Take Heart – Jesus is Still Working

plants a seed, that farmer knows that at that time, that's the most important part in the life of that seed. In the darkness, in the silence, in the invisibility of it, in the unseen, in the private nature, so much has to take place in the life of that seed in order for it to take root so it can become whatever it's designed to be. And the same is true for us spiritually. That God is always working in those areas that sometimes appear dark or silent or private, where we ask the question, Lord, I know I know you, but I'm not sensing you right now. I'm not feeling like you're at work. I just, I need to know more. And especially when we read a book like the book of Acts, like we're in right now, where we see all these miraculous things that our God does. And we as a people believe that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that he can do whatever he wants to do. And then we ask ourselves the question, why am I not experiencing that? Why am I not experiencing everything that I'm reading about in my own life? But it's much like this. If you were having a home built and the home was halfway done being built, and you walked onto the side of the home and you saw sawdust everywhere and tools spread out and the roof wasn't quite on yet,

you wouldn't look and say, man, this house is not getting done properly. You'd realize you're right in the middle of what's being created. Or if you walked into a surgical operating room and they were halfway done with the operation, you wouldn't walk in and say, doctor, don't you know what you're doing? You would realize he's not quite finished just yet. In the same way spiritually, Jesus Christ is always at work. And even when we can't see everything that he's doing, he's still at work. And what I wanna let you know today is Jesus is still working. I mean, take heart, he's still at work. If you're far from God, he's at work in your life trying to draw you to himself. If you know God, he's at work in your life wanting to reveal more about who he is and what your new identity looks like. And it's super important that we understand this when we walk through our Christian lives because there's so many times that we hear the enemy say something like, if your God was real, then why aren't you experiencing everything you're reading about? If your God's so real, why aren't you experiencing everything other people in church are talking about?

And here's what I'm here to tell you this morning is take heart, Jesus is still working. He's still working. And to take a look at that this morning, we're gonna be in Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter nine, we're gonna start in verse 32 and read through the end of the chapter. And I'll read that because it's a shorter section today. And after I read the word of God, then we'll unpack this. I'm gonna give you three truths about why you should take heart, why you should know that Jesus is still working in your life. He says, now, as Peter was traveling through those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed. Immediately he got up. And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord. Now in Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated in Greek is called Dorcas. This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did. And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died.

And when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him imploring him, do not delay in coming to us. So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. But Peter sent them all out of the room and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. It became known all over Joppa and many believed in the Lord. And Peter stayed in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. And here in that short section in the book of Acts, as we've been talking about how the gospels expanded to Judea and Samaria, we've talked about Philip reaching the Ethiopian eunuch. We've just gotten done with Saul's conversion. This story really picks up to tell us, hey, take heart, Jesus is still working. He's still working. It's so easy to read God's word and forget that our Jesus is the same yesterday,

today and forever. That when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he's as alive as he's ever been. Everything we read about our God doing and being is who he is and what he still does. So I want you to take heart today and I'm gonna give you three truths about what Jesus is still doing so that you can own it in your own life. And the first is this, that Jesus still restores the broken. Amen? Jesus still restores the broken. Now, it says this, as Peter was traveling through all those years, those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. So Peter has been doing ministry. He's been called to Samaria just to validate the fact that the Holy Spirit is now being poured out on the Samaritans because Jesus told them in Acts chapter one and verse eight, that you'll be my witnesses and you'll bring the gospel to all Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And all of these things are happening. So Peter's called to validate, can you believe it? God even saves Samaritans. And he's been ministering to all these people and he's been doing all these things

and this is what he's doing. And so now what we see is it picks up and Peter is ministering and now he's coming down to Lydda. And when he gets there, notice what happens. It says, there he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years for he was paralyzed. Peter didn't go to Lydda to find Aeneas. Isn't it interesting, every relationship that you have, every story that happens in your life, it's the God of the universe that's sovereignly unfolding those relationships. And that's what's happening to him. He meets this man named Aeneas. Now Aeneas is on a mat and he's been on this mat for eight years and here's why, because he's paralyzed. So that's who he comes into contact with. He comes into contact with a man named Aeneas who has been laying on a mat for eight years because he's paralyzed. Now we read the Bible sometimes like, okay, he was on the mat for eight years. Now think about that. I mean, have you ever stood in a line at Christmas and felt like you were waiting in line for eight years? Have you ever heard a lecture series for 20 minutes and it feels like eight years? I mean, we're talking a literal eight years. Just think about how old you are. Rewind the clock in your mind right now, eight years ago where you were,

and picture yourself since that time lying on a mat paralyzed, dependent upon everybody else around you to take care of you, everybody else to take care of who you are, every bodily function you needed, you relied upon somebody else. If you needed to move, they moved you. Wherever they laid you, that's where you're gonna stay. This is what's been going on in this guy's life for eight years. He's paralyzed, this man's bedridden, he's forgotten, and he's been stuck for eight years. And notice what Peter says to him. The first thing he says to him, Aeneas. He calls him by name. Why? Because all people have value in God's economy. And a name matters. He doesn't just say, hey, paralyzed dude. He calls him by name. He says, Aeneas, I'm talking to you. I wanna have a relationship with you. Why? Because when you truly love God, then you're gonna wanna have a relationship with all the people God brings into your life. Because if Christianity is a relationship with God, as that relationship changes your heart, you will start loving other people.

He sees this man, he sees this paralyzed man, he hears this paralyzed man has been stuck for eight years, and he calls him by name, and then he says this. He says, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed. And immediately, he got up. Now notice what he didn't say. He didn't say, Aeneas, I'm gonna heal you. He didn't say, Aeneas, I have the power to do something in your life that you really need. He says, Aeneas, and then who's the first one he talks about? Jesus Christ. Why? Because Peter has a relationship with Jesus Christ that's ongoing. In order to be used mightily of God, you have to have an ongoing relationship with God. See, Peter, prior to his conversion, he hung out with Jesus, but it wasn't really until after he saw Jesus die for his sin and understood it. It wasn't until after he had betrayed Jesus. It wasn't until after Jesus rose from the dead that he understood he is truly the Christ, and I am submitting to him with my whole life, and I wanna spend time with him. So even after Jesus ascended into heaven, what is Peter doing?

Well, he goes to a prayer meeting first and foremost. That's where the Holy Spirit shows up, but you can tell that he spent time with Jesus continually because the first one that he talks about after he calls Aeneas by name is Jesus. It's on his lips. It's on his tongue. We always talk about what's most important in our life. We always talk about what we're thinking about the most. We always talk about what has captured our attention. What has captured Peter's attention? Jesus Christ. He sees Aeneas, he calls him by name, and then he says, Jesus Christ, and what does he say? Jesus Christ heals you, get up and make your bed, and immediately the man got up. Now, I wanna tell you something about the book of Acts. When we read this story, it is not prescriptive. In other words, when we read stories in the book of Acts, it's not telling us this is what you should do every time you encounter this situation. It's not telling you every time you see a paralyzed person, walk up, call him by name, and ask him to get up and make their bed, and then they'll just immediately rise. I know it's not saying that because that's not what the text is teaching. I also know by experience, that's not what God does. I believe God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I believe God still heals.

I believe God. still frees, I believe God still saves, but he does what he wants to do when he wants to do it, and he does not give his saints on-demand capacity to do what we wanna do anytime that we want. Oh, how I wish we had that power. I mean, don't you wish we all had that power as Christians? And we could just split up when church ended today, and we could go to the different hospitals around town, and we go to Children's Hospital, and we go to Swedish, and we could go to Lone Tree, and we could go down to Castle Rock at Venice, and we just split up and we go lay hands on people and tell them to get up and to be healed, and everybody be healed. What a great day that would be. God doesn't work that way. I have prayed for people for their healing, and I've watched God physically heal people. I have prayed for people for their healing that are now with the Lord Jesus Christ that are completely healed on that side, right? What is he teaching us? He's teaching us when you see broken people to call them by name and to bring Jesus into that equation. That's what he's teaching. And so he says, Aeneas, call you by name. Jesus Christ heals you. Friends, Jesus Christ still heals everybody spiritually that wants to be healed spiritually.

And your biggest problem, which is greater than paralysis, is your sin. It's keeping you from the Lord. It's keeping you from having a relationship with Christ. It's your sin. And Jesus, through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, covers all of that for anyone who repents and believes that he's the Christ. And notice what he tells them. He says, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed. Immediately he got up. Now, why would you say that? Doesn't that sound a little strange? Jesus heals you. Now get up and make your bed. Sounds like a parent. But what's the point of that? Because this is the bed that he had been living on for eight years. This bed was more than a bed. This bed was his identity. This bed represented I'm paralyzed. This bed represented I don't have any hope. This bed represented I'm stuck. This bed represented there's no way out. This bed represented this is the way it's always been. And this bed represents this is the way it will always be. When Peter was telling him to make your bed,

he was saying, you're different now. You're a new creation now. You don't live by what you used to be. You live by who you now belong to. Christian, let me tell you something. If you've repented of your sin and trusted Christ, it's time to make your bed. It's time to pick up your mat. Because for too many people who have met Jesus and who are born again, they carry their former mat throughout their life. Whatever they were before they were saved. Maybe they were prideful. Maybe they were religious. Maybe they were immoral. Maybe they were a drunk. Maybe they were a drug user. Maybe they were divorced. Maybe they were whatever they were. Maybe they were an adulterer. They carry that mat with them for the rest of their life. This is what I am. I'm an alcoholic, but I've been saved by grace. I'm an adulterer, but I was saved by grace. I'm immoral, but I was saved by grace. I was really prideful. Make your bed. Stop carrying your mat. Put it away. Can I just tell you,

when Jesus presents you faultless before the Father, if you've truly been born again and trusted Jesus alone for your sins and repented, when he presents you to the Father, let me tell you what he will never say. Hey, this is my alcoholic friend that really struggled through life, but I forgave him and you gotta accept him. Hey, this is an adulterer and I forgave him. Here's what God's gonna say. Hey, this is my son and I love him so much and he belongs to me and he's perfected in my sight. This is my daughter and I couldn't love her anymore because she trusted me and I washed all of her sins away the moment that she believed. See, what the devil lies to you and gets you to believe is that your mat defines you, that your former bed and what you slept in, that's what defines you. What defines you is who you are in Christ. That's what defines you. If you're born again, live out your new identity. If you're born again, here's the truth about you. You're completely forgiven, your mat is gone. The devil's gonna tell you to carry it, but you don't have to carry it anymore. It's done away with, like get rid of it. Like God is so serious about making your bed. When I was in eighth grade, my mom was serious about me making my bed.

My mom was so serious about me making my bed, she told me in eighth grade, if you don't make your bed, I'm gonna show up at school when you go to practice and I'm gonna make you come home and make your bed. I'm like, yeah, bet. Guess who showed up at my school one day? I'm just shooting around before practice and there's my mom standing there and she's doing one of these. I had to walk out to the car, drive five miles away, go home, make my bed, and then she brought me back. She said, Coach Rupert, Jeff is back, but he had to go home and make his bed. She was serious. I made my bed from then on. Can I tell you something? God's more serious about you making your bed. bed. We have way too many people who are born again that are carrying a dead old mat that no longer defines you. That's what you were. You are a new creation in Christ. Your past is washed, it's forgiven. You don't live by that identity. You live as a daughter of the King and a son of the Most High God. That's who you are, amen? Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And Jesus still restores the broken. I mean, and why would Peter do this? It's because he was discipled by Jesus himself. He saw Jesus do the exact same thing. Do you remember in Mark chapter two where they lowered the paralyzed man in the mat with the four ropes and they put him right in front of Jesus? And when Jesus saw their friend's faith, he looked at the man, he said, your sins are forgiven. And all the religious leaders said, who does he think he is, God? Only God can forgive sins. And what does Jesus say? Well, just so you know, that the Son of Man has the ability to forgive sins. Here's what I say, arise, pick up your mat and walk. And that guy got up immediately, picked up his mat and walked and went home. Who was there? Peter, he saw it. What's he doing? I'm just doing what I saw Jesus, my King doing. What did Jesus do? I only do what I see my Father doing. Like the more that you pursue the Lord

and the more that you hang out with the Lord, the more you're gonna have confidence to do the very thing the Lord's called you to do, right? That's why it's important to be in the Word and it's important to pray, not as a religious spiritual discipline so you can check a box, but so that you can know the Savior that already knows everything about you, amen? That's what he wants from your life. And so that's what we see here. We see him just modeling what Jesus was doing. And we see in Psalm 147 that the Lord is the one who's near to the brokenhearted. The Lord is the one who heals the brokenhearted. If you came here today and you're brokenhearted, if you came here today and you're weary, if you came here today and you say, man, I don't know everything that's going on in my life. I can't take it anymore. I got good news for you. It's not what you're looking for, it's who you're looking for. And you're looking for Jesus because he can heal what's hurting inside of you, amen? And that's what he wants to do, amen? God loved you so much that he sent his son, Jesus, to be the Savior of the world. He came here, he fulfilled the law, he lived perfectly. He did what you and I couldn't do.

He died on the cross in our place for all of our sin. So in all the ways God wanted to punish sin, instead he punished his son in our place who died for our sins, who rose from the dead validating that our sin was paid for. And anybody anywhere at any time that repents of their sin and trusts Christ, you exchange your sin that you put on Christ for all of Christ's righteousness and all of Christ's forgiveness and all of Christ's love that you can have through nothing that you've done just simply by the grace of God. Jesus is still healing the broken. He's healing the broken in our church. Sometimes God heals physically. All the time Jesus heals spiritually. So don't live by your limitations and your suffering and your former identity and what your routine was and how helpless it was. That day's over. You are a new creation in Christ. Behold, all things have been made new. Old things have passed away. We have a really difficult time with that as Christians because whatever we are when we come to Christ, we still identify with those things. We identify with our jobs, we identify with our skill sets, we identify with our relationships,

and we think that nothing needs to change, that God's just gonna change those around us. And here's what happened. God just radically changed you. The relationships inevitably will change. The way you define yourself will change. The work that you do will change. The way in which you do what you do will change. Everything's changed because you're fundamentally different. There's been an entire metamorphosis in your life on the inside where Jesus Christ becomes your Lord and Savior, amen? And it's kind of like this. When you see how Jesus restores the broken, what needs to happen is you need power applied in your life. I mean, when a car breaks down on the road, it doesn't need encouragement. It needs power, right? Your life doesn't need encouragement. You don't need more TED Talks. You don't need more people telling you you're okay. You don't need more people telling you you're awesome. What you need is the God of the universe that can take away your sin and place his very life inside of you. That's what he wants to do, amen? Jesus still restores the broken. Some of you here, I'll just say this. Some of you here have had addictions in your past

and you're in recovery, and what you don't need is more shame in your life, more of, hey, try harder in your life, more of defining yourself by what you used to be in your life. You need resurrection power in your life, and you need a new identity in your life, and only Jesus Christ can give you that. Get rid of your mat. Christian, get rid of your mat. It's time to make your bed and put it away. Why, because you're not defined by that anymore. The reason that guy got up immediately is because Christ raised him immediately. The reason he needed to get rid of his mat is because there's gonna be a tendency to always go back to that mat. He's been on it for eight years. So you made a tendency to go take a nap on that mat and identify yourself with the mat and be like, oh, but I love this mat. It was so good to me for all these. We're done with the mat. Whatever your past was before Christ, you're done with that. Make your bed, put it in the closet and move forward in the kingdom of God, amen? Jesus is still healing the broken. He still restores the broken. But Jesus doesn't just restore broken bodies.

He also reveals what he values. And that's this, that number two is that you can take heart because Jesus still values the faithful. Jesus still values the faithful. There's so many of us in our life that are looking for value like how does my life have meaning? How does it count? And we try to find all these different ways. We try to find it in work or we try to find it in relationships or we try to find it in titles or we try to find it in influence. We try to find ways that other people might think that we're valuable, but that's not where you find it. Notice what happened next. It says now in Joppa, Joppa's modern day Tel Aviv. Now in Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha which translated in Greek is called Dorcas. We should probably pause there. Luke was writing to a primarily Greek audience so he's telling them that Tabitha, the Aramaic name is translated Dorcas. Dorcas doesn't mean what it means in the 21st century. Like I read this and I'm like, that is so unfortunate for that poor lady. Dorcas reminds with dork, right? I mean, that's not what it means in the Greek. What it means for both Tabitha and Dorcas, it means gazelle and gazelle means grace, beauty, gentleness, swiftness.

That's what it means to be Tabitha. That's what it means to be Dorcas. So he's writing to his Greek audience and saying, here's her name. She's known by her name. She's known by grace and beauty and gentleness. And notice what it was saying about this woman. This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did. So how was this woman known? She wasn't an apostle. She wasn't a pastor. She wasn't a preacher. She wasn't known by what she was doing outwardly, but here's what she was known by. She was known by the fruit of the spirit in her life. She was known by love and charity. She was known by kindness to everybody that was around her. She was one of those women that when you get around, you just sense Jesus is near. She was known by her good deeds and she was known by this. She continually did all of them. She didn't have influence and she didn't have a platform, but here's the good news. If you serve the Lord, he sees you. You don't need to fight for influence. Just find a way to serve. Service in the kingdom is what it's all about. When you serve, you're most like Christ. Why?

Because even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life is a ransom for many. The more you look to serve others, the more you learn to preference others, the more you look to elevate others, the more you look to use your gifts to benefit others, the more like Jesus you're gonna become. It's not about your title. It's not about what other people say about you. It's not about what you do. It's how do you serve the Lord. And friends, it's the Lord Jesus Christ that you're serving. We know about Tabitha. She wasn't just doing this so that women liked her because you can't continually do stuff over and over in a genuine way where people see your true character over time where you're faking it. Time and truth go hand in hand. When you see somebody for a long period of time doing the same things in their character, you know something's different about them. This woman was a true woman of God. She had character. And what was she known for? She was known for her clothing. She was known for what she made. And she was known for her deeds of kindness and her charity. Notice what happened. And it happened at that time, verse 37, that she fell sick and died.

And when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. So here's a woman. She's known for kindness. She's known for love. She's known for her love for the Lord. She's known for continually having the right kind of spirit-filled character that produces fruit. So everybody wanted to be around her. So when she died, nobody was saying, hey, remember that message? Remember how much she benefited? They're remembering the garments that she made and they're remembering her character. Can I just give you a word of advice? People don't care about your title when you're dead. And by the way, they don't even care about it now. But they certainly don't care about it when you die. They care about the quality that you use your title for. So if you're a father and you die, nobody cares that you're dad. It's who you were as a dad. If you're a mother and you die, nobody cares that you're the title mom. It's how did you treat people as a mom? Nobody cares that you were a pastor. It's how did you benefit other people as a pastor? Nobody cares that you were a CEO or professional athlete. It's how did you use what God gave you to bless other people?

That's what people talk about at funerals. That's what people remember. member about your life is how you stewarded what you did to serve other people better. Friends, here's the truth. As a Christian, you're not looking for more to receive. Here's what you're looking for. You're looking for more opportunities to serve. That's actually what's going to fill you. Because if you have the attitude, give me more, I want more from God, I want more from God, I want more from God. God can fill anything that you want. I mean, you can bring God a thimble, he'll fill that. You can bring him a cup, he'll fill that. You can bring him a super tanker, he'll fill that. But why does he fill you? He doesn't fill you so you get spiritually fat. He fills you so you can give out everything that he gives to you in service to others, however the Lord's blessed you. If the Lord's blessed you with kindness, be kind to others. The Lord fills you with love, love others. If the Lord blesses you financially, serve others with your finance. I mean, whatever gifting you have, use it to bless other people, amen? People never mourn titles. They mourn the love that was invested in them. And this is what we see.

So she dies, they clean her body, they put her in an upper room, and notice verse 38. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, do not delay in coming to us. Joppa and Lydda were about 12 miles apart, it was probably a three-ish hour walk. They go down to Peter, they tell him, hey, don't delay, we need you. Verse 39 says, so Peter arose and went with them. And when he arrived, they brought him into the upper room. And all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. So what happens? They go find Peter, like, we need an apostle. We need somebody that's been commissioned by Jesus because the people that have been commissioned by Jesus have been given the power to heal and do that, so we need to go get Peter. Now, when Peter gets told, hey, come to Lydda, he goes. Now, we don't know exactly why. Did he go because he was ministering on Christ's behalf? Was he just gonna bring comfort to the people who are mourning? We don't know, but had Peter ever been with Jesus before when he was invited to somebody's house with somebody that had died? Certainly he was. In Mark chapter five, he's on his way

to go meet Jairus' daughter, who's 12 years old, who's dying, and on the way, he meets a woman in a bleeding condition, heals her, and then as he's going to the house, they send people out and say, Jesus, you don't even need to come. You're too late, she's dead. And Jesus is like, well, I'll still come, and he goes into the room, and he says these words. He's like, she's not dead, she's just sleeping, and they all laugh at him. So he sends everybody out except Peter, James, and John, and then he says, talitha kum, which means arise, little girl, and she gets up and sits up, and she's totally fine. So Peter watched Jesus do that, so guess what? Peter's like, I'm just gonna do what I saw Jesus do. So he goes back to this house, he gets there, and what does he notice? Here's what these women are doing. They're not just tearing up, they're not getting Kleenex and putting it just under their eyes and blotting, they're weeping, they're wailing. They miss this woman that had invested so much of her love and kindness in them, and what are they doing? They're showing all the garments. Hey, look at what she made for my dad. Look what she made for my kid. Look at this, look at all her,

I mean, it's like a fashion show. That's what they're doing, and Peter's seeing all this going on, and he's seeing the love that they have for this woman, and here's how he responds. Verse 40, but Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, that's her name, arise, and she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand and raised her up, and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. Notice verse 32, it became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord, right? So notice a couple things about these miracles. I really wanna point these out. God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. He's sovereign. He gets to pick when he wants to heal. He gets to pick how he wants to do it. He gets to pick when and where, but notice in both of these stories, we see in verse 42 here, it says, and many, it became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. In verse 35, when the paralyzed man rose, it says in verse 35, and all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. What was the purpose of Jesus' miracles here? That people would hear the gospel, that people would see Jesus put on display.

Friends, I just wanna tell you something. When it's a genuine healing of the Lord, the Lord gets all the glory. If it's charlatans, they'll always promote themselves. Look what I can do, look what I, no, no, no. The authenticity of a miracle is always in the person that it was done for, and it's always in the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, always. And what's the purpose for? So that many more can come to know Jesus. That's the purpose. And God. what works and when it works, and all of us have had loved ones that died, and we all sometimes wish, I wish that would have been the touch, I wish that would have been the touch. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, but here's the truth, God is always wanting to draw people to himself, amen? And that's what we see here. And so we see Peter doing the exact same thing we see Jesus doing in Mark chapter five. He kneels down by the bed, he says, Tabitha, arise, she opens her eyes, and when she sat up, he called all the saints, like, hey, here she is. I know you were mourning her, but she's not dead, she's still with you. I mean, there would have been massive celebration

that was going on, but what do you see? What do you see in this story? You see a woman that God saw from heaven, whom he loved dearly, not because of what she did for him, but he saw her service and he valued her. Friends, I wanna tell you something. If you're born again, you've been gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord in some capacity through his church, every single one of you. And God sees your faithfulness, and faithfulness leaves a tangible evidence. For her, it was making garments, tunics, and shirts, and she left a witness of doing that. For others, it's an encouragement. But you have to understand that heaven's accounting system works a little differently. Jesus measures impact differently than we do here in our world today. He measures it by service. Like, if you really are saying, I wanna grow more in Jesus, I just want, I wanna know him more in the coming year, I really wanna get serious about him, here's what I would say. Find a place to use your gifts and serve. Find a place to use your gifts and serve. Because the more that you serve, where you're serving the Lord, and you know it's the Lord that you're serving, and the more faithful you are with your service,

the more you can know this, God sees your service. Even if nobody else does. God sees you, and your labor is not in vain. There's always a return on investment for your service. I mean, in the book of Colossians, one of the most familiar passages that I could think of in Colossians chapter three, in verse 23, here's how he says how we should live. He says, whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men. Can I just tell you something? If you have a job, you are not working for your boss if you're a Christian, you're working for the Lord first. And you're serving your boss as the Lord would work through you. If you're in school, you're serving your teachers, but that's not who you're serving first and foremost. You're serving the Lord, and you're honoring the teachers the way that you would want, that the Lord would want you to do that. If you're a mom, you're serving the Lord first, then your husband and children. If you're a husband, you're serving the Lord first, then your wife and your family. It's always the Lord Jesus Christ that you serve. And if we miss this as Christians, we forget our service. God wants us to serve him. When we do what he wants us to do, we can rest assured that it counts. Notice what 1 Corinthians 15, 58 says.

It says, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? Knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Why? Can I tell you another way the enemy will always lie to you? If you're a born again believer, one of the ways that the enemy will lie to you is to tell you nobody values your service. Nobody really cares. If you're a preacher, he will tell you on Sunday afternoon and Monday, nobody even listened to you. If you serve with the five-year-olds in our kids ministry, the enemy will tell you, why are you even doing that? They don't even listen to you. If you're in a cadre and you're a cadre leader, there'll be people that don't show up and he'll lie to you and say, why do you even do that? They don't even value all the time that you're putting in. There'll always be an attempt from the enemy to short-circuit your service. And if you're not serving the Lord, you'll quit because it's just too hard. But if you're serving the Lord, you can expect that. You can expect the enemy to lie to you and use people to tell you you're not doing a good job and all those different things. But if you're serving the Lord, you stay in it.

And you say, well, I'm just gonna continue to serve the Lord until I can't serve him anymore, right? When you serve the Lord, he values your service. That's why in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, what does he say to those who served him well? Well done, good and faithful servant. What are we known for? Our servanthood. We're known for how we serve. That's what Jesus measures. Why? Because he was the slave of all. You wanna become more like Jesus? Here's the thing. Find other people to serve. And guess what? They're everywhere. Where do I go find that? Just open your eyes. Every relationship you have is somebody that you can serve. Somebody you can give more to. Somebody you can show more mercy to. Somebody you can show more grace to. Somebody you can encourage more. Everywhere you turn, especially during this time of the year where people are consumed with themselves. If you can be a person that's consumed with God and others. You'll have opportunities to share that and God still values the faithful. He'll affirm your worth when you give your life

in service to him, amen? Jesus still restores the broken. Jesus still values the faithful. But let me give you a third that he does. Jesus still stretches his servants. He still stretches his servants. Now this next verse here is one of those verses that you would read and you would say, I don't even know what that means and you would move on to chapter 10 in verse one. So let me read it to you. It seems like a throwaway verse, but it's not. It says, and Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. Huh. I mean, it's not, I mean, I've met a lot of Christians. I've been all over the world. Nobody I've ever met has Acts 9.43 on a plaque in their house. You know, nobody. Maybe you'll be the first. But Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. I believe when God puts things in the word, he puts them in there for our good and there's things he's trying to teach us. And here's what we're seeing in this story. Before we get to Acts chapter 10, where Peter's gonna get a vision to go to the Gentiles to take the gospel to a place

where it's never been before, God's gonna start stretching him and preparing him. And here's why. Because what a tanner did is a tanner dealt with, he handled dead animals. I mean, they made leather products like sandals and purses and shoes. And these people, for a Jew, they lived in perpetual uncleanness. They smelled and they were socially avoided at all times. So Peter, as a Jew, would have been ceremonially unclean to even associate or be anywhere near a tanner. And now it says this in the context. He stayed with this tanner in Joppa for a while, for several days. I mean, this is where he's living. He's living now in a place he would have avoided altogether. Can I just tell you something? When you become a believer, God will put you in circumstances that you would avoid it altogether before you were a Christian. I mean, one of the reasons I knew I was born again and saved is because I hung out outside my clique of friends and people I would have talked badly about or had things to say about, I actually had a love for that I didn't have before. See, that's what the Lord does. He changes our heart and he puts us into situations

that we would have never ever chose to be in so that we can really see the heart of what people are like and we can really know the love of our father who's trying to pursue every single person. So when you become a believer and God starts leading you in a way, don't fight where he's leading you. Like, especially for us in our culture as Americans, we think we get to choose everything. And when things don't go our way, we think something's wrong. No, if you're a Christian, God gets to choose everything and you get to let him unfold how he's gonna do it. And if you ever get to a place where you can say, hey, wherever I live, whatever I do, however much I make, whoever I meet, who you're gonna have me marry, how many kids you're gonna get, that's all up to you, Lord. I'm just here to be your servant. Your life will become increasingly free. The more you hang on to what you think you need to have, the harder it is to continue to walk with the Lord. And so what you see here is that, it's like this. How many of you know that the older you get, if you go do stretching exercises, sometimes you'll say this word, ow. Right, because muscles atrophy. So if you go for a while without working out, you start on day one and it feels like

you've never worked out in your entire life because you're stretching and you're applying pressure to it and it's just not fun. And so what we tend to do is we try to get to a place where we feel okay and then kind of plateau. The same is true spiritually. Some of us become believers, we grow for a little while and then we plateau and God's like, no, I'm not done. I'm gonna stretch you. And it's like, ow. I didn't wanna do this. I didn't wanna be in that relationship. I didn't want that to happen at work. I didn't wanna choose this. I didn't choose that. Why is this? Because God's doing this. He's like, because I love you so much, I'm stretching you. I mean, all of us would wanna get the vision that Peter got in Acts chapter 10, but none of us wanna be stretched like Peter was being stretched at the end of Acts nine. But God is always preparing you relationally before he gives you your missional assignment. My first job as a youth director was outside Chicago. I lived a mile and a half from an interstate and very early in my ministry there, because I lived in a parsonage on the church campus, it was very common for homeless people to roll into my house because they said,

oh, church, oh, parsonage, oh, we're gonna get money. And prior to having these experiences, my heart towards homeless people was this, simply just get a job, quit taxing the public, do something with your life. But as these people kept coming to my house and I kept learning their stories and I kept visiting with them and some of them were just delightful people and some of them I had spend the night in my house and I built friendships with them and all this, my attitude changed, my convictions remained the same, but my love for people changed. And it's been interesting, because as I was thinking about. over the last 35 years, I think about people that I've been put in contact with and the way I understand their worldview, which is different than mine. God's put me in touch with people that are homeless. He's put me in touch with people that are exceptionally poor. He's put me in touch with people that are exceptionally rich. He's put me in touch with military. He's put me in touch with athletes, politicians, teachers, doctors, coaches, entrepreneurs and business owners, attorneys, married people, single people, divorced people, factory workers, C-suite workers.

He's put me in relationships with people who are homosexuals, alcoholics, drug abusers, people that struggle with anxiety, depression, et cetera. I mean, I feel like I've met all of you, but my love for you has grown. My convictions have remained more biblical and stayed more Christ-centered, but my love for people has grown. Why? Because God stretched me. God continues to stretch me. It's impossible for me to say all white people are. It's impossible for me to say all black people are. It's impossible for me to say all Democrats are. It's impossible for me to say all Republicans are. It's impossible for me to say this ethnicity, all these people are. I can't do it because I've met too many of them. And it's not that simple. And people that make simple, oversimplified statements, it's just attesting to the fact you haven't spent time with that group of people. Because if you do, you won't say those things anymore. You can't say all homosexuals are. You can't say all trans people are. You can't until you've met every single one of them. And most people in the church won't meet any of them. But I just wanna tell you something, in the same way Peter saw the paralyzed person healed by Jesus, in the same way Peter saw a dead girl rise by Jesus,

what else did he see in Jesus's life? He saw his master, his king, and his friend be called this, a friend of sinners. Who did Jesus hang out with? Sinners. Who did the religious people say put him down because he hung out with who? Sinners. Question, when's the last time you intentionally hung out with sinners? Not to become like them and not to make that your main group because you need solid Christians as your main group. But when was the last time that you stopped avoiding a group of people and actually entered it because of the light that you have in Christ? See, what religion teaches is separate from everybody. Don't even hang out with them. Tell them they're going to hell and that's it. What Jesus did was he took his light right into the middle of that darkness and stood there and proclaimed that he was the way, the truth, and the life. He never changed his convictions. He told people the truth, but he did it in love. And friends, that's how we get stretched. See, it's one thing to talk the gospel. It's one thing to stand up here and proclaim doctrine and tell you all these truths.

It's another thing to allow that doctrine to be guardrail so I love God better and love people better. And that's what he's doing in Peter's life. He's stretching him. He would have never, ever, ever stayed with Simon. He would have never spent time in his home. He wouldn't have even spent time with him. Now he's staying there for several days as God's preparing him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And that's exactly what God does. And see, every time God does this, it's taking a step of faith. And as I've told you from this pulpit on myriads of occasions, the hardest step of faith you'll ever take is the next one. Because we're concerned about, is God gonna come through and what are people gonna think? I remember when God called me to go into the ministry, I didn't have a dad that was in the ministry. I didn't know a pastor personally that was in the ministry. I didn't have friends that were in the ministry. I didn't have anybody to talk to. The only thing I knew about church was this. This was my view of church anyway, prior to getting saved and prior to getting involved in the church. Here's my view of church. If you can't make it anywhere in life at all, go to church, they'll take anybody. That was my view.

Like if you're in the high school glee club and they're like, yeah, you're not really at our par and they kick you out, go to church, they'll take you. They'll take anybody there. Like the world is for people that can make it, but if you can't make it, go to church. It's a crutch for people that are broken. So as God was calling me to ministry, I'm like, yeah, I don't think that's like my place because that doesn't feel like me. And I just remember God speaking in my heart saying, can you just be yourself and tell other people about me and just follow me? I'm like, yeah, I can do that. So that's what I've done for 35 years. But it was a big step for me to leave business and go ministry because I was just thinking I was hearing God and God's been faithful all that time. But every step has been that way. When God started putting on my heart when I was about 28 to go to seminary, I mean, I did not like school when I had to. When I graduated college, my mom told me, she's like, you could get a master's degree. I'm like, mom, I will never take another class for the rest of my life. It's pointless. But when God called me to seminary, I knew it was him because I didn't wanna go. I went to three different schools.

I spent 10 years studying myself to be approved to understand God's word so I could present. and loved it, and it was hard. And I'll give this out for free. If any of you young men are being called to ministry, you need to go to seminary to be able to handle the word. You have to. Don't just think, well, I'm passionate about the word, I'll just do it. I mean, do you want your brain surgeon to act like that? Where'd you go to school? I didn't, but I'm really passionate about the brain. Stop it. Like, go to seminary and actually be trained and learn the word, please. There's too much untrained people in the pulpit. When I started a ministry, I didn't want to start a ministry. I called three different evangelistic organizations, and here's what I told each evangelist that was running that organization. If I raise all my own support, all my healthcare, pay for my apartment, pay for my car, do everything, can I come just serve you for two years and learn how you do what you do? And all three said no. And when I asked why, they all gave me the same answer. They said, you're called to preach, it's obvious, so you need to form your own ministry, you need to trust God for resources,

and you need to go do that. And I said, I don't want to start an organization, but I did. Formed a board, and I told the Lord this, I'm not charging for anything, and I'm not calling anybody to speak. If you don't open doors and don't give me enough money to live, I'm done. And for seven years prior to planting this church, that's what we did, he was always faithful. When it came time to plant this church, all I knew was the money that I had in the bank, and a wife that was willing to come with me, and we brought our kids out here, not knowing if we'd meet anybody. I mean, it was a huge step of faith. Now doing campuses, huge step of faith. Now getting into the prisons, huge step of faith. Now opening Brave Academy, huge step of faith. It never gets easier. Now doing national radio ministry. All those, it never gets easier. Every time it happens, I look in the mirror and I'm like, God, who am I to be used by you? And secondly, how is this ever gonna work out? And the answer's the same. Because I'm God and I told you to do it, and I got this. Amen? That's why I believe our best days are always ahead, but we always have to take steps of faith

in our service and in our willingness to get stretched. We have to. And I just wanna say this, because I think this is important for you to hear as a member of a church, okay? When it comes to being dishonored and betrayed, I have experienced that a hundredfold from people within the church versus those outside the church. Let me be clear on this. If you serve the Lord, the enemy will use those around you to dishonor you or betray you in the church. Like, people outside the church, people that think differently than me, they don't bother me. They never bother me. I never really bother them. We're good. It's always been inside the church. Why? Because the wounds are more severe inside the church. When you're pouring your life into somebody and you're helping somebody and you're investing in somebody and then they're dishonoring to you or they betray you, it hurts. And then you go to the scriptures, like, what do I do? And like, well, you love them and you pray for them. And then what else? Then you get to be more like Jesus, who when he was reviled, he did not revile back,

but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. And then versus like, happy are you when people mistreat you and say all sorts of evil about you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. You're like, okay, thank you, Jesus. Why am I telling you this? Because if you choose to serve in our church, it's gonna happen to you. It's always surprising to people that start serving in our church or become an elder in our church or become on staff in our church. Like, hey, this church work hurts and it always pierces in a place that's really deep. And here's what I would tell you. That means you're doing the exact right thing and it gives you more resolve to continue to do it. Don't quit, don't give up. Your labor's not in vain. Continue to serve others. The Lord sees all that you're doing. He's using it all for his glory. Don't be afraid to let Jesus stretch you. And as I've said to you many times from this pulpit, God is not doing things to you. He's doing things for you. Even the pain that comes your way, it's like God's like, I'm doing this for you. This is gonna help you be more prepared

for what I have next. So sometimes, especially with my trusted friends and people that are very close to me, when I'm going through a season, we'll talk like this. Man, I think God's about ready to do something big because this last six months has been just awful. This has been so hard. Like, if it was just me and my flesh, I'd quit. I wouldn't wanna do this anymore. But God is building something. He's doing something. He's growing, he's stretching. The more you feel stretched and stay in the game, the more God's getting ready to unleash you into greater mission. Don't quit when the stretching hurts. That's just getting started. It's getting you ready for what God has. And too many times, what Christians tend to do is like, man, this hurts. I don't wanna serve, I don't wanna do. Man, these people are hurt. That's when you wanna stay in the game. Not because you're serving the church. Not because you're serving the pastor. Not because you're serving your boss. It's the Lord Jesus Christ whom you're serving. Amen. And that's what he wants to do. And here's how you know Jesus is still at work.

He's still at work because he's still restoring the broken and he still values the faithful and he's still stretching his servants. And he's doing that in everybody. It's coming after him. So even if you don't see quote unquote the miraculous, perhaps it's because you're the seed in the ground that God's growing the roots for. And God's preparing and God's getting ready for to do something spectacular because here's this, God is no respecter of persons. He doesn't look out at the crowd and be like, I can really use you and I can use you, but the rest of you guys, I mean, I can't believe I even chose you. He doesn't do that. Everybody that's been chosen by him has been chosen for a specific way in service to serve the Lord. And all you have to do is take the next step. What's that look like for you? To give the Lord your best so that one day when you're standing before him face to face, you hear these words, well done, good and faithful servants. Friends, that's what you're looking for. You're looking for more of Jesus. He'll heal your brokenness. You're looking for more of Jesus. He'll value your service. You're looking for more of Jesus. The pain you're experiencing in your life,

that's just him stretching you. He sees all your pain. He weeps with you. He knows. When you say, why did I have to go through this? Why am I going through this? Because I really, really love you and I got something super special for your life. And I know it's hard and I know it's been painful, but there's coming a day when there'll be no more tears. There's coming a day where there'll be no more pain. There's coming a day when it's going to be glorious. And the more you serve here, the greater return on investment you're gonna experience. Amen, amen. Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor and praise. We thank you for your word. Lord, your word speaks. And Lord, we've heard you today. For those of you who are here who would say I've never trusted Jesus, I don't have a relationship with God. Here's how you can pray. Lord, save me. I repent of my sin and I trust you completely for your death on the cross and your resurrection from the dead. Come into my life and change me. Lord, for those of us who know you,

Lord, would you just grow us in believing that we can pick up our mat and you'll heal our brokenness? Lord, can we trust you more that you see our faithful service? And can we trust you more that when we have what we have going on in our life, Lord, that it's just you stretching us to get us ready? Lord, in the same way that you use Aeneas, that you use Tabitha, Lord, that you use Simon in the life of Peter to prepare him for what was happening in Acts 10. Lord, use the people in our lives to prepare us for the mission you have for us next. Lord, we give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise. We worship you and you alone in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his work today? Thank you. Let's sing this bridge out.