Sunday 31 May - Kelly Samways - Come Alive

31 May PM Service

Transcript

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Hey, would you stand to your feet as we welcome our speaker tonight? She is a blessing to our church, and she always comes with faith and expectation. So can you put your hands together for Callie? Thank you, church. Thank you, Hamish. You may be seated. It's so good Sunday night to be in the house. And I just want to thank Hamish and Claire for this opportunity. And I just want to take an opportunity just to honor Hamish and Claire. What they've been doing, new pastors, it's a big, big load to take on all of us. I tell you, but they're doing just such a great job. And so I just wanted to honor them. And you know what? Let's pray for them. The best thing we can do is pray for Hamish and Claire as they lead us into the future. And the future is bright. Amen. Amen. Well, let's get on with it. I believe God's going to speak to our hearts tonight. I want to pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are here. Holy Spirit, you're in this place. I thank you, God, that this miracle month of May, where we've been believing, stretching, and seeing your miracles, God, I just thank you, thank you, thank you, God, that you are alive and well in 2026 in Newcastle. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, I'm fired up tonight's message. I thought it's the end one. I've got like a volcano, I think. I thank you for giving me the last one. No one's used this scripture yet, so I was I was breathing a sigh of relief that I could preach from it. My message tonight is called, come alive. Come alive. John 10 10 says, I've come that they may have life and life to the full. Sometimes we don't think our life is living life to the full. I sometimes think that. I'm a single mum. I have two kids. Most of my life is filled with making spaghetti bolignets, tying shoelaces, running to the schools, picking up clothes. It's the unseen. And I can honestly think sometimes, God, you've come to give me life and life to the full. But if I just focus on the natural, I tell you, if you just keep your eyes on the natural, you just become a little bit depressed. You can become a little bit overwhelmed. You can become a bit anxious. But as we turn and we look to Jesus and we start to read his word, and his word says, I have predestined you. I have got good works for you to do. You were born for such a time as this. I tell you, it's exciting times to be alive right now. God is doing fantastic things all over the world. We heard this morning about the lady in the wheelchair for 17 years, and in South Africa, the Holy Spirit moved and she was able to walk home. Well, I want to say, Holy Spirit's in Newcastle. Hey, he's in Newcastle. The Holy Spirit is here tonight. So tonight I want to preach from a well-known scripture in John 11. And it's the story of Lazarus. It's such a fantastic story. It's a mighty, a mighty story. And I just thought for the miracle month of May, why not go there? Why not go into Lazarus? So, for those of you who don't know, Lazarus was born from Bethany. He was sick. Mary and Martha were his sisters. They walked and they they knew Jesus. Mary was the one who had poured the perfume on Jesus' feet. But they were in trouble. Their brother was sick. It was catastrophic. They were in big need. And they knew they needed Jesus because it was a deathly sickness. So they called to Jesus. And verse 4 says, Jesus gets the word that Mary and Martha are calling him to come to them that Lazarus is sick. And Jesus says this the sickness will not end in death. And then after about two days, he and the disciples they have a discussion and they're talking about, will we go back to Judea? And the disciples are trying to say to Jesus, no, because there was so much persecution back there. And I love Thomas. He finally gets talked into going and he's resolved, okay, we'll all go, but we'll all probably die. That's what, you know, that's what Thomas said, we'll all go, but we'll all probably die. And then we see verse 17, and I want to encourage you, read this story for yourself. You'll probably get a lot more things than I'm sharing tonight. It's a wonderful story. Jesus finds Lazarus in the tomb, dead for four days. There were many people there, people comforting Mary and Martha. And you get the picture, it was a very sad occasion. See, Lazarus had died. There were mourners coming around. There is a thickness in the air, there was grieving. It was sad. And Martha meets Jesus and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even God will give you whatever you ask. And Jesus tells Martha, He's the resurrection. And then Martha gets Mary, and of course, when Mary meets Jesus, Mary just dives at his feet and meets Jesus. And then Jesus weeps. And then, of course, he he goes and he goes to the tomb. And I don't know about you, but if I was there at the time, you would probably be thinking, what's he doing? He's dead. He's going now to the tomb. And of course, Martha, she's like trying to say to Jesus, but there's a stench, he's been dead. And then in a loud voice, Jesus says, Come forth, Lazarus. And the dead man rises. And I tell you, and then Jesus says, Unwrap those grave clothes. Come on, Lazarus. And we read this story, and to be honest, as we look at this story, I look at this story and I say, God, this is such an incredible story of a dead man rising. This is the God we serve. He raises people from the dead. So I thought tonight I'd look at three takeaways from this story. And let's have a look at this story and just get a couple of takeaways from tonight. The first takeaway I want to say this is let's learn to turn to Jesus first. Mary Martha knew who to turn to. Mary sent word, she called for Jesus. She said, she said, go get Jesus. She called straight away. I don't know who you call to. Maybe you call to Dan Murphy. Maybe you pop down at the local liquor market, pop down there. Maybe you call to the gym. Maybe you're heading, when times get tough, you sweat it out at the gym, or maybe you call to Netflix, or maybe you stream, maybe you're calling to someone, but I want to say Jesus is a reliable name. He's a worthy name, a comforting name, a healing name, a wise name. In um Jeremiah 33, 3, it says, Call to me and I will show you great and unimaginable, unsearchable things. Psalm 30 verse 2 says, I called to the Lord for help and you healed me. Psalm 107 says they cried to the Lord and he saved them from their distress. See, Australians, we're very self-reliant people. You know, if if you're in the kitchen and the tap leaks, you know, what do you do? You just say, Let me have a look at it. You know, I'll I'll just fix it. Don't worry about it. It'll be right. You know, that's it. If the car breaks down, what do we say? Pop the hood, pop the hood, and then we start tapping, tap away, tap on a few batteries, tap on a few things, and then if we really need to, we'll get the YouTube videos, the tutorials. See, we're self-reliant, but God wants to teach us to be God reliant. You know, and there we see Peter walking on the water. And I think, you know, Peter, when he was walking on that water to Jesus, if he was an Australian, he'd probably just go, no, no, no, no, I'm right, she'll be right, she'll be right, just let me. He'd probably drown if Peter was an Aussie. You see, we we need to just begin to call out to Jesus first. And we're on this journey and we're learning that he is the one for direction, he's the one for life decisions, he's the one that brings comfort, he he is the one that brings soothing words, he's a person we can call when we're lonely, he's a friend. He's I love this one, he's a confident, he's your trusted secret keeper. You know, he's the one with that we've got to start telling our secrets to. So let's learn to turn to Jesus first. You know, there's nothing like the presence of God, there's nothing like the presence of God. And you know, the the podcasting, I'm a podcaster, I'm a blare the music worship opera, I'm a listen to the messages on a Monday. I I love all that stuff, but I tell you what, there is nothing like just me and the presence of God. Nothing like it. So we have to get better at turning to Jesus first. Mary and Martha, they turned to Jesus first. The second takeaway from this incredible story tonight, this incredible story, believe for dead things to come alive. In this story, Lazarus was dead. He was gone. In fact, both Mary and Martha believed he was dead. And this story should stir our faith, should begin to rise something in us to say, you know what, he's the God that he brings dead people back to life. Maybe you've got some dead things happening in your life. Maybe there's some things that you said years ago that will never happen again. But I tell you what, God is the God. He can bring restoration to situation, he can bring relationships alive and fresh again. He's the God that that brings salvation to the people we've been praying for. He's the God that in whatever situation we're facing, Jesus revives, restores, recount, recompensates. And he's also the God that we can stay firm in the in-between. You see, Mary and Martha, when they met Jesus, they really believed Lazarus was dead because he was dead. That was it. We have the hindsight of looking back, they didn't. He was dead. And their response, Mary and Martha's response, both of them, chose when they didn't get what they thought they were getting, was to worship him anyway, was to love him anyway, was to look for him anyway. I want to tell you tonight, in the in-between moments of life, maybe you're here tonight and you have a in-between moment where you haven't seen the answers yet. You haven't seen the risen yet, what you're praying for. You see, many people are praying for things, and you just haven't seen what you're wanting. You haven't seen the things, you haven't, you haven't, you haven't yet seen what God has promised you. You are still in the wilderness. You know that you know that there's gonna be something rising somewhere, but I tell you what, sometimes it's a long lonely walk in the in-between. I want to say single people, single people. I tell you. Sometimes you can be in this space and you can say, God, I'm believing, but I tell you, I'm I'm starting to get a bit bitter. I'm starting because I'm not seeing the risen Lazarus, I'm not seeing the man of God come, I'm not seeing the woman of God come, I'm in the in-between. Well, I want to tell you tonight stand firm. Stand firm in him. Keep believing for that Lazarus to be risen in your life. You know, when my mum died at a at a younger age, I remember just going through a period of bitterness. It was just a period where I where I went, we prayed, we believed, but it just didn't happen. And in my faith, it shook me. You know, I was I was ready to walk away. You know, you know how we have long fingernails, some of the ladies, some of us. Well, I was fingernail faith. I don't know if you've ever been there, but you're hanging and and you're just going, I can I just can completely walk away from this. Because God, you've just let me down. I haven't seen it yet. But you see, God says we we walk as Christians, the Bible says that we're not gonna understand everything, and he says, lean not on your own understanding. See, I can look back now at that incident in my life, and I can see that there was a lot of things in my heart that God needed to deal with through that incident, and maybe not because of, or maybe not um instead of, but I tell you, I look back now and I see that I have a father who's a complete Christian, he's a man of God, he's praying his Bible. I tell you, he's hanging out with the Christian man, and I've I've I he my mom has three Christian kids that are all believing in God, and they are all building into the next generation who is complete Christians. So I tell you what, sometimes your situation, you may not know why, you know, you may not know how, and you may not understand it, but we serve a God that says, Lean not on your own understanding. Lean not on your own understanding. We have to believe for dead things to come alive. You know, I love what Joel says here. This is a prophecy why they were in the wilderness. This is a prophecy why the people were so away from God. He says this, Joel says this, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. I want to say tonight, your wildernesses are becoming green. Because even in your biggest wilderness, God is at work. God is in there, He's going before you. Your biggest wildernesses, God is working for you. It says, the trees are bearing their fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. See, when we're in dark and deep places and like Mary and Martha were, they did it right. I love this story. Martha and Mary, they just worship Jesus. If I was there, I'd probably be the sister Mabel. I'd probably be Mabel who never went anywhere near Jesus. I'd be angry, I'd be upset. Lazarus is dead, where were you? Where are you? You know, I'd be like that. But I tell you what, God even loves the Mables. He's saying, even in your darkest time, I'm for you. In Joel 24, it says the threshing floors will be filled with grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine. And I want to say, verse 25 says this, he restores the years the locers have eaten. You will have plenty to eat and be for. Do you know? Even when we're in those in-between times and you haven't seen all the prayers answered yet, this is a great scripture of what Mary and Martha do. We can all learn from it. Stand firm, stay at his feet. Just keep worshiping Jesus, keep coming, keep coming. And I want to commend you. Some of our young people have been through a lot, they haven't seen some prayers answered, but you know what? They keep coming, they keep coming, and they keep coming, and I want to say that to you tonight. Keep coming, keep coming, stand firm, don't give up. Tonight I'm talking about Lazarus. Come alive. God wants us to live a full, full life, an abundant life, life to the full. And we look at this scripture and we just see that we need to turn to Jesus first. We need to believe for dead things in our life to come alive again, ministries to be restored again, broken people to be restored again. I begin to see the prodigals coming back again. And I love it in our church when we see people that used to be here. They come and say, I used to be here 10 years ago. Welcome back, welcome back. God's beginning to bring all the people because he's a good God. Believe for the dead things. Some people say this, you may be here tonight, and you may be one of these people, and you may say, Oh, you know, I come to church, but I I don't want everybody coming up to me, or everybody will say, Where have you been? or that kind of thing. No, we don't. We we we welcome you with arms. We say, Come, you're home again. Well done, just keep coming. Do you know? And that's the kind of people we want to be. The third takeaway tonight, say third takeaway. And I'm gonna ask the the team to come back up. The third takeaway tonight is that we need to take off these grave clothes. You see, Lazarus couldn't walk properly in the grave clothes, the grave clothes hindered him from walking. The Greek word for grave clothes, kariae, meaning strips or bandages or cloth, multiple linen wrappings. Matthew Henry Cometry says he came forth bound with grave clothes. The matter was to wind up the body so that he was fettered, couldn't move, it was difficult to walk. You see, many people have made a decision for Christ, but they're still bound. Hebba, Christian man, stand here for a minute, Heber. Made a decision for Christ. He said, Yes, I want a decision for Christ. But you see, Heber, he's got a past. He's had a lot of things happening in his life, and maybe there's a few things he's bound up in. A bit of rejection. He might be bound up in a little bit of I'm not good enough. He might be bound up in a little bit of low confidence. You see, when you're bound, you just get wrapped up. He's made a decision for Christ, but he's wrapped up in the old grave clothes. And he's keeping rapping. There's not a lot of rapping going. Come on, the rappers. And sometimes there's the daily grind of life, the daily grind of life that wraps us up. And when when we get wrapped up, when our past wraps us up, we cannot hear the voice of God clearly. See, when you become a Christian, God wants to call you on, He wants to move you forward, He wants to take you to new places. But see, Heber's made a decision for Jesus, and he said, Yeah, I want to follow Jesus. But you see, when God calls him and says, Hebba, I'm over here. I need you over here, Heber. I've got a bit of a plan for you. Hebba, come over here. See, Heber can't hear properly, he can't see properly. He's a Christian, but he can't do much because he's bound in rejection, he's bound in what's the words have been spoken to him. And so we as Christians, we need the Holy Spirit to come. And the Holy Spirit comes. Oh ho! And he rips off those bandages, and he rips them clean off our life, and we walk forward, we can hear all that God has for us, and we are not walking in the grave clothes anymore. Let's stand up, come on, let's give Jesus some praise tonight. Let's praise his name because he sets us free, he takes every grave clothes off our life, he's a good God, he cares for you. Do you know tonight? I've talked about Lazarus, I've talked about this wonderful story in the Bible. I tell you, God is still a God that is breaking us free from the past, He's setting us free, He's the God that restores dead things, and He wants us to draw close to Him. I want us just right now, in this moment, we've got a few moments. So tonight we're gonna pray. The end miracle month of May. I want you right now to close your eyes. We're gonna worship God, and I want you to softly worship. I want you to do some business with God. Maybe tonight there's some grave clothes still wrapped on your life. Rejection. See, words are very powerful. Maybe people have said to you, you're dumb, you're stupid, and that's kept you. Maybe you've got the I'm not good enough, or maybe you've just got I've got such a past. You see, Gideon, Gideon had to get off the grapes. The Bible said he was from the least, he was from the worst tribe, but Gideon had to change his mind, he had to start seeing himself differently, he had to start seeing himself as a great man of valor because that's what God had called him to be. You see, Joseph had to forgive his family because they treated him really badly. Joseph had grave clothes, he had to forgive so that he could do all that God had for him to do. Paul in the New Testament, he had to forgive himself. Maybe tonight you've done some stuff, but I tell you what, it's time to forgive yourself. Being wrapped in grave clothes, stinky old grave clothes, that is not God's plan for your life. He wants you free. You've made a decision for Jesus, but he wants you free. Don't let the enemy lie, don't let him keep you back, don't let him hold you down. God wants us to walk in freedom. Let's just worship him.