Charlie Hughes - How to get through what your going through - GOD HAS BETTER!

Is anybody glad to be at Church by the Glades today? Can you make some noise? Hey, keep your hands going for our guest worship leader, Roosevelt Stewart. Come on, help me thank Roosevelt, leaving his busy life in Tulsa to come hang out with us for a weekend. One of my best friends, my dearest friends, and it doesn't help that he's a pretty good worship leader too. So, so glad to have Roosevelt here. Welcome to Church by the Glades. If we've never met before, my name is Pastor Charlie Hughes, and I lead the young adult movement of this church called Rally. And I don't know if you heard or not, but this past week, the young adults in South Florida had the biggest event of the year called Rally Loud. We saw young adults by the thousands meet us at First Baptist Fort Lauderdale on Thursday and Friday. And last night in this room, Saturday night, we saw God do what only he can do. Hundreds of people gave their life to Jesus over the course of those three days. I don't think you heard what I said. I said hundreds of people gave their life to Jesus over the course of those three days. Dozens got baptized, but I'm believing God still has more that he wants to do.

Anybody else? Did you come to have an appointment with King Jesus today? Did you come to hear from God? If you did, put your hands together, Church by the Glades. Come on now. I refuse to preach by myself today. Let's have some fun. If you'd allow me, I'd like to start by telling you a story. Can I tell you a story? Can I tell you a brutally honest story? Will you judge me if I tell you this story? Okay, good. Thank you for saying no. I was afraid someone was gonna say yes once again. Okay, I'm trusting you with this. Don't you judge me. Three years ago, I met a girl in the courtyard of a friend's church, and this girl was so beautiful that I got so nervous that when I met her, all I said to her was just my name. So after meeting her, I did what any young man of God would do. Went on Instagram, I DMed her, and I asked her to dinner. Can I get an amen? She agreed. We went to dinner, but at this dinner with her, I learned something about her that I did not know about her when I first met her, and it was this. She did not live in Florida. She was from Florida,

but she was not currently living in Florida. She was living and working in Boston. She was just in Florida when I met her because she was visiting family, and this posed a problem for young 22-year-old Charlie Hughes at the time because I currently was not trying to do long distance, but at the same time and in the same breath, I was quickly discovering on this date that not only was this girl gorgeous, but she was godly, and I loved her personality. I felt like I was on a date with a unicorn, people, and so while she was in town, we saw each other nearly every day. Even when she went back to Boston, we stayed texting pretty much every day, and we'd FaceTime pretty much every single night, but because, and forgive me for this, because I was a young, dumb, immature 22-year-old with a lot of growing yet to do. For whatever reason, I couldn't tell you why even now. I don't know why, but I decided against my better judgment to end things because I still did not wanna do long distance, and even though she was not officially my girlfriend at this point, we had been on a handful of dates, so I felt like it warranted an in-person conversation to truly, honestly, actually tell her, it's not you, it's me, I just don't wanna do long distance, but at the same time, because we'd been talking

for like two months now and been texting and FaceTiming and all that, I didn't want this conversation that I wanted to have with her in person to blindside her. I didn't want it to catch her off guard and potentially hurt her, so I said, you know what, I'm gonna do this to kind of give her a heads up that maybe a convo's coming. I'm gonna start gently, gradually pulling back, just not text her back as fast, not call her as frequently, but what I did not consider nor calculate because I was a young, dumb, immature 22-year-old is that when I began pulling back, I didn't think that, I didn't know when I would next see her in person, and she responded to me pulling back with pulling back herself, and it just got to the point over time where we just weren't talking at all anymore, which means, and don't judge me for this, I can tell some of you are already judging me, I accidentally, I promise you, this is the truth, I accidentally ghosted her because it was not on purpose. I have since coined this as a holy ghost stink. Thank you for laughing at my corny preacher joke because really, it wasn't intentional, it wasn't on purpose, and I actually felt terrible about this,

and I think God's punishment for me allowing things to go down like they did was this. Like 12 weeks later, she moved back to Florida. If I just would've held out for like three, four months, we could've been together in person. Months later, I actually would get the opportunity to apologize to her face-to-face, and she was very understanding, very cool, very kind, very forgiving, I thought that was very big of her, but at the same time, I was not picking up the vibe that she wanted to try things again, and I didn't blame her for this. Thank you for laughing at my pain, Jean. And I didn't blame her, and honestly, I hope this makes sense, I didn't really feel like I had the peace at the time to pursue her once again. It's take it or leave it, fellas. But in my humble opinion, I think when you try something with a girl and things don't end well, and it's your fault that things did not end well, then if you ever wanna circle back around and try out things again with that girl, you better have more peace and you better have more certainty about the situation the second time than you did the first time. Because if not, then you could be playing with someone's heart and you can hurt them. And I cared enough about her, too much about her, to potentially risk that.

I didn't feel like I had the peace I needed to circle back around. So we both wished each other the best and have a nice life and we both really moved on emotionally. Months later, I heard that she had gotten in a relationship. Meanwhile, I remained single because I guess God wasn't done punishing me just yet. And about a year after this all began, about a year after I met her, the church she attends, they put on a giant event that's like over the course of a few days in the arena that the University of Miami plays basketball in. I was speaking at the event, but as I was there sitting in a session and one of my friends was preaching, I had a moment that really, really, really struck me and was important to me. My friend who was preaching, her and her husband, they went through an eight-year journey of infertility where they were unable to conceive and have a kid. And she was sharing a story, a moment that took place during these eight years of when an older woman from their church approached her with a letter, with a note that read, God hears you, He knows the desires of your heart, and in His perfect timing, He's going to give you what it is that you're asking for. But for now, there's work to do. And that really resonated with me

because this was the very message that I've been preaching to myself over the years during my journey of waiting, during my journey of obviously not infertility, but singleness. Since I was in high school, I'm the guy who prayed for his future wife and while other people would be getting in relationships and seeing progress in their love life, I never did see much progress. I've never had been in a relationship. And over the years, this would confuse me and frustrate me, and I'd have a lot of questions for God. But at the point in time that I heard my friend share her story of what someone said to her during a period of time where she was waiting for different reasons, I was kind of feeling the same thing. And I was encouraging myself with the same truth that Charlie, right now, God has you waiting because God has you working. I was a newly ordained pastor and I knew that honestly at this point in time, I don't have the capacity to be in a relationship. Either I wouldn't be able to be the pastor that I wanted to be or I wouldn't be able to be the boyfriend that I wanted to be. And so I knew that at the right time, God would bring me the right girl when I could handle it all

but for now, God had me waiting because God had me working. I knew that was the truth, but I can't explain it. As I was listening to my friend share this, her story, her experience, the same truth that I've been encouraging myself with. I wasn't asking for it. I wasn't looking for it. I did not even pray to God for it. But the peace and the certainty, I felt that I would need if I were to ever reach back out to this girl that I had holy ghosted a year prior, I felt like I received it in a moment, in an instant. God did not audibly whisper in my ear or anything, say, this girl is your wife. No, nothing like that. Don't you try that with someone after the service. I just felt like I had a certainty that I didn't have up to this point. And I knew that if this girl was single somehow one day, I wanted another opportunity with her. And it was the kind of peace, I don't know if this will make sense to anyone, that I felt like I had to be obedient to and act on in that moment. I needed to talk to her. And as fate would have it, or maybe as God would have it, in this arena of thousands,

her and I were sitting relatively in the same section. And so when the sermon ended and when the service was over, I made my way to the bottom of the section, her and I were in, and I was waiting for her to make her way through this crowd, the sea of people. And I'm nervous. My palms are sweating. My heart is beating. I don't know what I'm gonna say to this girl. I'm just thinking, I gotta be obedient to this peace that I'm believing that God gave me. And right about when I'm mustering up the courage to speak to her and she's getting closer to me, my friend Allen from LA grabbed me and she walked right by me. And in that moment, I was like, okay, God heard you, my bad. Message received. Obviously that was not you. I just must be emotional in my feelings because that story I heard, that sermon I just heard, my bad God heard you loud and clear. That was not you. But yet I still had this peace that I didn't ask for. 50 minutes later, now I'm backstage in this arena and there's still people around, but not as many people around. And guess who I see walking by in the distance?

Her. And now I'm like, once again, okay, God, I hear you. This is you after all. Thank you very much. There's still people around, but not as many people around. This is actually a better opportunity to talk to her if I'm going to talk to her. So once again, not knowing what I'm gonna say, I'm still scared to death, but I'm mustering up the courage to take a step and go and speak to her. When I look a little closer. And I see that the guy she is dating is with her, and I watch them walk out of the arena together. Now I'm heartbroken. Now I'm depressed. Now God and I are fighting. I'm like, God, what is happening right now? I did not ask for this. I did not pray for this. I was not looking for this. But God, now all of a sudden, I have this peace, this certainty about her that I can't explain. I thought it was from you. But if it's from you, then how come you keep showing me what I can't have? 15 more minutes pass. For some reason, now I'm the only person in this arena.

I'm only still there because I'm waiting for my friend who is leading worship to finish changing so we can go to lunch. This arena is empty, and I'm standing in this hallway that is silent. It's a ghost town. I'm still just arguing with God in my head like, Lord, what is going on? What is happening? Why would you do this? When I kid you not, she walks by. It was just us. No one else in this arena, as far as I was aware, except us two. I felt like I was in a movie, people. I was like, if there's ever a moment to talk to her, this is it. So scared to death, not even knowing what I was gonna say. I said, hey, wait up. She turned around, walked over to me and said, hey, what's up? We were cool at this point. And I began apologizing to her once again about how things went down a year prior. She said, we already went through this. What is happening right now? And I said, because I promise you, my intention was not to try to break up a relationship.

I was just trying to be obedient to this peace that I believe that God gave me. I said, I know that you have a boyfriend, but if this guy turns out not to be your husband, I would love another opportunity with you. Yeah, I was surprised by me too. To which she replied, you and I are cool. There's no bad blood. I'm praying for you. Then she turned around and she walked away. That was two years ago now. Have you ever had a moment in your life when you're like, God, what was that? What was that? God, I feel like you've given me a peace, a picture, a dream, a desire for something in my life, but God, now you're not making it happen. God, what is happening? Lord, what are you doing? Has anyone ever felt this way before? Yes, same, me too. And this feeling and this tension and this coming frustration has actually been the topic of conversation all week at Rally Loud because our theme at Rally Loud this week was already, not yet, which is actually language that biblical scholars and theologians use to describe the kingdom of heaven that we are a part of as Christian people because how many know Jesus is already king?

How many know that? But yet at the same time, he has not yet returned to make his reign and his rule as obvious as it will be one day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. But I think this already, not yet language is also very descriptive of that, of a young adult's experience because for many of us that are college age and in our 20s and even in our early 30s, in many ways, we are not yet where we thought we'd be by now. I mean, I can't speak for anyone else, but when I was growing up in grade school, I thought by 18, I'll be married. By 22, I'll have a few kids. And by 30, forget it, ain't nobody gonna be able to tell me nothing. I'm gonna be a millionaire, rich, and famous, what's up? But if it's not your own childhood expectations that make you feel like you're not where you wanna be, then certainly this world's illusion of success will tell you that by now, you're not where you're supposed to be. And there's no age limit for that. Whether you're a young adult or just young at heart, we all know what it's like to be told by this world, this culture, this society that we live in, that by this age, you should be in this stage and your relationship status and your retirement fund and your net worth and your network

and the dollar amount and your bank account and all these different areas of life, and this world will tell you that if you're not yet there, then this means you're a failure and you have nothing to offer because not yet has this sneaky way of making us all feel like we're not enough. And I can't speak for anyone else, but in moments where I feel, when I feel like I'm not where I wanna be or not where I'm supposed to be, the question that makes me wanna ask God is, God, where are you? But I'm not just coming here today to give you a shoulder to cry on. I've come here today to give you truth to stand on because the truth is Jesus is closer than he seems and he's doing more than you know. That doesn't encourage anybody today. He's closer than he seems and he's doing more than you know. We're gonna be in John chapter 11. And somebody say John chapter 11. Where we find some people who can relate to this feeling of wondering where Jesus was and why he was not doing what they want him to do when they want him to do it, leaving them initially frustrated and confused. But I believe their story and their testimony is going to leave each and every single one of us today

encouraged and empowered to trust God and have faith in him. Does anybody want that to be your experience today? Do you want the word of God to do what only it can do in your life? Just the middle section, does anybody else want to see the word of God accomplish what it sets out to do in your life today? Let's read together John chapter 11 beginning in verse one, it reads this. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary was the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sister sent word to Jesus and said, Lord, the one you love is sick. When Jesus heard this, she just said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but okay. Continuing verse seven. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. Pick it up in verse 11. After he had said this, he went on to tell them,

our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up. Verse 12, his disciples replied, Lord, but if he sleeps, he will get better. Jesus had been speaking though of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. And so verse 14, Jesus then told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. We got to pause and call a timeout really quick because I am officially confused. In verse three, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. But now in verse 14, we just read that Lazarus has died. So which is it, Jesus? Will this sickness not end in death? Or is Lazarus dead? Both. Because Lazarus did die, but it also was not the end. And I think I have a word of encouragement for some people under the sound of my voice today. Specifically those of you who are currently navigating a worst case scenario kind of situation in your life. Like I'm talking, things have currently gone worse than you ever thought they could go. You just got fired. The divorce was just finalized. The test results just came back positive. I don't know what you're going through and please hear me. I'm so sorry for you, but I also want you to listen to me. And I also want you to look at me

because God might've had me write this sermon just for you. What you're going through, what you're experiencing right now, it may be the worst, but I've come to tell you, it won't be the ends. Because if you have Jesus, no matter how bad things may get, this is the promise the Bible makes to you. If you just be patient, if you just persevere, if you just put your trust in the Lord, Romans chapter eight, verse 28 tells you that God can use somehow, someway, even this for your good and for his glory. Let me give you the Charlie Hughes translation this morning. You might be in the middle of it, but it will not be the end of you because God is not done with you, not yet. Oh, that's right, not yet can be good news too. Maybe you haven't been healed, not yet. Maybe you haven't found a job, not yet. Maybe you haven't gotten pregnant, not yet. Maybe you haven't received your breakthrough, not yet. Maybe you haven't found your miracle, not yet, but do not confuse not yet with not ever. Do not confuse God's delay with God's denial. Do not confuse God's silence with God's absence. And do not confuse the middle with the end. They are not the same thing. With Jesus, if you are a Christian person, if your trust is in him, if your life is built on him, then the worst things can ever be for you is the middle

because this cannot, will not, won't be your end. I'm trying to encourage you today, Church by the Glades. In the middle is where Jesus does some of his best work. But oftentimes when we're in the middle of a situation that we don't wanna be in, we're too busy trying to negotiate with God and make a deal with God to recognize what God's trying to do. I mean, I can't speak for you, but I've been there saying to God, all right, God, you'll just meet me in the middle here and take me out of this situation I don't wanna be in and take me to where I wanna be. God, this is what I will give you in exchange. I'll never miss a Sunday at church ever again. I'll read my Bible every day. Lord, I will even pray before every meal. Do we have a deal? When maybe in all actuality, what we're doing is when we're trying to make a deal with God and we're praying to God, asking him to take us out of the situation. that we're in in exchange for something in return. What we're really doing is we're praying away the very thing that God wants to use to put something in us. And actually, it might just be the sooner you stop asking God to take you out of this situation, and the sooner you start asking God what he's trying to do in you, even in this situation, the sooner and the faster you might actually find yourself out of this situation. Now, I'm not saying that God has caused

whatever situation in your life you don't like and dread more than anything. I'm not saying that. All I'm submitting to your consideration and saying to you today is this. With Jesus, nothing you're walking through will ever be wasted. And I think Jesus has allowed this situation in your life to take place. He did not cause it, but he allowed it because he knows that there's something about this situation that you're in the middle of that will produce and develop within you muscle that you need. Because there's no teacher like pain. There's no classroom like disappointments. There's no curriculum like waiting. And there's something about struggle that produces strength that success never could. And to receive tomorrow's blessing with today's level of maturity, for this current version of you and for this current version of me, may cause us to experience as a burden what God wants us to experience as a blessing. Because make no mistake about it, what God has for you down the road, it's big. Oh, it's so big. But because it's big, it also means that it's heavy. It's going to come with its own headaches.

It's gonna come with its own frustrations. It's gonna come with its own struggles. And God loves you too much to let what he's called you to crush you. And so I think before God changes your circumstances, God first may be looking to strengthen your shoulders. And it will be where God has you now. Somebody say now. That God will use to prepare you for what it is that he has for you next. Somebody say next. Because the middle is not the end. And the middle is where Jesus does some of his greatest work. Put your hands together if you're starting to believe it today. But picking back up where we left off. Actually, verse 17, it reads this. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Lazarus had died. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem. And many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home. Catch this, Mary stayed home and she missed out on a moment with Jesus. That's why we encourage you to come to church each and every single week.

Because when you leave your house and when you get into this house, the house of God, you come to meet with Jesus and you never know what Sunday might just be your day to receive your miracle. I applaud you for being in church today and not staying home. But then she said, Lord, if you only had been here, my brother Lazarus would not have died. But verse 22, she says, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. This is powerful because make no mistake about it, in this moment, Martha is not happy with Jesus. Martha is mad at Jesus. Martha is disappointed in Jesus. Martha is confused by Jesus, but yet still Martha understands that she does not have to understand everything to still be certain and sure about some things. I want you to believe today that what you don't know does not make what you do know any less true. Martha said to Jesus, Jesus, if you just would have been here, my brother would not have died. That's confusion, that's frustration, that's disappointment. But then she says, but I know that even now whatever you ask your heavenly father to do, he will do it for you. That's faith. Because this may be hard to hear,

but I think it's good for you to hear it. Even if God never does what you want him to do, he still has the power to do it. Your prayers going unanswered does not make God any less powerful. Your circumstances not changing does not mean that God's faithfulness has. And so for this reason, I'll be so bold to say to you, because I love you, I think if God never does what you want him to do, Jesus would rather, like Martha, you blame him, than you stop believing in him. Because if in response to Jesus never doing what you want him to do, if you choose to blame him, instead of altogether no longer believing in him, then this means that you. believe that he could have done something for you. And I believe that then there will always be, at the very least, a small piece of you deep down that believes that he can still do something for you even now, whatever that might be. And I don't care if this piece of faith deep down on the inside of you is as small as a mustard seed, because our Bible tells us that faith, even as small as a mustard seed, is big enough to see mountains moved, is big enough to see giants fall, is big enough to see seas split,

and at some point in time, might even be crazy enough to say something like when Martha said, Lord, whatever, whatever you wanna do, would you do it? Do you hear the surrender in that church by the Eglise? Even after not getting what she wanted, even after Jesus refusing to answer her prayer, even after Jesus letting her brother die, Martha still had the trust in him to say, whatever, whatever you want, whatever you think is best, Jesus, whatever you wanna do, would you do it now? And I think that's an invitation for us today to have a whatever surrender of our own, to get on our knees at some point today when you get home and say, God, you know my dreams, you know my desires, you know my hopes and my ambitions and my plans for my future, but God, I surrender all of it over to you. I surrender my life over to you. And Jesus, because I trust you, I say to you as my God and my Lord, whatever, whatever,

whatever you wanna do, whatever you think is best, whatever your plan is, God, would you do it? Because I know that even if saying whatever to you means like Lazarus, my dream dying, that because you are a good God, you can still resurrect my joy and you can still resurrect my peace and you can still resurrect my hope in a way far greater and far better than I ever could have provided for myself when I see your dream for my life, not my dream, but your dream for my life come alive. Because hear me today, whenever God says no, it's because God knows better. It's God saving you from settling. It's God protecting you from what is not for you and protecting you from missing out on what is. And so I say to you today, Church by the Glaze, the church that I love, that if Jesus never does for you what you want for you, it can only mean one thing, one thing, one thing, that God has better, that God knows better, that God's plans for you

and God's dreams for you and God's desire for you and God's future for you, it is better. That's the only thing it can mean because he loves you. He wants what is best for you. You think God would go out of his way to make you just for you to live some mediocre, terrible life? No, the Bible tells that Jesus lived and he died to give you life and life abundantly, a life that is lived to the fullest, not a life that has lived 80%, not a life that has lived 90%, not a life that has even lived 99%. Jesus died for you to live in the fullness of what he has for you. But I know some of you hear that and you're like, but I like my dreams from you, Charlie. My dreams excite me. My dreams, they get me going. I'm sure your dreams for you are great, but I promise you what God has for you, it can't be worse, it has to be better because you might be a dreamer, but you're not a better dreamer than the God who dreamt you up. And the Bible tells us that he has dreams for you too,

dreams not to harm you, but dreams to prosper you, dreams to give you a hope and a future. I'm sure you're creative and your dreams are creative and they're big and they're great and they're grand, but you are not more creative than your creator. And as the God who made you, he knows not just what is better for you, but what is best for you. What will bring the greatest sense of purpose and pleasure to you? What will make all the pain? What will make all the crying? What will make all the tears? What will make all the waiting? What will make all the sleepless nights worth it to you? And I'll prove it to you because he did it for Mary and Martha too. What Mary and Martha wanted more than anything in John chapter two. Chapter 11 was for their brother Lazarus to be healed before it ever even got close to his death for Lazarus to get better But Jesus wanted to do better than Lazarus just getting better Because while they asked for a healing Jesus wanted to perform a resurrection And I'll go ahead and spoil the story on the fourth day of Lazarus being dead Jesus stood outside Lazarus's grave and with all authority in heaven and on earth as the God that he is Jesus said Lazarus come forth and Lazarus's dead body begins to animate with life once again His lungs once again begin to expand his heart once again begins to beat and Lazarus walks out of that grave good as New only our God only Jesus only God

Kindly in case it's still lost on you why a resurrection is a better greater miracle than a healing Let me say it like this. I don't know when the last time you checked was The last time I checked It's not the craziest thing ever for a sick person to get better. Don't get me wrong. It's a miracle I praise God for whenever a sick person gets better I pray all of them for all of you that any sickness in your body would leave you But this is something that happens quite often Sick people get better with medicine with doctors with hospitals. I thank God for all of it. It's not the craziest thing ever for a sick person to get better but last time I checked I Have never seen someone or heard of someone four days dead in the grave Get up out of the grave as if nothing happened and like it's no big deal just because someone else said to come out of there and I think Jesus knew That if he would have performed the miracle they preferred that if Jesus would have done what Mary and Martha wanted a healing instead of what he wanted a Resurrection that everyone who is there that witnessed the healing they wanted take place may have confused the miracle with a coincidence That they may have explained away what God did with just good timing that maybe they would not have Articulated it with their mouths what they would have thought in their minds. Yeah Lazarus got better and Jesus was there but between you and me I really think that Lazarus would have got better whether Jesus was there or not. I think Jesus knew that people may have thought this and believed this if he chose just to heal Lazarus and so instead on the fourth day of Lazarus being dead with his body beginning to stench with his flesh beginning to decompose with a 2,000 pound Stone sealing the entrance to his grave with all authority in heaven and on earth Lazarus Dead in the grave Jesus said to him Specifically Lazarus come forth because you got to believe what the authority in Jesus voice If he just would have said come forth Then every dead thing and every dead person in that graveyard would have had to get up out of their grave

But because he said Lazarus come forth dressed up like a mummy Lazarus waddled out of this grave alive and well once again Because by resurrecting Lazarus Instead of healing Lazarus this left no room for no friend or Pharisee No skeptic or subscriber nor hater or believer to confuse the miracle as a coincidence To label it as luck to mistake it as happenstance to explain it away Which is good timing on Jesus part But rather actually instead every single person who witnessed what Jesus did would have had to recognize that what happened Could have only been the result of an almighty God doing what only an almighty God can do Meaning every single person there would have had to realize whether they liked it or not that Jesus must not just be some guy with a few cool party tricks He must not just be some guy that's able to somehow turn water into wine and turn a few Fish and crackers into enough food to feed the whole party He must actually be who people have been saying he is the rumors must actually be true He must actually be the prophesied Messiah. He must actually be the word made flesh He must actually be the one who was and is and is to come He must actually be the one true living God And so I've come on assignment to church by the glaze to tell you that maybe God has let some things in your life Seem so dead and seem so done so finished and so final so far beyond the point of repair and resurrection So that way when God finally shows up and does do what only he can do in your life Not what you want for you But what he wants for you that when everyone sees what he does for you They will have to understand that what he does for you It could not have been you but it must have been a God greater than you doing what only God can do A God that so obviously loves you. A God that is so obviously with you. A God that is so obviously for you. A God that with no mountain is too big. A God that with no giant is too tall. A God that with no valley is too low. No river is too wide. No sea is too great. A God that with all things, all things, all things are possible with. And if this is what you begin to believe as a result of what

Jesus chooses to do for you, not what you want him to do, but what he wants to do, then this means that what Jesus wants for you, it is better. Greater. Immeasurably greater. Exceedingly greater. But Mary and Martha are not the only ones with a story to share and a testimony to tell of God doing better. I have a testimony of my own. Because it was two years ago I stood in that empty arena arguing with God in this silent hallway when I asked that girl for another opportunity. That was the miracle I wanted. You can be seated. For more than anything. For God just to give me another opportunity. That's a miracle I wanted. That's a miracle I desired. And since then I've been at times mad at God. Confused by God. Frustrated with God. At times preaching to all of you with none of you knowing it. Even blaming God. But I never stopped believing in God. And since that day I don't think I've ever prayed for anything more in my life. I spent so much time in prayer and on my knees. This is a true story. This is real. I lost hair on my kneecaps I prayed so hard. And well about 11 months ago I heard through the grapevine that that same girl was now single. About two months later I found myself in the same room as her once again. And well we've been dating for several months now. And last month I got on my knee concerning her once again. Church by the grace can I introduce to you my fiance. Gabby soon-to-be Hughes. But listen I share the story to inspire your faith. I praise God for this girl. She is my miracle. But all I asked God for those years ago was just another opportunity. But God had better. Because he always saw this holy matrimony. And I think God knew that if he would have gave me what I wanted and if he would have gave me what I wanted when I wanted as a young dumb 23 year old this time I may have squandered it once again. I still had praying to do. I still had growing to do. I still had maturing in my faith to do. God knew better. God had better. And so as I hold in my hand my miracle. The perfect girl for me that I plan to change the world for Jesus with. I want to pray with you for your miracle. With every head bowed and every eye closed. There's a miracle in your life. If there's something you've been wanting that God has not yet given you. Will you raise your hand where you are? Lord God I pray over every raised hand. God I thank you that you're

a God of miracles. A God that can do anything at any time anywhere and for anyone. But God I pray Lord for the situations that these raised hands represent. God you know the headaches. God you know the heartbreak. God you know the frustration, the confusion, the questions on their mind. But God I pray Lord right now that you would encourage every single person who finds himself in the middle of a situation that they don't want to be in. That God you would convince them in a way that they cannot doubt. That God you are using this situation they're in the middle of to produce muscle that they need. So that God at the right time when you provide the right thing the blessing will be experienced as a blessing and not as a burden. But God I also pray for those whose answer to their prayer may be not ever. That God they become so convinced with their hands raised. That Lord the reason not giving them what they want is because you're not allowing them to settle for anything less than what you want. A miracle that would be so much greater. A life that would be so much better. Exceedingly better. Abundantly better. A measure better than all they could ever ask for, dream of, or imagine. God I pray Lord for what no eye has seen. What no ear has heard nor what has entered into the thoughts of man for their life that God as they trust you and place Their faith in you that God you would do for them What no man can a life greater than their wildest dreams because God you are just that God the God who can will and does Better Lord. We love you. We trust you. We pray these things in your name. Amen