life.
SPEAKER_00: But if we believe that and know that, that means, friends, we live with that kind of hope and that kind of confidence and that kind of power today as the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: See, some of you are praying for children that seem impossible, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00: My Lord, you've been praying for grandbabies for years, and it seems like God is not answering.
SPEAKER_00: You know today that your confidence is in God who raises the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And if He's able to handle the grave, he can handle your grandbabies.
SPEAKER_00: We have missions partners with us today from the Middle East, and they're serving in a very, very hard place, but their confidence is in a God who raises the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Our hope for this world, I know the midterms look bleak, and I know that gas is too expensive, and yes, I know how much eggs are.
SPEAKER_00: But our hope for this world is that this world is in the hands of the God who is able to raise the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And if he can handle death, he can handle Congress.
SPEAKER_00: But that also means that I live in this world with joy and with peace.
SPEAKER_00: Because resurrection is encoded in my DNA.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we had Brother Barry read that testimony from Job in Job chapter number 19.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot about this world I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot about my life I can't figure out.
SPEAKER_00: There's certainly much about your life that I can give you answers to, but one thing I do know, I know that my Redeemer liveth.
SPEAKER_00: And that he will stand in the latter day on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: And even though this body is buried and the worms may turn me into a buffet, that's grim, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Yet in my flesh I shall see God.
SPEAKER_00: I know that.
SPEAKER_00: And why do I know that?
SPEAKER_00: I know that because my Savior has been resurrected from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: I know that I am in him, and I know that I cannot stay dead any more than he can stay dead.
SPEAKER_00: So I know that one day when the earthly tabernacle of this flesh is dissolved, that I will inherit a building that is not made with hands, but has been formed by my God, and to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I know that one day this mortal will put on immortality.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody help me.
SPEAKER_00: I know that one day this perishable will put on that which is imperishable.
SPEAKER_00: I know that one day this corruption will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality, and then will be brought to pass the saying that is written Death has been swallowed up in victory.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I can say, Well, death, where is your victory?
SPEAKER_00: Grave, where is your sting?
SPEAKER_00: The sting of death, the sting of death, the sting of death, sin.
SPEAKER_00: The law which have been satisfied forever in our Savior who died and who is alive.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, my brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because resurrection has been encoded in your DNA.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that you are alive in Jesus, you live life in Christ, and you give the life of Jesus everywhere you go, exactly the way Peter did, exactly the way Tabitha did.
SPEAKER_00: Tabitha is one of only a handful of people that got to go to heaven twice.
SPEAKER_00: She did.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I hate she had to come back, but I'm glad for what God did when she came back.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what the text says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 42, and it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: Allow me to use my sanctified imagination.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna quit.
SPEAKER_00: Tabbitha is resurrected and looks at Peter.
SPEAKER_00: She says, I'm back.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said, Sure honor, welcome back.
SPEAKER_00: Did you have a good trip?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they said.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: I'll find out one day, but I don't know today.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that Peter, that Peter calls everybody back in the room.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, y'all come in here real quick.
SPEAKER_00: I got something I want to show you.
SPEAKER_00: The Tabitha says, Surprise! Um, and I'm sure everybody rejoiced.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that they celebrated, they marveled at the power of God, and I can only imagine if they were Baptists, they ate.
SPEAKER_00: They said, We're gonna have, we're gonna have many celebration service, and we're gonna celebrate Tabitha, and we're gonna eat, and it's gonna be incredible for what God has done.
SPEAKER_00: So they do whatever it is that they do.
SPEAKER_00: But there came a day, listen to me, there came a day when Tabitha had to go to Hobby Lobby because she needed crochet hooks for the sewing ministry, or she needed to go buy some yards of fabric because they were going to do whatever it is that they do, or she needed to buy needles for the sewing machine or thread or something, and she had to go to Hobby Lobby.
SPEAKER_00: And she walked in to that counter where they cut your yarn, and she's waiting for help.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, finally, one of the ladies in an apron shows up to cut her yarn for.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Well, ma'am, how can I help you?
SPEAKER_00: Weren't you dead?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what Tabitha said, but she would have had to have said, Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But you're here buying yarn, a Hobby Lobby.
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
SPEAKER_00: However, she told the story.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, what she says is, Well, Peter came and Jesus happened.
SPEAKER_00: And then she was able to tell the lady cutting the yarn at Hobby Lobby, or cutting the fabric at Hobby Lobby, my Savior gives life.
SPEAKER_00: She had received resurrected life, and she was able to share the message of resurrection, and y'all, that's the kind of revival that you can't ignore.
SPEAKER_00: And it happened.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, Many believed on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Many believed on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So today, if you're here this morning and you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I want you to know that.
SPEAKER_00: That our Savior gives life.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't necessarily improve life, he gives life because he is alive.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that if you are here and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And our pastors who are going to be up front would love to tell you about what it means to believe in and follow a living Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, though, are struggling with hope and with confidence, looking towards an uncertain future.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to come and speak to one of us, or just come and bow yourself in prayer and say, Lord, remind me that resurrection is encoded in my DNA.
SPEAKER_00: That you are able to give life to the dead, and because of that, Lord, I can have hope.