Elevation Church how we feeling on this Sunday morning can we go ahead and give God come on can we give God some Praise on this Sunday morning you had an extra hour of sleep come on give him a shout today Hallelujah I don't know about you but are you feeling what I'm feeling today it's not just some cool atmosphere it is the very presence of God and what I love about God's presence is when it comes to worship it's not that God is not with you he's always with you you don't have to be at
church to know that he's with you in your car he's with you at work he's with you in that difficulty but the scripture says that he inhabits the Praises of his people and there's something about praise and worship that makes me aware come on anybody aware today that God is with us and God is working come on I want you to clap your hands I want you to be today like you are glad you're in the house of the Lord what an honor it is to be back at Elevation Church and um always just so
grateful to stand behind this Pulpit uh it is never ever lost on me just uh the work that is taking place right here at Elevation Church as that goes from this room to all over the world and it's not by coincidence it's not by accident it's by intentional leadership and I'm so grateful honestly when I come come one of my greatest honors is just to get behind this pulpit and just to say thank you so much to I think two voices that have been raised up for such a time as this anybody thankful for Pastor
Steven and Holly fdick I'm telling youall these are two of God's finest and um their life their leadership has so impacted me so changed me I'm so thankful for who they are I think they're Trailblazers what that means is that they go into the tough areas and they make a way for others to follow and there's so many of us that are following behind them uh I always just come to say take good care of them pray for them love on them they're doing a lot of work they need your prayers they need your support
they need your encouragement you are blessed with good leadership let me just tell you there's a blessing on them and when you get under them come on that blessing flows on you let's clap our hands and thank God for amazing amazing leadership hey yo what about this new song I know a name dead things coming back to life I could just close right now I already got more than what I came for in fact someone right now at Vu church back in Miami is watching this service and we are illegally taking that song it's going
to be in our worship set next week no one can sing like Chris but we're just going to bring your vocals in and fake it and lipsync it anyone grateful for another brand new beautiful song That Just ministers to us woo I know a name I know a name if you got a Bible Luke chapter 7 is where I want you to turn you can stay standing for a moment as we read the word of God uh Merry Christmas everyone Christmas came early I'm covered by the blood of Jesus this is very red I think
um extremely r read but uh it's a bold move for a bold sermon Luke 7 starting in verse 11 it says this soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Na and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him and as he approached the Town Gate a dead person was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a large crowd from the town was with her when the Lord saw her his heart went out to her and he said don't cry can we just say that out
loud say don't cry don't cry then he went up and he touched the beer they were carrying him on and the bearer Stood Still he said young man I say to you get up the dead man sat up and began to talk and Jesus gave him back to his mother they were all filled with awe and they praised God a great prophet has appeared Among Us they said God has come to help his people and the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country I don't know about you but I know a name
today I know a name today I don't know what you walked in here with today but I believe God's presence is here God's power is here all of you watching online right now I know a name today and he's getting ready to reveal himself like never before in your life I'm already getting excited just reading this passage I got a good sermon today but I already feel it springing up on the inside of me I I want to preach for a few moments if I can today from the subject God works in mysterious ways God
works in mysterious ways and would you pray with me Lord we thank you for your word we thank you that it's a Al that it's active God we thank you that it's more relevant today than it ever has been God in shaky times and scary times and uncertain times Lord we look to your word for something stable and true that we can stand upon Lord I pray for everybody that's here at elevation today the entire eam who's joining us by way of online Lord today we ask that you'd minister to us that you'd speak to
us that you would remind us of that powerful name the name of Jesus we pray all these things in the name of Jesus and if you agree with that prayer all of God's people said all of God's people said if you love Jesus one more time give him a big big shout all over this place all right high five a few people people tell them God is working say God is working in the chat right now tell them God is working God is working would anybody agree with me that life is a mystery I mean
life is uh mysterious I I think about that old expression the more I know the less I understand some of y'all saying amen pastor honestly it's like I just turned um 40 this past year thank you um and honestly even the older I get sometimes I'm like man some things are just still complicated I'm still learning stuff I'm still trying to understand stuff and I could give you a lot of examples but let's just use one uh right now in front of us it's like airplanes for instance uh I fly on airplanes a whole lot
in fact um I have flown three million air miles with American Airlines I I'm pretty much on staff except I pay them and they don't pay me and uh but it's like fun like I fly all the time but I'm still like I still don't get stuff I still have questions that's probably a good way to say it the other day I was flying and um this was just like two weeks ago and I had my iPad my iPad has one of those keyboards and I'm out typing on my iPad and the steward as she
walks by and she says sir um you're going to uh we're getting ready for for landing you got to put the iPad you can keep the iPad out but you got to put the keyboard away I was like why and she goes oh it's not safe I go not safe I I don't understand what what what's what's that Jeopardy here with the keyboard being out but this happens all the like right think about like I usually fly um I I I don't fly I usually fly second class you know you know what I'm talking about
in the back hello second class and uh sometimes when you're in second class you know you got the seats and they don't give you much room right it's like here and here preaching to someone today here and here same thing I got questions they walk by Sir um you going have to put your seat up for landing why oh it's not safe excuse me yeah it's not safe you mean safe unsafe safe unsafe these are questions just a few weeks ago I I took off 45 minutes late but we landed on time I'm walking out
I say oh ma'am we took off 45 minutes late how did we get here on time she said oh that's easy the pilot just flew faster he can do that how come he doesn't always do that is there a speed limit we're all unaware of all right so so four weeks ago I'm flying back from Birmingham is a true story The Unthinkable the unmanageable the unexpected took place this has never happened to me I've been flying with this Airline for 20 some years I get up to go to the bathroom and friends when I go
into the bathroom I get locked in the bathroom now let's just be honest like none of us usually go to the bathroom going oh I'm never going to get out of here I'm in the lavatory that's what they called on an airplane and um I'm stuck I'm trying to get out but like I'm kind of putting some pressure on the door and like I don't know for you like how long before you cry out for help I'm like I can figure this out I can figure this out but I don't know it it's probably only
like a minute but it felt like I I started having a p panic attack like I got to get out of here I start you guys I start screaming out somebody help me I'm stuck in the bathroom to my amazement and to my shock an elderly uh woman flight attendant came and I don't know if she was like a she starts hitting this door with a with a force that like boom she breaks through the door you guys when I come out of the bathroom the entire plane is clapping I didn't know what to do
I just embraced her and said thank you my savior questions things this is a mystery how come the more I know the less I understand and it leaves me in this place and honestly it's funny but this is sort of how life works that you can just kind of be going on your journey 30 years 40 years 50 years 60 years and you might be getting a handle on life then all of a sudden something comes something happens happens and you find yourself stuck you find yourself trapped you find yourself in a place and sometimes
we have the strength to break through the silence but some of us even in this room today and some of us watching online right now we find ourselves in a place that what we're going through is so difficult that we can't even muster out a whisper it's not just life that's mysterious how many you know faith is mysterious yeah like what I'm discovering is that The Closer I Get to God the more I recognize just how far away I was to begin with which means that like maturity in Jesus ought not to lead to spiritual
superiority maturity in Jesus leads us to a place of deep humility and I think a humble thing that you and I both can do is humility is when our faith actually has questions maybe you're here today and you're going I'm going through life and I have faith but I have questions so do I I do this for a living I have questions sometimes I look around and going yeah why do do bad things happen to good people how about this why do good things happen to bad people how come some doors open automatically and then
some just stay shut it seems like forever yeah H how come sometimes I can pray and pray and pray and nothing turns around but then there's other areas of my life where there's great breakthrough or great Miracles and there wasn't even a petition uttered how about this this one hits home for me how come I can go and preach on stages of thousands of people and watch hundreds of people respond to the gospel yet sometimes the people closest to my life it's like their heart stays hard come on anybody ever got some questions when it
comes to Faith I do not think that questions are offensive to God I want to encourage someone today who walked in here with some questions in their faith that you're going through a difficult time God is Not intimidated by your questions in fact as you begin to serve the Lord what you'll realize is that questions don't have to Define your faith they can refine your faith in fact when it comes to questions it's that yo Faith does not eliminate questions but Faith reroutes where I take my questions to come on anybody believe that we have
the answer we have the hope we can bring them to God after all a question mark is just an exclamation mark been out of shape I'm hoping by the end of this message that some of you who've walked in here with questions it's not that your question will be immediately removed but you might be saying why am I here but by the end of this message you're going to take that question and turn it into a declaration I am here for such a time as this can I get a witness in this house if you
got some faith in the room today life is a mystery faith is a mystery and really all of meaning in life is when you lean into the Mysteries when you bring your questions before God and you find meaning in whatever mystery you are up against I I believe our text today is a beautiful beautiful story around the mystery of God um let me try to put it into some context really quick Luke chapter 7 our text begin saying soon afterward and I think that's important that when you start studying the Bible you always go what
what what just happened well Jesus was in Capernaum we didn't read it today but he was in Capernaum and while he was there that's his ministry headquarters he's preaching and teaching and uh a Roman official Centurion sends word to Jesus that his servant is sick and he says can you come to my house well Jesus starts making his way to the centurion's house and then all of a sudden the Centurion sends out more leaders or servants and he sends the word saying hey I know who you are and I believe you have great Authority and
I don't even need you to come to my roof if you'll just say the word I believe my servant can be made well which by the way this is a great lesson because leadership is never seen in your presence it's always seen in your absence great power is not that I have to shout and yell at someone great power is when I can whisper and it begins to change things around the Bible says that Jesus was amazed at this man's Faith yeah in fact he's so amazed that instantly he heals the man although he doesn't
even go and pray for the man would you believe there's only two times in Scripture that Jesus is amazed it's this moment right here the second time is in Mark chapter CH 6 he's amazed because he's in his hometown and in his hometown they're very familiar with him and they got questions isn't this the Carpenter's boy isn't this the guy who was from Nazareth he can't be the Messiah and the Bible says that Jesus was unable to do many miracles and he was amazed listen to this at their lack of faith there's only two ways
that you amaze Jesus it's either faith on or no faith on and I want to encourage someone because maybe you think faith is measured by your church attendance maybe you think faith is measured by how many scriptures you have memorized maybe you think faith means I never fall or never have a question no my friend that is not the measurement of great faith great faith is simply measured when you take God at his word God if you said it I believe it Jesus if you said I could do it I want to do it I
believe today that in this room there is great faith if that's you in this house clap your hands make a little bit of noise I want great faith if you said it I believe it's going to happen and so the Bible says that soon after this moment this great miracle Jesus and his crew start heading 20 miles away to another town and the town is called na everyone say na n and as Jesus is entering into the town of Na there is another crew exiting the city so just get this picture Jesus is party is
entering the city and then we see there's a funeral party exiting the city two conflicting crowds colliding this crowd that Jesus is encountering is far different from his crowd Jesus's crowd is celebrating they're happy they're excited but this other crowd is a funeral procession that name by definition means a beautiful place and I think sometimes about my city they say about Miami that uh Miami is a sunny on the outside but Shady on the inside but I think n like Miami like Charlotte like wherever you're tuning in from today is a picture of life that
so often we can look good on the outside but on the inside there's deep Affliction there's deep Brokenness there's deep hurt Affliction by definition means be stuck in a state of suffering help I'm locked in the bathroom are you Afflicted today are you stuck in something today I want to remind people I love the spirit in this house and I love the spirit that's honestly right now going through these cameras as people are watching but we're living in name that in this room even right now this is life someone can be winning and someone can
be losing someone can be really happy and someone can also be really hurting someone can be celebrating and somebody can be Mourning I I think about some of you just here right now like let's just never ever forget all the people in the room let's never forget all the people that are getting this ministry today someone today a baby is being born while somebody else is burying their father someone's getting ready for a marriage this week and somebody else just got a divorce this week somebody is celebrating a birthday and somebody else is headed to
a funeral I I see it because it hits me and every time we walk into a room like this we've got to be aware that there's all sorts of different stories colliding and conflicting but I don't know about you if you're like me I'm looking at this story and I'm saying yo what a Divine appointment because if you're headed to a funeral can you imagine is you're headed to a funeral that somehow you have a collision with Christ see this is prophetic for someone today because many times when you Collide With Jesus you don't even
know that he's on the way to you you're headed to the funeral but he's headed to invade your life see today we didn't come just to tell you about the problem we didn't just come to talk about your Affliction we came to remind you that there is an answer to your Affliction come on there's an antidote to your Affliction oh I know a name and his name is Jesus Christ King of Kings and he can turn your story around I want to encourage you maybe today you're stuck in something and you feel like I don't
see any help on the way I remember when I was um in college I had this experience where I saw this I saw this guy get hit by a car now that doesn't sound funny but it was actually hilarious you say tell me okay so here's the story so I'm in college probably my sophomore year and this dude is walking with his with his girlfriend and I can tell just by the way he's walking that it's like puppy dog love you know those early stages love that that's a real right there that kind of love
you know they're walking and he's just got way too much swag in his step you know falling in love is is crazy CU how many know like guys we all have a different voice when we're falling in love dudes are all like yeah what's up bro all right all right yeah yeah yeah what up yeah by the way you're like what did he just say every guy in this room knows what I just said but all of a sudden the phone rings you know and it's like his it's like his new girlfriend ha oh yeah
yeah Ring Ring Hey babe what's up have you experienced it as like an upper octave hey what's going on yeah hey cool yeah no I'm just hanging with the guys yeah just hanging with the guys my wife and I we just celebrated 18 years of marriage holler at your boy and I remember when I was an 18-year-old fallen in love with her we on the phone at night yeah I miss you no I miss you it's like all right we got to go [Music] no no no no never say no no don't go all right
we got to hang up oh I hate it okay on three we're going to hang up you promise promise okay babe no I miss you okay ready one two three are you still there it's falling in love it's mysterious so this dude is totally in love okay they're walking how do I know they're in love cuz he's walk they got their fingers laced that's always a sign right how many y'all know you you only Lac fingers with your girl you ever been in a church service the pastor's like hey join hands with your neighbor you're
like Noah bro I'm married I don't want to don't lace fingers with me you know like that's stop they're they're walking this this is true story they're walking gets to the crosswalk he's like all right I'm across the street bye girl walks out on the crosswalk way too cool a car a car hits this man when it hits him he rolls over the hood Falls and somehow by the grace of God lands on his feet the only thing is is he tried to act like he didn't get hit by a car car he tried to
walk it out like nothing just happened yo you can't do that you can't be walking Bo up over the thing land on your feet now walk it out now walk it out I I'm way too Petty for that I had to run across the street like bro you just got hit by a car and what he said to me has always stuck with me he said I know I didn't see it coming yeah yeah yeah and so many of us that's how life happens I didn't see it coming I wasn't expecting it I didn't anticipate
it I didn't see that suffering I didn't see that pain I didn't see that Affliction and there is no doubt that pain can hit your life fast but I want to encourage you today that God can hit your life even faster do you know we serve the god of suddenly that when God shows up he shows up without warning when God wants to do something in your life he does so in an unexpected way in an instant he can invade your Darkness all at once he can interrupt your funeral and he can show up and
say I've come to cancel the funeral somebody give God some Praise In This Place he cancels funerals I know a name so here's this moment it's not a coincidence 15 minutes earlier 15 minutes later he would have missed them one crowd's headed to the cemetery Jesus is headed to the city and it's not a car crash but rather it's a collision with Christ she didn't even see it coming she wasn't even expecting it and the Bible says that when Jesus sees her his heart begins to break for her in fact he looks at this woman
and he says don't cry this is the Heart of Jesus please notice she hasn't even opened up her mouth This Woman's crying and I think that we ought to just take a moment and say she's got good reason to cry as we find out this isn't her first funeral this isn't her first setback she's already buried her husband which in that time period to not have a husband is one of the most difficult tragic things you could go through because all of your power position all of your livelihood would have come from your husband but
this woman has a plan she has a one and only son that all all of her hopes all of her dreams are in this boy but now her plans have died what do you do when your plans in your dreams die oh can I encourage you today as Believers in Jesus our trust is not in a plan our trust is in a man I know his name because watch this this woman doesn't know it but her only son is getting ready to meet God's only son one is alive and he's destined to Die the other
is dead but he's destined to live oh the mysteries of God God works in mysterious ways someone's like that's right Pastor my Bible says God works in mysterious ways except for the fact that it doesn't say that that's nowhere actually in the Bible uh now the word mystery is all over the Bible Colossians would remind us that we have this mystery which is Christ in US Revelation would remind us that God will accomplish his will and it's a mystery Mysteries all throughout the Bible and although this phrase never shows up in the text we can
see this truth all over it the phrase actually comes from an English poet in the late 1700s his name was William cper and William cper as he tells his own story uh was dealing with a deep depression he was stuck in Affliction and one night he decided he was going to end his life and so he marched down to the river tames and he was going to drown himself but while he was there he kept seeing a figure walk on the ridgel line somewhat feeling like he wasn't in a place of privacy he decided I'm
going to go back to my house and I'll do the deed in my own home and as he recounts his story he would say that three different times he tried to take his life but every time listen to this every time he attempted to take his life he said something was stopping him from doing doing it he described it as the Invisible Hand some years later he got saved he ended up being discipled by Jonathan Newton the writer of Amazing Grace and Newton would encourage him to take his gift of poetry and give it back
over to God and to begin to write melodies by putting theology to Melody and his greatest hymn is a hymn called God moves and the first stanza of that himym is God works in mysterious ways I don't know if it ministers to you but it ministers to me because the Invisible Hand is a great way to describe God at work who else placed the stars in the sky the Invisible Hand come on who else sets the tides in motion who else H has them rise and fall perfect who set the clock the invisible hand did
God is at work I just look all over nature and see the mystery you ever thought about a a butterfly I don't know if you know you know a butterfly starts as a caterpillar no Rich we didn't know that well you ought to know it but who told this this caterpillar yo can you see the caterpillar I don't think I belong in the dirt I think I'm called to fly really who told you that and then the caterpillar goes from the dirt and he wraps himself up in a cocoon but it's the Invisible Hand after
21 days this ground little insect comes out like a beautiful colorful butterfly flying in the air what about a seed a seed get gets buried in the dirt and it looks like the story is all over but then the Invisible Hand reaches down into that dirt and reminds that seed you're not buried come on somebody you're planted and I will bring you out David said and he Lifted Me Out of the myy pit out of that slimy pit he put my feet on a solid rock he put a new song in my mouth anybody got
a new song today go ahead lift up your praise the Invisible Hand is always at work it's mysterious but in Luke 7 the Invisible Hand materializes into the physical hand of Jesus Christ for at just the right moment in this mysterious way he shows up to this funeral party and he looks at this woman and he says don't cry that I would encourage you if you go to a funeral don't look at somebody and tell them not to cry that would be insensitive but when Jesus says it he's not being insensitive it's because he plans
to turn the situation around he plans to turn it around here's what I notice I don't know if this will minister to you but it so speaks to me this woman never even asked Jesus for help what if I told you his love for you outweighs your faith in him what if I I told you that Jesus even acts even when you don't ask my Bible says he's close to the Brokenhearted he's always with us but I think when you're in pain when you're in suffering he gets even closer some of us today we people
of faith I believe Faith speaks I believe Faith talks I believe Faith proclaims but I just want to remind you about a god who's always been acting on your behalf long before you ever asked him to do anything you didn't ask him to rise the sun this morning my Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust you didn't ask him to put air in your lungs but Every Breath You Take he put it there that's what I love about praise and worship we're just giving God his breath back that's why I got to
say something that's why I got to sing while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly when we were cursing his name when we were running from him Jesus Christ hung from that tree shed his blood we stretched him wide we hung him high but he said father forgive them for they know not what they're doing somebody thank God if you're grateful that he asks even when you don't have the strength to ask and he walks over and as he walks over the Bible says that he he touches the stretcher the Invisible Hand becomes
the physical hand it's mysterious and everybody stops what's happening wait a minute you can't touch this dead thing this this is the Theology of the day that a rabbi can't touch something dead because that would make them unclean the only thing is that Jesus is not some regular Rabbi the only thing is that Jesus is not just some mere man the only thing today is that we haven't gathered for principles we haven't gathered philosophy we've gathered to encounter the Living God that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he can do what he pleases
and when he touches the stretcher he's telling you and I I'm not afraid of your Affliction I'm not afraid of the thing that's decaying the thing that you've been hiding I know some of us we've exposed our hurts we've exposed our pains and people have run from it but Jesus says with just one touch I can handle your pain I can touch your mess in fact God works greatness through our mess and he touches the stretcher and everyone stops and watch what Jesus says Jesus says get up someone say get up get up someone say
get up get up because this is a prophecy for your life today get up you do know that um when God wants something done he just speaks like when God wants to create something he speaks it to you in the beginning God created the heavens in the Earth and the Earth was formless and void and darkness was over the Earth and what did God do God said let there be be and with his words nothing became something one night he's on a storm and he's asleep on a cushion and the disciples are freaking out oh
we're going to die we're stuck we're stuck this is bad where's Jesus they find Jesus asleep do you even care if we drown Jesus wakes up doesn't shout comes out on the front of the boat peace be still and immediately someone say immediately iMed the storm settles in fact the text says that they were afraid in the storm but then they became terrified when it was completely calm afraid in the storm terrified in the calm why would that be maybe it's because they just witnessed the storm's match [Music] I need to speak to someone today
who's hurting God is not mean but he is dangerous and storms have to stop when he simply speaks he doesn't have to let out more than a whisper but if he whispers into your situation that which is turbulent that which is full of obstacles that which looks like it is dead Jesus can whisper and that thing can settle that thing can come back to life I need to build your faith today can you clap your hands and make a little bit of noise If you're receiving this word [Applause] Jesus gets word that his best friend
is so sick he's about to die they send a letter the one you love is about to die and Jesus says this sickness will not end in death and then he waits two more days see can you trust that God is working even while you're waiting he waits two more days when he finally shows up to the home of Lazarus we discover that Lazarus has been dead for four days and when he gets there Martha is going if you had only been here my brother would not have died I love the scripture it's the shortest
scripture if you're looking one to memorize you can still memorize one in 2024 Jesus wept it's a powerful scripture because what you see is you see Jesus say before I exercise my authority I'm going to exercise my empathy because Authority without empathy is cheap I don't know what you're going through but Jesus weeps you might be going through hell in high water but Jesus weeps he knows knows how you feel he senses your pain he's drawn to it he cares about it and he looks at Martha and says yo Martha I am the resurrection and
the life what does that mean it means I don't just do Resurrection no it's my very nature when things get around me I don't care how long they've been dead 4 days 50 days 20 years they have to come back to life am I preaching to anybody on a Sunday morning dead things come coming back to life and he gets to the cemetery and he says roll the stone away and then he looks into that tomb and what does he say Lazarus come forth it's important that he was so specific with naming Lazarus had he
not named Lazarus every dead thing in that Cemetery would have come walking out like a Michael Jackson Thriller video I'm trying to preach to someone dead things are coming back to life at his word it's mysterious I can't explain it it's Unthinkable it's unimaginable God works in mysterious ways and what does he say he says Get Up and imagine that boy just sat up whoa notice this because this is practical that many times when God says get up what is he saying he's saying you have to change your position so I can shift your perspective
see there's some people in this room that have caught a revelation that I clap my hands I lift my hands sometimes I stand up on my feet why am I doing I'm changing my position so I can shift my perspective so much of Life wants to bury you so much of Life wants to Usher you to the funeral but have you ever noticed like down here down here I I I can't see all that good down here I have one perspective down here I feel the weight of the world I'm not going to make it
I'm overwhelmed but then God says get up and I get up and I say wait a minute greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world down here I'm just trying to survive oh Jesus bring Friday I got to get to the weekend yo I'm not going to make it but then God says get up and I go wait a minute I'm not a Survivor I'm more than a conqueror I'mma preach it till somebody else feels this down here I don't have the strength I'm not enough I feel thin I
feel anxious I'm too weak but then God says get up and when I get up I get his perspective wait a minute I can do all I said all things through Christ who strengthens me oh we're going to get someone today down here I'm overcome by fear down here I don't know what's going to happen to America down here I don't know what's going to happen to my family down here I don't know what's going to happen to my kids but then God says get up and when I get up my perspective is shifted yay
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil God has not given me a spirit of fear but of love and of power and a sound mind baby someone say get up up oh I know about a god who's taken me to mountain tops I know about a god who's taken me to Grace I know about a god who's taken me to Miracles but I also know about a god who's taken me down into the valley but let me testify from the valley he's only ever taken me to
the valley he always has brought me through he always brings me to the other side anybody got some Faith God's bringing you [Music] through someone say get up you got to get up to get a new perspective you can grab a seat I promise I'm finished I'm finished but grab a seat cuz I'm going to really preach [Music] it get up get up get up get up get up get up get up get up I can't help but lift my hands I'm not lifting my hands cuz I feel it I'm lifting my hands cuz I
know it I can't help but shout I'm not shouting because I've got goosebumps I'm shouting because I'm putting my faith as an exclamation mark and a declaration that although it's not done yet I believe God is working he's mysterious and the Bible says the boy starts talking and I don't know what he said doesn't tell us in the scripture but I imagine it's something like this thank you for all of our Spanish speakers Gracias my favorite Nation Brazil alri put that in the chat right now Abado Brazilian flags all over the chat thank you thank
you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you they all started worshiping the boy was resurrected the funeral was cancelled and the future was conceived it's mysterious and the Bible says they all begin to praise God because that's what you do that's what we do on Sundays when Jesus acts praise reacts I don't care if it's a new song or not I got a song in my heart it's not my song it's God's song I can't stay quiet I got to lift my hands I got to lift my voice
Jesus has acted mightily in my life they begin to praise saying a great prophet has come let me draw your attention to Luke chapter 7 this is Eugene Peterson's paraphrase and it just spoke to me I think it's going to speak to you Luke chapter 7 see if you catch it verse 16 they all realized they were in a place of holy mystery that God was at work among them watch says they were quietly worshipful and then noisily grateful calling out among themselves God is back looking after the needs of his people and then the
news of Jesus spread it just lands right there for me that every week We Gather this is mysterious we have no idea what God is doing right now in the Supernatural we have no idea the seed of Faith that's being planted in your heart wherever you're tuning in from right now it's mystery it's a holy mystery it's a mystery in Charlotte it's a mystery in the epam it's a mystery in Miami and notice the marks of a mystery quietly worshipful and then noisily grateful do you ever notice this in worship you ever noticed this when
God shows up there's these times where it's just a whisper oh wow God God thank you God thank you you saved my marriage God you saved my kids oh God thank you but then there's other times I don't care if you're Pentecostal or not that you start getting noisily grateful I can't help it I've got to testify I have a reason to praise God if I don't praise Him woo the rocks will cry out in my place but but but other times other times oh god oh Jesus to God be still and know I know
you're with me I know you're here I know you're at work it's mysterious I know I can't see it right now I know I feel stuck I know I don't have the strength to shout but God I sense you and then all of a sudden it flips around into a noisily grateful moment oh I might not be where I want to be but thank God I'm not where I used to be I was deaf but now I here I was blind but now I see I was lost but I've been found I was dead but
I'm alive it it's mysterious it's mysterious don't underestimate it it's not hype it's not sensationalism it's not emotionalism it's the mystery of God at work it's the Invisible Hand sweeping through the room it's touching you it's catching your tears God is here God is working God is here God is working in fact can you help me grab a seat we're done we're done I promise I promise I I follow the clock I just want to try to illustrate this for somebody this side of the room you're going to help me preach this side right here
try this say God is here here no whisper not you guys you're way too aggressive say God is here one more time any Pentecostals in the room today all right you know your part God is working God is working one more time God is working this [Music] side Pentecostals I'm doing that because I don't know how you need to hear it today [Applause] [Music] but God sent me from Miami to tell you whether it's a whisper or a shout he's going to remind you he's mysterious this is my life this is your life I remember
when we first started our church we couldn't find a place to meet we're up in my apartment just trying to start a church and it was scary it was frightening but we had this sense we were praying we were hoping all we could say is God is here we finally found a building we were so grateful a little Middle School in Winwood we started with one service and all we could say was God is here but that thing began to grow in the Invisible Hand started to build that church for if we labor in vain
it won't work but God build his house it went from one service to two service three four five six we had an 800 p.m. sir y'all you haven't been to church until you went to church at 8:00 p.m. at night trust me everybody at Vu church was shouting I remember my wife when she turned 25 years of age the doctor said it's going to be almost impossible for you to to have children it was crazy for us to hear because she's one of seven I'm one of four and it was scary and we were crying
and we were worried but we had this sense God is here and years went by it wasn't like one Sunday and wow I'm good it was word after word it was Pastor stepen write another song Pastor Stephen I need another word but we just kept saying God is here but after eight years eight is the number of new beginnings new beginnings hit our house my wife became pregnant we were shouting and can I just testify today at the ripe age of 40 years of age four weeks from today my wife will give birth to our
fourth all we can shout was [Applause] this time last year my father my hero my pastor the man I've all always wanted to be like got diagnosed with a rare blood cancer it was scary who's going to take care of my mom what's going to happen to his church I'm not enough but there was this sense it wasn't a shout it was a whisper and we prayed and we fasted and all we can say is God is here God is here he went into a six-month quarantine he had a stem cell transplant and this past
August the doctors not understanding at all unexplainable unexpected they gave him a clean bill of health trust me everybody in Miami and all of the world is Shout what are we shouting what do you say what do you believe say it louder say it so somebody can hear it God is working God is here God works in mysterious ways and I sense something dead is coming back to life today I know a [Music] name come alive hey thank you for watching the Elevation Church YouTube I want you to subscribe that way you can know when
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