WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:08.160 Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:09.839 Thank you for joining us. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:16.800 To learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:24.559 Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:34.159 If you have your Bibles, I would I would love to invite you to join me in the gospel of Luke chapter seven. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.079 I want to go ahead and dismiss our middle and high school students at this time. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.039 You guys can go ahead and slip and make your way out through the sides. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:45.439 We have amazing leaders and uh an amazing experience that is just for you. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:49.280 Um connect with your families at the end of service. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.719 But we're we're gonna be reading from Luke chapter seven. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:01:04.079 As you're turning there, I want to position us with anticipation and expectation because I truly believe that God wants to speak something powerful to us today. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:09.680 If we notice here on the screen, I'm actually I want us all to read this together. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.599 So even though you may have your own translation, I want us to read this together as a community. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:23.200 So on account of three, we're just gonna read it um together and with conviction, loud enough that we invite God into it, but also loud enough that we shake hell with it. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.799 So on the account of three, let's read this all together as a community. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.719 One, two, three. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:36.000 Soon afterwards, he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:48.560 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:54.879 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:03.920 Then he came up and touched the buyer, and the bearer stood still, and he said, Young man, I say to you, arise. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:10.639 The dead man sat up and he began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:22.000 You know, I I truly believe that some of us can probably identify with that woman. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:26.400 And and what I mean by that, this is a woman who's in a cycle. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:39.759 And many of us today have walked in in the midst of a cycle where we feel like as soon as one season is ending, it seems like we're going right back into another season that looks oddly just like the one you just left. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:46.080 Cycles of disappointment, cycles of pain, and it seems as if you're stuck in a loop that you can't get out of. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:53.599 I believe that the Lord wants to speak to us today around that idea of being in cycles for what he wants to do when he interrupts them. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.479 So I want to speak to us for a couple of moments around a subject I have entitled Here We Go Again. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:00.960 Let's invite God into the comment. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:02.800 Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:06.800 We thank you for your grace, and we thank you for your presence. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:16.639 We thank you for the truth that is found in your word, and we're so grateful for community, spaces where we can come and gather in your name and watch you be exalted in the freedom. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.280 And you invite us to be co-laborers in this incredible work, that we're humbled by it. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.000 Holy Spirit, God, you are welcome here. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.879 We invite you to change every element of the service if that is your will. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.599 We are we're submitted and surrendered unto you. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:32.879 Have your way. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.599 I ask that you breathe on this congregation. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:39.759 I pray that you animate the areas of our lives that have been dormant. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.240 I pray that you speak to the areas of our lives that we don't even invite you into anymore. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.639 Challenge us, inspire us, sharpen us in the name of Jesus. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.800 And Lord, I ask that you give us open eyes to see your truth above all else. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:58.639 I pray that you give us open ears to receive what it is you want to speak, even amongst all the world's chaos. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:08.560 And Father, I pray for open hearts so that the seed of the incorruptible word of God will not be plucked out, but it will take root and produce significant transformational fruit in our lives. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.639 It's in Jesus' name that we pray. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:11.520 Amen. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:12.560 Amen and amen. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:13.120 Here we go again. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:17.279 Turn the three people around, you'll say, Here we go again, here we go again, here we go again. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:20.240 As you're taking your seats. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:59.360 Right before we get to this particular passage, Jesus has just got finished by doing a series of profound truths and teachings to a community of people in what we often refer to as a sermon on the mount. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:09.759 And one of the things that the people say in regards to Jesus' teaching is it says that they were so amazed at him because he taught as one who has authority. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:18.560 He didn't speak as if he was just copying and pasting someone else's revelation, but he was providing insight that was connected to authority. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:23.199 And so the crowds gathered with him as a result of that profound truth. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:29.759 The text tells us that as Jesus is now making movements, that he enters into an area called Capernaum. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:42.480 And when he's entering into this place called Capernaum, with this crowd that has just listened to the Sermon on the Mount, and they're they're motivated and inspired and healings and things are breaking loose, the text tells us that a centurion's servant was sick. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:49.279 A centurion is a Roman soldier, a Gentile soldier who has a hundred men under him. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:53.360 He's a man of influence, a man of power, a man of authority. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:56.959 And it turns out that one of his servants is ill. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:04.720 But the text tells us that he hears about Jesus and that he invites Jesus into this situation. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:09.279 But the way that he does it is very unique and different from what we've seen in times past. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:16.720 In fact, what the text tells us is that he sends word to Jesus and says, Hey, I'm not even worthy of you to enter into my home. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:22.000 I'm a Gentile man and I am familiar with the authority that rests in your life. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:30.959 He actually says these words, he says, but I understand authority because I am a person who has authority, and I can speak a word, and people will do what I tell it to do. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.959 And then if I tell them to go left, they'll go left. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:34.879 But if I tell them to go right, they'll go right. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.279 So I understand authority and I recognize the authority that's in your life. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:44.240 And so, Lord, you don't have to come to my house, just speak the word. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.920 He said, Your word is enough. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:52.319 Your word can transform things, your word can transform the situation. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.480 And then and the word tells us that Jesus was amazed at this man. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:02.240 He turns to his disciples and he says to them, I have not seen faith like this in all of Jerusalem. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:11.040 In other words, amongst the religious people, amongst the people that have been front row seats of the miracles and powers of God, I haven't even seen faith in these people. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:18.959 And yet we have a man who's on the outside of the covenant who recognizes the authority of God's word. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:25.920 Do you recognize the authority of God's word in your life? 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:31.920 I often find myself reflecting on the origin story of my beliefs. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:44.800 When I surrendered my life to Christ and finding myself reading the word of God and trying to understand the word of God, I came across a passage that marked me almost 30 years ago and it still is with me to this day. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:48.959 It's found in Matthew chapter 13, verse 58. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:50.800 And I'll summarize it for you really quick. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:58.240 But what it says is that because of their unbelief, Jesus could not do miracles in his hometown. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:04.959 And when I read that almost 30 years ago, you have to understand I'm I'm being introduced to a God who is more than able. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:08.639 I'm being introduced to a God that is infinite and limitless. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:19.120 And yet the Bible that I read says that because of their unbelief, he could not perform miracles in his own hometown. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:20.480 Why is that? 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.319 It's because Jesus was too familiar to them. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.920 It's because Jesus had become common to them. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:37.679 It's because they saw Jesus when he was a little boy, and so now when they see him in adulthood, they had a hard time recognizing his authority. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:52.960 And sadly, what I believe that happens with us as followers of Christ, if we're not careful, there are things that God wants to do in our lives, but we put a lid on what he can do because we don't recognize his authority in our life. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:58.080 Oftentimes we approach God as if he is our cosmic life coach. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:03.200 Lord, if you can just give me some advice on this area of my life, and if I'd like it, I'll apply it. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.039 If I don't, I'll go and do my own thing and I'll take it under consideration. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:20.480 We often look at Jesus as if he's a consultant, where we invite him to kind of identify the problem areas, and then depending on our commitment to the dysfunction in our life, that will determine if we're really willing to surrender our lives to him. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:34.399 But I believe that in these moments, God is challenging us to have a different perspective and making sure that we don't lower the word of God to match my comfort, but rather I'm willing to raise my standards to match what God's word says. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:40.320 My question is, do you allow the word of God to truly have authority in your life? 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:48.720 Because I remember many seasons of my life where I wrestled with things, but I had a pastor who always pointed me back to the word of God. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:52.639 I remember seasons in my life where I said, Man, I don't feel like going to church. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:54.960 God knows my heart, he's everywhere, isn't he? 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.480 But what does God's word say? 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:00.399 Don't forsake the gatherings, Hebrews 10, 24. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:03.360 There were times when I was upset with the way that people had treated me. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:09.279 And so I began to harbor unforgiveness, and I would talk to my pastor about it, and he would say, But what does God's word say? 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:13.360 It says, forgive, and you will be forgiven, Ephesians 4 32. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:19.279 There were often times when I felt like I didn't want to be generous, but he would say, But what does God's word say? 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:22.960 God loves a cheerful giver, 2 Corinthians 9, 6. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:30.720 Over and over again, I would have these moments in my life that my feelings were beginning to tell me something that conflicted with God's word. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:39.600 And my pastor told me, if you want to see the power of God in your life, you're gonna have to begin to surrender your autonomy to his authority. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.320 And it's in that moment that I began to recognize transformation. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:49.519 When I didn't feel like praying, I would pray anyway because God's word says pray without ceasing. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:56.559 When I didn't know what my next steps were gonna be, if I didn't have all the information, God's word reminds me that we walk by faith and not by sight. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:02.559 And I began to recognize these moments that whatever voice you're submitted to is the one that will shape your worldview. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:12.720 So as I began to find these spaces where God's word was speaking to me, it was my responsibility to align myself with it to see the power of it activated in my life. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:18.320 My question for us, Celebration Church Orlando are you given God's word authority over your life? 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:25.840 This man had given God's word permission to activate things in his life, and he saw a miracle, and so a crowd was with him as a result of it. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:34.320 As Jesus gets finished performing this miracle without even stepping a foot into his home because the word is good enough, he's still making his way through the community. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:48.080 And the Bible tells that he's working towards a town called Nain, and he's not alone, he has his disciples with him, and the text says it was a great crowd, but at the city gate there was a run-in with another crowd. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:56.799 And what the Bible tells us is that was a woman that was there who lost her only son, and a considerable crowd from that community was with her. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:04.240 This means that her suffering wasn't in isolation, that means that her pain wasn't alone, but the town seen it. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:11.919 The town could feel it, the town saw it, the crowds were with her, but yet it did not change her condition. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:18.799 Friends, I want to let you know that you could be surrounded by a group of people and it still not bring you healing. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:25.279 It is possible to be surrounded by a great group of people and yet still somehow feel alone. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:31.440 You can literally have all the support in the world, but yet still feel as if you are stuck. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:36.879 Luke tells us that for this woman, her son has just died. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.600 And that culture, when someone died, they tried to bury them by sundown. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.320 So it was a very quick turnaround. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:50.000 And then we're given a detail that I think we can overlook if we don't slow down just a bit. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:55.200 She lost her only son, and it says, and she is a widow. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:57.919 That line is devastating. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:02.159 That line means that she's in a cycle of grief. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:07.360 She lost her husband, and now she just lost her only son. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:23.039 And we're not told how much time has passed between these two deaths, but what we do know from the human heart is that when you believe you're beginning to move forward and you find yourself right back in that same spot and you're saying to yourself, here we go again. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:33.039 In that world, her husband was gone, and now her son was gone, which means her covering was gone, her future was not secure. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:37.440 This was social vulnerability, this was an economic crisis. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:44.639 And when we understand what Luke is trying to communicate to us, he's letting us know that she's in a catastrophic situation. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:49.519 She's stuck in a loop that doesn't seem as if there's any way out. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:51.039 We've been there. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:14:00.320 I remember a couple years ago when Megan and I went to Greece as a part of our study abroad program for the counseling um community we were connected to. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:05.440 Um and I knew that we were gonna have a layover in Canada and then we're gonna go over into Athens. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:07.279 And so there was an eight-hour flight. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:18.240 So I was leading up to that, leading up to that day, about a month prior to it, I began to curate what I would say is arguably the best playlist that has ever been assembled in the history of all existence. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.000 I I'm I'm gonna go ahead and say that. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:25.600 I began to create this incredible playlist that was very thoughtful, that was very in tune to where we were gonna be. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.159 I was in tune to the locations we were gonna be. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:33.759 I had a different segment of the playlist that was gonna speak to every portion of that journey. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:41.360 We get on a plane in Canada, we get about 30 minutes into the flight, and I was like, okay, and like I had this anticipation, like, okay, now's the time. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:49.919 I got 236 songs on this playlist, and so I was ready, I everybody had said enough to me, and I put my noise cancellation headphones on, and people were still talking to me. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:51.120 I was like, sorry, I can't hear you. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.120 Like I was, I was I was locked in. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.720 And I hit the shuffle button and I leaned back and I closed my eyes. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.200 And I'm telling y'all, man, like that first song came on. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.120 And I was just like in a seat, just grooving. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.919 I was like, man, this is this is fire, like this is dope. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:04.799 Next song came on. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.679 I was just, oh man, like I'm like, throw your hands in the air. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.679 Like, I'm not gonna tell you what's on a playlist. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:14.639 I don't wanna be a stumbler, but it was a diversity of music. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:16.559 So I'm just vibing there and chilling. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.399 Third song comes on, the vibe is good. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:19.759 I'm I'm nodding my head. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.039 Mega's tapping me, like, calm down, like, no, you can't stop my praise. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.919 Like, I'm just, I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm living my life. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.600 We get into the fourth song, it's amazing. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.000 And then as the fourth song's coming on, I'm filled with such anticipation. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:31.200 Like, man, what's that next song? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:32.159 What's what's what's coming up next? 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:35.519 Because Shuffle, I love Shuffle, and and then the first song played again. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.279 So I'm like, okay, okay. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:42.000 Maybe Shuffle noticed how hard I was nodding my head to the song. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.000 They're like, bro, we need to run that back. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.159 Because Keith, you clearly are into this joint. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:47.919 So I said, okay, let's let's keep it going. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:49.519 So this first song comes on again. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.559 I'm like, all right, cool, cool, cool. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:51.519 Let's see what comes up next. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.679 Then the second song came on again. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:00.720 So I'm like, okay, clearly I'm I'm nodding a little bit too much because I'm sending, I'm sending messages to the algorithm I don't tend to send. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:02.879 So let me let me slow down a little bit. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:06.559 The next song comes on, the third song comes on, the one I just listened to. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:10.720 And so there's moments where I'm confused, but I'm also just trying to go with the vibes, man. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:12.879 I'm I'm going over to Greece, man, I'm trying to have a good time. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:17.519 Fourth song comes on, and I'm like, okay, fine, like I'm certain that it's gonna keep going. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:19.840 And then it starts all over again back at one. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:24.000 And so I'm literally refusing to look at my phone because I'm trying to be in a moment. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:37.120 So for literally the next 48 minutes, those same four songs played over and over and over and over and over again. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.840 And then I finally grabbed my phone and was like, what is happening here? 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:47.360 And it occurred to me that I put all this work into this incredible playlist, but I didn't download it onto my phone. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:56.080 So when I went into airplane mode, I was stuck in the loop of listening to the only four songs that were on my phone for the next eight hours. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:57.360 Over. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:59.200 I gotta be honest with you. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:05.680 I grieved that season because those were four of my favorite songs, but to this day I can't hear those songs anymore. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:13.839 Because it triggers a response inside of me that makes me feel like I'm in the middle seat of this plane with a crying baby behind me, and I can't listen to it anymore. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:19.839 It literally robbed me of being able to move forward because over and over again I was stuck in the loop and I couldn't get out of it. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:28.160 Just over and over again, the same chorus, over and over again, the same melody, over and over again, the same words, and I felt like I couldn't get out of it. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:34.079 And for some of us, we we've been listening to the instrumental of indifference for far too long. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:56.880 The melody of mediocrity or the symphony of our suffering has just been playing over and over and over again, and we're stuck in the loop, and we know that there's other things available on this kingdom playlist, but but somewhere along the lane, we got disconnected, we didn't get a download from heaven, and so now we're just on repeat over and over again, and now we're beginning to react to hearing it over and over again. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:08.079 Our central nervous systems are collapsing because we've heard it over and over again, and and and now we're stuck in this space, and we're wondering how do I ever move forward when it seems as if I'm stuck on repeat. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.680 We try to compensate for it. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.079 Our bodies try to anticipate it. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:22.880 We're trying to wrap our minds around why we are stuck in this loop, the same patterns over and over again, and it's literally bringing harm to our bodies. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:29.279 Our equilibrium begins to get disoriented, the trauma cycles continue to build up. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:41.519 And then when we have unprocessed grief, unresolved trauma, over and over again, the same, the same shame narratives over and over, and I'm stuck in this loop, and then the family script over and over. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:58.400 I'm hearing the voices of critical parents over and over, and then my coping strategies that I'm trying to use to bring relief turns into addiction over and over, and I'm just bracing and waiting for it to happen again, and before long I start saying things like, This is what it's always going to be like. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.599 This is just how it is. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:08.400 And maybe for some of us, that seems to narrate your life right now. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.839 For the widowed woman who just lost her son, that was her reality. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:19.440 Being stuck in this loop of suffering and loss with no hope of the future. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:29.519 But I know when I've been in those seasons of life, there's been a divine interruption that is that is all consolidated on two words, that changes everything. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.119 Stuck in a cycle, but Jesus. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.359 Stuck in brokenness, but Jesus. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.480 Stuck in fear, but Jesus. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:54.720 I don't know if you ever had a but Jesus moment, but that means when all the odds are stacked against you, and it seems like there's insurmountable opportunities for you to overcome it, and yet somehow you're still here by the grace of God. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.400 That's a but Jesus moment. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:05.359 I'm not sure if you ever felt like you were in a fiery furnace, like the three Hebrew boys, and it seems as if you would be no way of getting out, but Jesus shows up. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:13.039 I'm not sure if you've ever felt that you had a lack of provision, but then Jesus showed up as a ram in the thicket to provide that miracle that you didn't see coming. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:14.480 That's a but Jesus moment. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:19.599 I'm not sure if you've ever had a suffering like the woman with the issue of blood, that it became your identity. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:26.240 But when you saw him and you had one moment in the presence of God through worship, that but Jesus moment brought you into radical healing. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:33.839 I'm trying to encourage you that though you may be stuck in the cycle, but Jesus, and when Jesus shows up, he can break the cycle. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:49.200 The text tells us that Jesus shows up, and it gives us some really powerful words because as she's preparing to go and bury her son, it says in verse 13, it says, The Lord saw her. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:01.200 And that seems so simple, but it's worth slowing down and letting us digest those words. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:06.640 Because his first movement in that moment was not a sermon. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.920 His first movement in that moment wasn't a prophetic declaration. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:20.400 His first movement in that moment wasn't to ask questions about how she ended up in that situation in the first place. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:32.640 But the first thing that happens when Jesus is walking towards the community and she's leaving that community to bury her son, when literal life and death have a collision. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:39.839 Jesus, he sees her, and then the next part of this says, and that he had compassion on her. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.599 He sees her. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.119 He sees her brokenness. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.440 He sees her fear. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:02.960 He sees her anxiety. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.720 He sees her stress. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:06.640 He sees your brokenness. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.160 He sees your fear. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:09.839 He sees your anxiety. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:11.440 He sees your stress. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.960 He sees the cycle that you're that you're broken into. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:19.279 And in the same way that he steps into her world, he steps into ours. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:24.160 And when he steps in, the text says that he is moved with compassion. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.079 Not pity. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:28.319 Not sympathy. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.359 Not being distant. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:33.680 But compassion. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.519 The kind of compassion that moves towards the pain instead of away from it. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:45.839 Jesus doesn't stand on the sidewalk of her suffering and offer commentary. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:53.359 He doesn't say to her, Well, if you just would have trust God a little bit more, this would have worked out. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:01.279 He doesn't offer thoughts and prayers, but I'm doing nothing about those thoughts, and I'm really not actually praying. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:03.920 He doesn't do any of those things. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:11.279 But in that moment, he models what Christ-likeness looks like for us as kingdom citizens. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:19.039 That when we see the suffering of others, it should move us to have compassion. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:29.680 Because now we live in a world where it seems as if to be a follower of Christ is to do the opposite of what he did in the Bible. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:36.720 If you're wondering what I'm talking about, then just go into the comments section of whatever the latest tragedy is. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:45.279 And you'll be amazed to find some of the most heartless, cruel comments connected to profiles that have scriptures attached to them. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:52.319 We're literally watching people die in real time. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:55.920 We're watching people get shot. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.480 We're watching people bleed out. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:01.759 We're seeing things that we're not supposed to see. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:06.559 And you know what the response is, depending on what your political ideology is? 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:09.440 They probably shouldn't have been there in the first place. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.279 If they just would have complied, then this probably wouldn't have happened to them. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:23.839 We're looking in a world right now that people are more consumed with being right than admitting when something is wrong. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.279 We've made idols of our ideology. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:31.200 And it comes at the sacrifice of our empathy. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:39.839 And we're incapable, no matter where we land politically, to just simply say, I don't have all the details, but that is wrong. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:43.920 I don't understand all the nuances, but my heart grieves for this. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:57.920 And my concern is that the more and more that we become numb to what's happening in the world, and the more and more we exalt our political preferences above the kingdom principles, we have a bunch of Christians that look nothing like Christ. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:04.319 Because you know we've gotten to a place to we don't turn the other cheek, but we will turn a blind eye. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:13.519 We're looking for vengeance, we're looking for revenge, we're looking to speak into everything in order to get people back, but we turn a blind eye to suffering. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:19.039 We're quick to call out personal sin, but avoid public pain. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:28.000 We love to defend truth, but forget to love people in the process of it, and it looks nothing like Jesus. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:42.400 But the God of the Bible, the Jesus of the of the commissions of scripture, the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, he always moved towards the vulnerable, he always moved towards those who were suffering. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.960 This is not political, this is the heart of the Father. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.599 He says, I have a heart for the least of these. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:57.440 And over and over again, we see people who were stuck in cycles of grief, and Jesus was moved with compassion, and he moved towards them, and he says, I see you. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:03.200 I see your suffering, I see your bondage, I see your brokenness, and I'm about to get involved. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:06.799 For this woman, she was dealing with insurmountable grief. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:13.599 And the text tells us that he walks up to her and he says something to her that I was therapeutically trained that you never do. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:16.000 He says to her, Don't weep. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.480 Now I've been married for a long time. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:27.519 I would never go to my wife if she's having a moment and say, Don't weep. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.000 Don't cry, dry your eyes. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:34.079 I would never do that. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:36.640 I didn't even have to get a degree to understand that. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:43.759 Because here's the truth of the matter we recognize that that lamenting is an important part of grief. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:51.359 In fact, we have grief, which is the emotion that we feel when we experience loss, but lamenting is the expression of that. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.319 That's the tears, that's the anger, that's the frustration. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.279 Literally, we can read through the Psalms and see that David is lamenting over his situation. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:06.480 We can see that that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, literally showing us that it's okay to grieve and let that out. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:09.440 We even see that Jeremiah is referred to as the weeping prophet. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:19.680 So over and over again, we see in scriptures it's actually healthy for us to allow ourselves to grieve and also lament, because when we don't lament, we get trapped in grief. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.720 And I think that for some of us we're wondering, why am I still grieving a season that was 10 years ago? 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:29.759 Maybe because you've been you haven't lamented it. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:35.759 You've put scriptures on areas where you needed to let cheer tears flow and invite God into it. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:46.319 But when Jesus speaks to her and says that I don't want you to shed any more tears, he's not dismissing her pain, but he's interrupting her conclusion. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:52.400 He's not saying that your tears are sinful, but what he is saying is your tears aren't final. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:54.720 And somebody needs to hear that. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:58.640 That your tears are not a reflection of shame or weakness. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:05.519 But I do believe that God is speaking to us right now, and he's saying is that your tears don't get the right the last chapter of your book. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:12.559 This is where we begin to recognize that we can be fully seen in our pain, but Jesus will not leave us there. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:18.720 The text says that Jesus sees her, he moves towards her, and then he speaks to her. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:22.319 He begins to interrupt the cycle. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:31.119 Verse number 14 tells us that Jesus then walks up to the pallbearers and he puts his hand on the coffin that they were carrying. 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:36.400 It would have looked similar to a stretcher, and the bearers stood still. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:44.240 In that context, Jesus is a righteous man, and touching any dead thing would have rendered him unclean. 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:52.640 But Jesus was willing to demonstrate to us that he's not afraid to touch the damaged, the dirty, and the dead areas of our lives. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:59.279 So often we feel as if we have to clean ourselves up in order to present ourselves before our Lord. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:05.279 We we've been convinced into believing that my brokenness disqualifies me from being in God's presence. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:22.400 But again and again, whether it's Jesus touching a leper or whether it's Jesus stepping into spaces that were filled with the Gentiles over and over again, we see that Jesus is willing to step into uncomfortable spaces that the religious people would avoid to let them know that they are in the process of being redeemed. 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:27.279 But I want you to see that Jesus touches the dead thing. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:31.680 He touches the dead thing and everything stops. 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:37.839 The stretcher that was carrying death comes to a standstill. 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:41.440 And this is exactly what Jesus does. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:51.039 Before we are able to experience our greatest miracle, sometimes Jesus will touch the system that has allowed us to operate in our dysfunction. 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:55.839 Because if we're honest with ourselves, we get to a place where we have to become adaptable. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.000 And then we learn how to adapt and live within our dysfunction. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.720 And some of us are wondering why does it seem as if my systems are collapsing? 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.920 The areas that I used to rely on, why aren't they working anymore? 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:14.079 Could it be that Jesus is touching the very thing that is keeping you from inviting him into the situation? 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.559 Some of us have been carried by fear. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:25.039 Some of us have been carried by addiction, by our trauma responses, by our shame, by our anger, by the numbness that we've allowed to accumulate. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:29.440 And we didn't wake up this way choosing it, but it started as a coping mechanism. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:31.519 It started off as a way for us to survive. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.400 It started off as a way for us to believe that we're going to make it. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:45.920 And I believe that Jesus in the Spirit is stopping some of those things and saying that before I can heal you, you got to stop depending on the dysfunctional systems that have allowed you to adapt to something I never wanted you to stay long in. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:50.079 Where you are is temporary, and I have something greater for you. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:52.799 He disrupts the cycle. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:58.960 He then speaks to the boy and he says to him, Young man, I say to you, arise. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:05.200 This is the authority that Luke has been weaving in into the past two chapters. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:15.279 The authority of God's word speaking to a dead situation, and he's commanding it to respond to thus saith the Lord. 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:30.559 Jesus didn't pray to someone else, he didn't negotiate with the devil, he didn't yell, he didn't raise his voice, he didn't ask for permission, he didn't say, Well, let's continue to let this grief process run its course, but he speaks in creation, begins to listen. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.160 Let's come back to the original question. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:36.559 Are we allowing the word of God to speak to our situation? 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:53.200 Because could it be possible that the Lord is speaking to your situation right now, and instead of allowing that authority to run loose in our lives, we continue to minimize the power of God's word so that we can continue to stay stuck in the cycle that we've grown comfortable with. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:59.279 The word of the Lord tells us that the dead man sat up and he began to speak. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:03.279 This, my friends, is revival incarnate. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:05.759 This is what revival looks like. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:13.200 It's when something that is dead is spoken the word of life to it and is able to get up and begin to have a testimony. 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:14.640 But Jesus doesn't stop there. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:19.759 The text tells us that he then returns the boy to his mother. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.519 So we have revival and we have restoration. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:29.680 Because for that woman, she had lost her son, she had lost her husband, she had lost her hope. 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:40.000 But Jesus returns the boy to the mother, which means this: that Jesus doesn't just want to bring you back to life, he wants to give you back everything that that previous season stole from you. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:43.920 Some of you have lost hope, and Jesus wants to return your hope back to you. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:48.000 Some of you have lost your identity and he wants to return your identity back to you. 00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:52.079 Some of you have lost your dignity and he wants to return your dignity back to you. 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:56.079 Some of you have lost your purpose and he wants to restore your purpose back to you. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:00.319 Some of us have lost our joy, but he's about to restore the joy back to us. 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:05.279 Some of us have lost the idea of a future, but he's about to restore a vision on the inside of us. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:09.920 God is more than able to restore everything that the enemy has taken from you. 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:14.000 Every tear will not be wasted inside of the kingdom of God. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:25.119 Because no matter what culture says, no matter what your feelings say, no matter what perceived reality says, Jesus has the final say. 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:28.720 Jesus has the final say. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:32.640 And I'm not mitigating and I'm not ignoring the suffering that you're in. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.279 I'm not ignoring the disappointment that you've experienced. 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:43.680 I'm not ignoring the report from the doctor, but what I'm here to refute is saying that no matter what those things are, Jesus has the final saying. 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:45.279 That's what authority looks like. 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:50.880 Your trauma doesn't have the final saying, your disappointment doesn't have the final say. 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:53.920 Statistics doesn't have the final saying. 00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:56.640 Your family patterns don't have the final say. 00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.119 Your past doesn't have the final say. 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.000 Your diagnosis doesn't have the final say. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:05.359 What they did to you when you were young doesn't have the final say. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:07.759 What you lost doesn't have the final say. 00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.400 What didn't work doesn't have the final say. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.119 Jesus has the final say. 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:29.199 And Jesus is in the business of breaking cycles, he's in the business of disrupting the systems that the enemy has created to keep us trapped in this infinite loop with no hope. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.360 But Jesus has the final say. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:37.599 And I believe that he's here to disrupt many of the cycles that we've allowed to establish in our life. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:45.920 He's here to interrupt those thought patterns that we've believed and allow them to turn into convictions that is also zapped us of all hope and joy. 00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:47.840 But he's here to disrupt that. 00:34:48.800 --> 00:35:00.320 I want to pose a question to us because I believe that as I look in this room and whether you're online or in your family lounge, I believe that there are some of us who came in here today trapped in a pattern. 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:05.119 There's some of us who came in here today that still are wrestling with triggers. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:14.800 There's some of us that came in here today and we thought that the new year would be new you, but it's turned into here we go again. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:23.119 You've tried to outthink it, you've tried to outrun it, you've tried to medicate it, you've tried to manage it, but it keeps on circling back. 00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:27.840 And here is what Luke is communicating to us. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:32.559 Jesus doesn't just comfort us in our pain, but he interrupts it. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:37.920 He steps into the procession and he says, Don't you bury it just yet? 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:40.000 Don't you bury your hope just yet? 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:41.920 Don't you bury your freedom just yet? 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:43.360 I'm about to do a new thing. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:44.800 Can you not perceive it? 00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.719 I want to break that cycle. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:48.719 So I want to ask a question. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:36:12.000 If you're in here with us right now and you recognize that there's a there's a pattern, a rhythm, a sequence to your life, where it feels like, man, I feel like I'm stuck in a rhythm, a routine, a rut, a pattern, whether it's grief, whether it's disappointment, whether it's finances, whether it's physical, but just I feel like I'm just in this pattern. 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:14.400 And I just feel like here we go again. 00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:16.000 Here we go again. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:17.199 Here we go again. 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:20.559 I'm here to let you know that I believe that Jesus wants to disrupt that cycle. 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:27.840 So if that's you, I want you to boldly lift your hands up on a count of three so we can pray and declare God's word over you. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:29.119 One, two, three. 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:30.719 Believe in God to break cycles. 00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:37.599 I'm believing God to break patterns, I'm believing God to loosen the grip of the enemy's influence in my life. 00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:38.559 Amen. 00:36:38.800 --> 00:36:39.360 Amen. 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:40.159 Amen. 00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:41.119 God bless you. 00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:41.920 This is what I want to do. 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:47.920 Everybody stand up because we're gonna go back into a moment of worship and then we're going to take communion together as a family. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:54.960 But what I what I want to do, and I did this in the first service, um, everybody who who's believing God for a pattern to be broken, come on down. 00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:56.960 If you raise your hand, come on down to this altar. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:36:59.519 I want you to come down as um quickly as you can. 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.119 I want to share something um with us. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:05.119 Come on down, come on down. 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:16.239 You know, over this time of our prayer and fasting, we have um we've been having different moments where we've encountered the presence of God. 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:19.199