Don't Bury It Yet || Dr. Alex Ellis

If you know He's turning it around, clap your hands and give God praise. Sooner or later, it's going to turn in your favor. Nudge somebody and say, He's turning it around for me. I can't hear you. Talk back to me. Somebody say, He's turning it around for me. I've been in a storm long enough. He's turning it around for me. I'm still believing God that He's turning it around for me. One more time, clap your hands, all you people, and shout out to the Lord with the voice of triumph. I can't hear you. Somebody make some noise. If God's been good to you, if He's made a way, if He's opened a door, if He's healed your body, clap your hands and give God praise because He is worthy of it. Amen. You might be seated in the presence of the Lord. Good morning, family. How y'all doing? Amen. It is an honor to stand before you to share the word of the Lord. For those of you that don't know me, I'm Pastor Alex. I have a privilege. Amen. I have a privilege of sharing as one of the associate campus pastors here at Change Church. And it is an honor. It is an honor to serve you. Before I get into the word of the Lord, because there is a word from the Lord today. But before I get into the word of the Lord, can we take a moment to celebrate the greatest two pastors in the entire world? Can we give it up for Dr. Darius and Pastor Shamika? Amen. They're absolutely, absolutely incredible leaders. Pastor met with us earlier in the week, those of us that will be sharing the word of the Lord today. And he said, y'all haven't even preached yet, but I'm already pleased. He said, the fact that you were given the opportunity already shows that I have confidence in the gift of God inside of you. And you talk about a woosah. It is great to know that your leader has confidence in you, and I'm grateful and honored to be standing in this place to do what God has called me to do. I am also honored to stand and support our campus pastor. Can we give it up for Pastor Will?

Come on. Come on. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. Yeah, make some noise for Pastor Will. I give God praise because God has been good to me. God has allowed me to serve underneath the pettiest pastor in the world, and I'm just grateful. I don't know about you, but I'm grateful that I get to serve with Pastor Will. He has been an exceptional leader. He's been an exceptional example. Very few men could walk in his shoes and be trusted with this assignment. There are some people that you can't even trust them to do a Bible study, and they're trying to start a church. But he has been an anchor for Change Church Ewing, and we are grateful for your life and your service. Clap it up one more time. And while you're clapping, can you clap it up for my beautiful wife? My wife Doreen is here. Yes. Hallelujah. I am grateful. I am grateful for my wife. She is the glue to our family. While I'm ripping and running, traveling the world, my wife anchors our family. She is a woman of prayer. She is a woman of service and commitment. She is an amazing mother and an amazing wife, and I'm grateful for you, baby. I thank God for you. Amen. Amen. Well, I think I got all the preliminaries out of the way. I think so.

I don't think I missed anybody. Well, let's get into the Word of the Lord, all right? My text today is going to be coming from the Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 7. I'm going to read verse 11 down through verse 15. It is Luke 7, 11 through 15. And it reads like this. Soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain. A large crowd followed him, and a funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow's only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart was overflowed with compassion. Don't cry, he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearer stopped. Young man, he said, I tell you, get up. Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Today I'd like to tag a title to my message for the next few moments that we're going to share together. And it's simply this, don't bury it yet. Somebody talk back to the preacher, say, don't bury it yet. Father, we are grateful for this time. Let the entrance of your word bring light that your people no longer walk in darkness, but allow them to walk in the light of the word. I decrease that you might increase. Do through me what only you and you alone can do. And we give you praise for this now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Have you ever noticed just how quickly we decide that something is over? One bad doctor's report, and we feel our life is over. One client fall through, and we feel our business is over.

One failed relationship, and we think we'll never find love. One bad semester, and we think we'll never graduate from college. Sometimes life has a way of convincing us that just because something looks dead, that it must be over. And if we're not careful, we'll start making funeral arrangements for things that God never intended to die. We'll bury dreams. We'll bury hope. We'll bury marriages. We'll bury purpose. We'll even bury parts of ourselves. Not always because God said it was over, sometimes we bury things because the pain has gone so long that we are left without hope. Hear me today, just because it looks like a funeral doesn't mean God is finished writing the story. One of the incredible things about serving Jesus is that he has a habit of showing up in places where people have already given up. He has a habit of showing up in prisons. He shows up in storms. He shows up in fiery furnaces. He even shows up at gravesides, and today's text shows him showing up at a funeral. Please notice that the funeral takes place in a town called Nain, and the name is often associated with that which is beautiful or pleasant. Hmm, that sounds like a strange place to stage a funeral, but sometimes God will meet you in a place that looks beautiful on the outside while there's something inside of you that's breaking. You can live in a beautiful home and still be carrying grief. You can have a beautiful family but still be fighting for your hope. You can walk into this beautiful church and still have something in you being carried toward a grave, but the location does not determine the ending.

Jesus is still able to step in the middle of what looks finished and do something that only he can do. So whether you realize it or not, Jesus is concerned about the intimate details of your life. I know sometimes in church we tend to espouse that God is only concerned about your spirituality, about how often you pray or how many times you read the Word of the Lord, but he's concerned about not just those spiritual disciplines, although they're important, but the life of faith is meant to touch every area of your life. Luke 7 drops us into a unique scene where the ministry of Jesus and real life are about to have a head-on collision. Here comes Jesus doing ministry when he runs into a funeral procession at the gate of the city. Now check out the scene. Luke 7. introduces us to two crowds. One crowd is following Jesus who was the bread of life and another crowd is following a coffin convinced that death had finally won. And what happens next teaches us something very powerful about the God we serve. I marvel nay at how strategic God is. He orchestrates it so that the funeral procession is heading to the burial site just at the time when Jesus is entering the city. But please don't miss how serendipitous this moment is because things with God are never by accident. Had he been 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later he would have totally missed the funeral procession. But Jesus moves on a divine timeline so he is always right on time. And you know how our funerals go. You were supposed to have two minutes to have remarks and you took five minutes, read a poem, and sang a song. The funeral directors are saying, everybody cut on your lights. We're about to go to the burial site. But wait, somebody's in the bathroom. Did you get that plant that was about to speak? Is somebody going to get... Wait, don't leave. Go and get that plant. That was mama's plant. And they could have been delayed and missed Jesus. But Jesus is so awesome that his time never missed a beat. See,

God's divine providence is always an answer to hopelessness. And Jesus, just as he enters the city, he collides with a crowd. And the Bible says this, Jesus saw her. Can you imagine these two big crowds crisscrossing each other and in the midst of the crowd, she is one person in a large sea of people, but Deacon Allen, he sees her. Oh, God, I know it's a brief mention of Scripture, but I don't want you to miss it because it is a major key. Jesus slows down just enough to see this woman who was in a real dilemma. I wish I had the time, but he slowed down. Elder LeShay, he wasn't so fast-paced moving here and moving there that he ignored people. He slowed down. And I know sometimes in a hustle and bustle of life, we're moving and we're shaking and we're grinding and we're doing all of these things, but we will miss the pain in somebody's eyes if we don't slow down. If we don't slow down, we will miss what's going on in the lives of our teenagers because we're so busy moving and shaking. Sometimes you just got to slow. Somebody holler, slow down. But he slows down and he sees the woman. The crowd saw a funeral, but Jesus saw the mother. The crowd saw a body, but Jesus saw a life. The crowd saw a procession, but Jesus saw her pain. And I wonder if that's the million-dollar question that people want to ask even when they don't verbally articulate it, and that is this, do you see me? Do you really care about what's going on in my life? Has someone ever said, how you doing? And before you could get it out your mouth, they'd have moved on to the next person like, wait, I was about to say something. But isn't that what we all want? We want someone to see us, not just for what we do or for what we have, but for who we are. And Jesus teaches us an invaluable lesson, and that is to not be self-absorbed, but he has called us to serve. So, Jesus sees this widow woman, and it does something to him. Her dire situation causes Jesus to be moved with compassion. This widow is hopeless, y'all. The fact that she is a widow suggests that she had lost her husband.

She lost the love of her life. She lost her protector, her provider. And women of that day weren't out working in the world. They didn't work outside the home, so she was completely dependent on either a father or her husband. Husband, so this woman is not only grieving the loss of her husband, but she is also grieving the loss of her son Now the writer of this text is Luke and Luke is a physician And that's important to note because he has an attention to detail and Luke says this not only did she lose her son But she lost her only son It means there was no hope after this that she is now in a very vulnerable situation What's going to happen to her now? And Jesus feels her pain and does something about it and some of you today in this church You are wrestling with hopeless situations. Some of you can relate to the widow in this text because you've experienced Compounded grief who am I preaching to today? It seems that every time you think you can catch your breath another challenge shows up Have you ever been there that it's always another bill. I Feel like DJ Khaled another diagnosis another disappointment Another prayer that hasn't been answered But I want to remind you of something today. Hope is not the absence of hardship Hope is the confidence that hardship is not the end of the story Notice that this widow never asked Jesus for a miracle But her presence is a request that Jesus notices when he sees her He sees her pain before she could explain her situation. Jesus has compassion on her He didn't just see the need he met it. He didn't even ask for details. Jesus wasn't messy He wasn't petty. He didn't say well, how did he die? He didn't say well, was he on drugs? He didn't say well, do you have insurance? He didn't say where's your baby's daddy? No, he didn't do any of that Jesus pulls up on her and he says don't weep Don't weep he didn't say that out of emotional

Sensitivity. He didn't say that because he was telling her that strong believers are never sad Jesus himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus He is speaking to a woman who thinks the funeral is the final word While the whole time he knows he's about to interrupt it sometimes Jesus says don't weep because not because pain is Imaginary but because pain is not permanent At this moment, she is about to bury what were the remains of her future But Jesus interrupts the funeral he sees this woman experiencing Gut-wrenching pain the pain of a mother losing her child And the truth to the truth be told there was more in that coffin than just her child There were the hopes and the dreams that she had for her boy Come on parents you can attest to that parents have dreams for their children Yes You have dreams that your child will go to high school or go to college or that your child one day will get married or Have their first home or that that your child will go on to do something significant in the world Fathers have dreams of walking their daughters down the aisle Our mothers have dreams of the first dance with their son at the wedding mama Mama you know, I love you Come on Y'all don't act like y'all don't listen to boys that man mama Mama you're the key to my come on y'all You know, that is the dream Chris That's the dream of a mother to dance that day with her son So those hopes and dreams I need you to see that in that box wasn't just a body But all of those dreams the dreams of holding her Grandchildren all of that was in that box and all of that was about to be buried But Jesus interrupts the funeral and The Bible says this that Jesus in verse 14 Then he came and he touched the coffin

Now I gotta admit to you. That's a plot twist. Somebody say plot twist Because I was expecting Jesus to touch the boy After All pastor will that's how Jesus did it many times before He would touch people and they would be healed or they would be resurrected. You remember he touched the lepers and they were cleansed. He touched the two blind men and they received their sight in Matthew 9. He went to Jairus's daughter's room and took her by the hand and touched her and told her to get up and she got up and she lived again. But that's how he did it then. Somebody say then. But this time he changes his method and Luke describes to us that Jesus is not confined to conventionality. He touched people in the past but it doesn't mean he had to touch them in the presence. See Jesus is not confined to the method that you remember. He is not limited to the way he answered somebody else. Hear me today. He is sovereign over the method, the timing, and the outcome. Let me say that again for the people in the back. God is sovereign over the method, over the timing, and over the outcome of the miracle that he wants to do in your life. And some of us, if we're honest, we wrestle with hopelessness because our minds are so fixed on our deep-seated belief that he's got to answer us a certain way. That we really struggle with thinking that he should do it just like this, just like he did it before, just like he did it for my mama, just like he did it for my friend. But I come to let you know today that God is not bound by conventional methods. He can do it whatever way he chooses to do it. Why? Because he's God. He doesn't have to touch you. He can touch your house. He can touch your job.

He can touch the economy. He can touch your neighbor. He can touch somebody's heart and turn their heart towards you in favor. God is not confined to our limited way of understanding him. God neither is bothered by the worst of circumstances. You think they had him hedged in because the father and the son died? Even in the most dire of circumstances, when the odds are stacked against him, one word from Jesus would interrupt what's been carrying you to despair. Somebody say, don't bury it yet. I know the cancer diagnosis has come back and your hope for remission is gone, but don't bury it yet. I know you've been to more counseling sessions than you can count and it still doesn't seem to be working, but don't bury it yet. I know you submitted job application after job application and nobody has gotten back to you, but Jesus can flip the script and do it in a way that you never saw coming. I'm not telling you to deny what's real, but I'm telling you not to declare something is final when Jesus hasn't declared it final. After touching the coffin, Jesus then speaks to the young man and he says, young man, get up. He didn't touch the dead thing, but he spoke to the dead thing and he said, get up. Boy, get up. You were made for more than this. Get up. I didn't create you to die in this box. Get up. You were made for more. Get up. I've got more I want to do with you. Get up so people can see my resurrection power. Get up because this is not the end. The young man couldn't respond on his own. He couldn't manufacture strength. He couldn't even talk himself back to life, but when Jesus spoke, the power of God came through his words. See, the boy did not rise in and of his own strength, but he rose because Jesus had enough authority to get the job done. And ladies and gentlemen, hear me, that

is the gospel. We are not saved because we save ourselves. We are saved because the voice of Jesus reaches places that we could not reach on our own. And the same Jesus, somebody say the same Jesus, that said, young man, get up, is the same Jesus that calls dead hearts to come back to life. So when I say get up, I'm not telling you to pretend that you're not hurting. I'm not telling you to command yourself out of every sickness and every grief and every hard season But I'm telling you to put yourself where the voice of Jesus can reach you Get up from hopelessness Not because you can fix everything but because Jesus is still speaking get up from shame Not because your past didn't happen, but because your past doesn't have the final say get up from despair Not because the funeral isn't real but because the one that gives the life is on the scene And if Jesus tells you to get up that command comes with the grace to obey it verse 15 says this and the young man sat up and He began to talk and Jesus gave him back to his mother Why is that important because Her life was about to be radically changed because her son got out of that box hear me and hear me playing the life of your family is going to be Impacted by the dead thing in your life coming back to life Jesus didn't raise the boy to merely prove a point But he restored him to relationship See the miracle changed not only the mother's life it changed the son's life and the entire community When Jesus brings life back it never stops with one person What God does in you will become a testimony that strengthens your family and those that stand? Around will be turned back toward him But we've got to be careful I've got to put this caveat here. The point of this passage is not that every loss Will actually be reversed exactly the way we want it But the power in this text is that Jesus has authority over death

The power of the text is that our hope is secure in him that even if he doesn't answer on our preferred Timetable he is still God See biblical hope is not wishful thinking it is Confident expectation based on the character of God and that's why I can say don't bury it with yet without Pretending that every situation will unfold according to our desire We can grieve Honestly and still hold the tension between that grief and a deep-seated trust in God We can acknowledge the funeral and still believe that God has the final say I Know I'm talking to people here today that are on the brink of burying something Some of you are on the brink of burying your dreams Burying your finances burying your faith burying your hope but Jesus is not simply walking past your situation Today he's stopping. He's touching the coffin. He's Interrupting the funeral and he's speaking life in this house today And if he can interrupt that funeral in our text, he can interrupt your depression He can interrupt your addiction. He can interrupt cancer. He can interrupt divorce He can interrupt barrenness. He can interrupt fear and anxiety He can interrupt bankruptcy. He can interrupt hopelessness Somebody holla don't bury it yet See here at Chains Church We have one of our eight seven values and one of our core beliefs is hope And we say it like this. We believe God Somebody holla, I believe God See hope is not pretending that everything is okay Hope is believing that Jesus can still interrupt what everybody else has accepted Hope doesn't deny the funeral hope believes the funeral don't have the final say The widow thought she was walking that day to a funeral She had no idea that she was walking Smack-dab into her miracle. Can I tell you something?

What feels like the end can become the place where God meets you in a unique way? Have you given up on something that Jesus is still able to touch? Have you called something dead that Jesus has not called finished yet? Because our hope hear me is not in Washington Our hope is not in our bank accounts. Our hope is in God who still sits on the throne And long as he sits on the throne there is still reason to pray there is still reason to worship, there was still reason to get up in the morning because against all hope, we still believe God. Jesus gives the young man back to his mother, but the miracle goes beyond name. Jesus himself would soon be hung. He would bleed, he would die, and he would be placed in a grave. But early, somebody holler early. Early one Sunday morning, he got up out of that coffin, and they didn't carry him out. He walked out by the power of God, and he got up to prove that death does not have the final say. The miracle at name is not an ultimate promise that we'll never lose, but it is a revelation of Jesus, who was the Lord, who has authority over death, a Savior who gives life, and a King who will one day make everything right. So don't bury your faith. Don't bury your hope in God, regardless of how painful the season might be. Grieve if you must. Cry if you have to. But never lose your hope. You can't lose your hope. And I know you say, Pastor Alex, you got to understand

that this is the most tragic time of my life. I've never been through like I've been through. I don't know about you, but if you've ever been in the shore at the beach, and a wave comes, and it kind of knocks you down, and you try to catch your breath and clear your nose, but before you can catch your breath, another wave comes, and then another wave comes, and then before you know it, you are drowning at sea. Is that who am I preaching to today? Is that you that is one thing after another after another, and it can take your very breath? But I need you to fight for your hope. I need you to fight for your hope. I need you to fight for your hope. Because that's the thing that allows us to stand in the midst of adversity, in the midst of situations that look dead. We stand because we have an anchor in hope. It said, my hope is built on nothing less. Oh, y'all too young to know that. In Jesus' blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Oh, Christ, Chris, the solid rock I stand, all of the ground is what? It's sinking. It's sinking sand. You got to hold on to your hope. And God gave me this word because many of us are dealing with hopelessness. And as much as we shout and dance,

and as much as we rock and wave, sometimes life be lifin'. And when that hits your house, it's a different story. There are some things that happen in your life that will cause you to question your faith, but you can't lose your hope. Don't lose your hope. Don't lose your hope. Don't lose your hope. She thought she was going to bury her son, and she had no idea that Jesus was going to see her. And I need you to know today that God sees you. That's why he gave me this word today, because he knows what you're going through, and he knows that you need a word that would recharge your hope and recharge your faith. So he gave me this word because he sees you, and he knows what you're going through, and he's concerned about you, and he wanted to give you that reminder that he's still sitting on the throne, that he's still in control. And even though you've been waiting in this season, and you've been wrestling, and you've been fighting, and it seems it's time that you've been losing the battle, but you've got to know that it ain't over until it's over. And even when it looks like it's over, he's still a resurrecting God. Oh, God. He still has the power to bring life in a dead situation and turn that situation totally around. Is that you today?

That you're like, man, I don't know, pastor. I came in today. walking behind an invisible coffin, that people couldn't see it because I'm smiling, that they couldn't see it because I'm dressed up and I'm looking good, I got my church clothes on today. But if I'm honest, my heart is broken and I'm wondering, where is God? I don't see you, I don't feel you. But just know God sees you today. And even when you don't see him, even when you don't feel him, he is still at work. And he's sitting there shaking his head like little do they know that I'm orchestrating things behind the scene that they have no idea of. As she was getting dressed that day to prepare to go to the funeral, she had no idea that Jesus was going to meet her at the gate of the city. She had no idea that the resurrection was going to meet her at her lowest point. Don't bury it yet. Don't bury it, y'all. But you don't understand, Pastor Alex, it's too late. You don't understand what I'm going through. You don't understand how bad it is. I know. That's why I tried to paint the picture of how dire her situation was. But as dire as it was, Jesus still showed up. And he still worked a miracle on her behalf. Let me say this. Let me say this as I close. Because I want to make sure people leave with the tools that they need to walk the word out. One of the things I compel you to do is you've got to be careful of who's walking with you. Minister Gwen, in this season that you're struggling, in this season that you're going through, whether it's sickness or loss or grief, you've got to be careful that the people that are walking with you aren't just pallbearers.

You see? See, sometimes you're walking with people that love to carry the thing to the grave to bury it. Girl, you ain't need him nowhere. Yeah, you should have divorced him five years ago. And, oh, yeah, you know how this economy is, girl. Ain't nobody finding a job. Or, you know, good men are hard to find. Yeah, girl, you ain't going to never get. And your dream to get married, yeah, they're talking you right. They're going to take it right to the grave to bury it. But a reminder to the text where the man was lame and his boys got on the side of the mats and they carried him. Instead of carrying him to the grave, they carried him to where Jesus was. Where is Jesus? Oh, oh, oh, we can't get in? Okay, well, we're going to climb the roof and tear the roof off. I need you walking with people, Trisha, that's willing to tear the roof off. I'm not taking you to the bar. I'm not taking you to the club. We are going to take you to where, where the resurrection is, where the power is. You got to make sure that you're walking with people like that in this season. You can't walk with people that are helping you get to the grave to bury the thing you believe in God for. You need faith-filled people. That's why when Jesus was doing certain miracles, he's like, everybody out the room. Y'all get out. Because only faith-filled believers need to be in here now for this miracle we believe in God for. You got to surround yourself with the right people. Hear me, in this season, you need the right people carrying you. Finally, y'all, be careful of what you're eating. What are you consuming? In a situation where you believe in God for a miracle and it hasn't turned yet, what's your diet?

What are you consuming? Are you Netflix and chilling? Are you digesting the Word? You've got to feed your family. What are you taking in on a daily basis? You've got to watch what you're taking in because that's going to be the thing that impacts your faith and your hope in God. Somebody holler, I believe God. If this word has touched you in some way, clap your hands and give God praise. God, we believe you. We believe you. We believe you. If this word has ministered to you today, if you're like, Pastor Alex, that's the season I'm in. I'm believing God for some things that seem to be dead. I need you just to stand on your feet. I want to pray for you. You don't have to come up. I just need you to stand wherever you are across this building. Only if that's you. Yeah. Mm-hmm. There's so much more. Hallelujah. No, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. It's not over until it's over. Hallelujah to Jesus. Yes, Lord. As we stand in this moment, I need you to lift your hands to the Lord. Bow your heads while I pray.

Father, today we thank you that you are the God that interrupts hopelessness. You are the God that meets us at the gate when we think all hope is gone. Thank you that you see us. When others overlook us, you see us. When others give up on us, you don't. Lord, today I pray for every person that's carrying an invisible coffin. Some are carrying broken dreams. Some are carrying broken relationships. Some are carrying financial burdens or disappointing diagnosis. Some are carrying grief that words cannot describe. And some are simply worn out from fighting battle after battle. But, Father, today breathe hope into every heart. Father, today where there is despair, release your peace. Where there is anxiety, release your presence. Where there is disappointment, release expectation. Father, touch every box that the enemy has convinced us to bury. Touch marriages. Touch children. Touch families, businesses. Touch minds and bodies. Speak life where death has tried to settle in. Remind us that our circumstances don't have the final say. But your word has the final say. Teach us to wait with hope. Teach us to worship while we wait. Teach us to trust you even when we don't understand you. And because you are still on the throne, we leave this place believing that you are still at work. Even in situations that we cannot see. And we declare as a church family together that we will not bury that that you can still raise. This is in the mighty, matchless, powerful, strong name of Jesus the Christ we pray.

And every glad heart said amen. Clap your hands and give God praise. God bless you. All of you. There's so much more to the story.