Faith When The Lights Go Out | Wednesday Night Service

For those that don't know me, my name is Andrew Riddle. My lovely wife Samantha, over there in the white jacket is my Bride for almost 16 years. It'll be in November. I'm so thankful. So, so thankful.

I do wanted to say. Pastor Steph, I know you'll probably listen to this later. Ish or something, so I just want to say thank you for letting me have the mic. I know you're struggling today, but we are praying for you and we have prayed for you. Thank you, Bishop hall, for remembering that.

Thank you. I do want to honor our incredible leadership. Pastors Jay and Melanie, can you guys give it up for Pastor J? I'm so glad you're back in the house. So glad you're here.

Thankful for that. And my dad's here tonight. Hey, Pops, how you doing? It's good to see you. I love you.

I am the men's pastor here at the Refuge. And my wife and I together lead the Young Families Ministry. Quick, shameless plug for both of those things. Cause I have the microphone. Thank the Lord, men.

August 28, Thursday night, 6:30pm I'm doing a teaching night on the importance of accountability, even extreme accountability. Why it matters. Why to break cycles, we have to sometimes do things we are uncomfortable with and have never done before. Like Pastor J has said many times from the pulpit, to have what you've not had, you gotta do what you've not done sometimes. So I'm teaching on that.

August 28th. August 22nd, coming up for young families. Is there any young families folks in here? Hey. All right.

Praise the Lord. Praise God. So we have a teaching night on the 22nd. Pastor Nathan and Tamsy are going to come in. They're going to join us.

We're going to teach about the power of routine and Sabbath and Shabbat, which is a Friday night. Sabbath. That happens, of course, in Jewish custom. We're going to have a table set up in here. We're going to teach about the reason why that's important for your family.

To find rhythm. Rhythm. You need rhythm to make it. You got to have that. So we're going to teach about that.

And I'm very excited. My wife and I are thankful that Pastor Nathan can come. So. All right. We're in the middle of summer, Salem.

If you're loving it, you're doing it wrong. Just going to say that right now. So just as a joke, Pastor Jay, I promise. Teens know we are resetting our routines and our schedules and doing this fast. And we're telling our flesh to Quit having a pity party because we can't have ice cream at 10 o' clock at night.

And you probably shouldn't be doing that anyways. So for all you people that are doing that anyways, I'm saying maybe we should quit that. So. But if you're keeping up with the daily reading that we've been doing in the book of Matthew, we just concluded, I believe, chapter six today, if I'm correct about that, which tomorrow, tomorrow's reading in Matthew, we're gonna start chapter 7, 8, 9 and 10. Those chapters highlight several instances of faith healing and droves of people coming to salvation because of the miracles that they've witnessed.

It is powerful stuff. I wanna encourage you. Jump in if you haven't started yet, jump in right now. Get up to Matthew chapter 10 by the end of the day tomorrow. So I love reading the Gospels.

They do illuminate so very much about the character of Jesus and the nature of God. But tonight we are speaking about maintaining our faith when the lights go out. Faith has always been the lifeblood of God's people. It's the thing that makes us step forward when the road ahead looks very uncertain. It's the thing that makes us hold on when our hearts are crushed.

The thing that makes us keep building, keep believing, keep praying, and dare I say, even keep obeying. Even when the fulfillment of God's promise seems still so very far away. So tonight we're gonna be exploring a couple different passages of scripture. So first I want you to, if you have your Bibles with you, if you have your device, whatever, I want you to go to Hebrews chapter 11. While you're doing that, would you stand to honor the word of God?

I want to read just a couple of verses here. Hebrews chapter 11.

In verse one, we find some really beautiful language that describes what is faith. Exactly what is it? Hebrews 11. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see through their faith.

The people in days of old earned a good reputation by faith. We understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command and that we now see what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. I also like the way that the living Bible puts it. In verse one, it says, what is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen.

It is the certainty that what we hope ahead waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. I know some of you guys are in positions or seasons or struggles where you're like, man, I don't know if I can keep holding on. We're going to talk about what it looks like to hold on when the lights go out, why we need this, why it's important. But we have some declarations we say every single week. Can you put those up on the screen There?

So 1, 2, 3, ready, go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I'll be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it.

In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated, lean to your neighbor tonight and say, you need faith. You need faith.

I promise you I'm not going to keep you until 10 o' clock at night when your ice cream starts calling. But I'm going to just teach on this for a few minutes and then bring it home. Confident. Assurance. Scripture is chock full of people that had faith.

People that laid hold of a promise from God and wrestled that thing until they saw the fulfillment. But Hebrews 11 is just a little bit different. It's almost like a roll call of like holy courage and faith, which is why it's been nicknamed the hall of Faith. Thank you, Tony Hall. Love that.

The hall of Faith. This chapter gives specific mention to some of the greatest heroes in the entire Bible. If you haven't read the entire chapter, I encourage you go read it tonight after you read Matthew Just saying. So in verse 6 of chapter 11, it says that faith. I'm sorry, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

It's impossible. So if you're like, I'm gonna live a really good life and be nice to people and God will love me, but I have no faith in what he's promised. And you can't win. It says it right here. Why?

Because steadfast faith in Jesus requires a. Because steadfast faith in Jesus requires a yes to the master sculptor. And you don't know what tool he's going to use to shape you. You don't know. It requires faith to say yes.

Anyways, faith requires obedience. Obedience can often guide us directly through trials, sorrow, loss and grief. I am sure that there are some people in this room that can are well acquainted with this.

So many tremendous men and women of faith are referenced in this chapter between verses 1 and 12. Let me get the chat. Did we get to verse 13?

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised. But they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. Let's pause right there and say. Wait, hang on.

God made promises and they didn't see them fulfilled. The lights went out before they saw what was supposed to happen. Square that with me for a second. What do we do with this? What do you do when you have to stare down perceived disappointment?

What do you do? What should we do? By faith, Abel offered his sacrifice, which was pleasing to the Lord, and yet was murdered while waiting for the Savior who would crush the serpent's head. By faith, Abraham left his home and Sarah conceived in her old age. Yes, and they died with only one child of promise in their arms.

Never seen the great nation or the blessing to all nations in their lifetime. By faith, Noah built the ark and did survive the flood, and yet he never saw the final victory over sin in his life, which was Jesus, by the way, in case you're like, well, who's the final victory? It's Jesus. That's the answer to every question on every math test you'll ever take, just in case you're wondering. By faith, Joseph led Egypt through horrendous famine and still died in a foreign land with his eyes fixed on the day that his bones might rest in the promised land.

And by faith, Moses led God's people to the edge of that very promised land. Yet he died on a mountain across the Jordan, seeing the land from afar, but never getting a chance to enter into it himself. What gives? What do we do with this?

Each of them died in faith, still waiting, still trusting, still believing in promises bigger than their lifetimes. Bigger than their lifetimes. And yet there were still so many stories of miracles and breakthroughs while these men and women were walking out their obedience to God in their lifetimes. Hebrews 11. Still there, verse 32 to 35.

How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, excuse me, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith, these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength.

They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. And then we get to this weird verse in 35, verse 35. And women receive their loved ones back again from death. It kind of stands out like a sore thumb. Unnamed women just get people back from death.

So I started pondering this this was a few weeks ago. I'm like, God, I need you to show me some of this. What does this mean? Where is this? And I believe he answered my question.

And it's here with that same spirit of determined trust that we meet a woman in. Second Kings, chapter 4. A woman who welcomed the prophet Elisha into her home, built him a room, and unknowingly set the stage for the test of her life, the required faith. So turn with me, if you would, to Second Kings, chapter four. Her story reminds us that faith is not just about believing in today's blessings.

It's about clinging to God when the holding onto he gave you seem dead and holding onto him until he moves again.

Second Kings, chapter four. If you know and you've got two Kings in your actual Bible, raise your hand if you've got it open right. All right. Most of y' all passed the test. Praise the Lord.

Hallelujah. We're gonna start in verse eight. What we're gonna do tonight is I'm gonna pair together faith in action from a woman that chose to have faith in crazy circumstances. I'm gonna say some of the scripture and unpack it. I have four very quick points I'm gonna make about this.

We're gonna go back to Hebrews, chapter 11. I'm gonna sew a big bow on it, and then I promise you'll be home in time for, I don't know, Matlock. What do you guys watch? I'm not sure what you guys are doing, so. I'm just kidding.

One day, verse 8, chapter 4, Second Kings. One day, Elisha went to the town of Shunam, and a wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he, Elisha, passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat. And she said to her husband, I am sure that this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. Let's build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.

Simple. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes. Why are we talking about this? The roll call that we just saw in Hebrews 11, all those phenomenal people, now moves us to this ancient village in Israel called Shunam. And there she is, this woman who is.

There's no title. She has no army. There's no prophetic mantle on this woman's life. It's just faith and hospitality. And to see God's work in the man who passed by her home.

I want to tie together why hospitality matters in faith. Right now, this is really important. Here. She prepares a room for Elisha, a bed, a table, a chair and a lampstand. She's not looking for repayment, she's just creating a space to host the presence of God.

How many times do we look at our own lives and examine, do I create space in my life for the Holy Spirit to have a place to dwell, to have a place to rest in my life? Or am I too busy to create a hospitable place for the Holy Spirit to sit and stay awhile? What am I doing? My time? So takeaway number one.

Faith requires us to make room for his presence. It does. It's impossible to please God without faith, is what verse 6 of Hebrews 11 says. So this woman, this is a tangible example of what it looks like for someone to make space for the presence of God. She prioritized a literal space in her home where the man of God could come and find a place to land to be hosted.

And how often do we examine our own lives, our routines? They're just filled with stuff. I will say this. The ground of intentional relationship and intimacy is the soil in which faith is best cultivated. Intentional relationship and intimacy, you must.

You cultivate faith in. It is. You must make space for his presence. And it is in this closeness with the Holy Spirit that we open our hearts up to hear the affections of Jesus towards us and the richness of his presence. We got to get in his presence, guys.

We have to host it. Be hospitable to the Holy Spirit. Make space for him. Second kings again, verse 11. One day Elisha returned to Shunam and he went up to this upper room to rest.

And he said to his servant, Gehazi, tell the woman from Shunam I want to speak to her. And when she appeared, Elisha said to Gehazi, tell her, we appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or the commander of the army? No, no, no, no, she replied, my family takes good care of me.

Later, Elisha asked Gehazi, what can we do for her. He couldn't let go of this thing. We gotta do something. Here's the reason why I believe the Holy Spirit is attracted to your hospitality towards people that are lesser than in the eyes of culture. He's attracted to that.

He wants to bless that. Elisha couldn't get away from this thought, I gotta do something for this woman. It bothered him I gotta do something for her. What can we do for her? And Gehazi replied, she doesn't have a son, and her husband is an old man.

Straight up, he's old. Which the implication is she's never gonna have a son. That's the implication. It doesn't say that she was old. It says that he was, but she couldn't have a kid.

Call her back in here again, Elisha told him. And when the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, next year you will be holding a son in your arms. No, no, no, my Lord, she said, oh, man of God, don't deceive me and get my hopes up like that. Don't you dare. Don't you dare say something to me that's gonna drag me along and tease me, just to crush my heart.

Don't you dare. But sure enough, the woman became pregnant. And at that time, about the following year, she had a son, just as Elisha had said. So this brings us to takeaway number two. Faith requires us to open our hearts to.

To his promises. Do you close your heart from hearing what he wants to whisper to you? Cause it's just too risky to say, what would he say to me? I can't trust him. I've been burned by too many people, too many pastors, too many leaders, too many people who said they were my friend and they pulled the rug out from underneath me.

I cannot open myself up to any more risk. My friend, faith requires you to open your heart up to risk. It requires you. It has to.

The woman had no son, but she made no mention of it, of being a desire of hers. When Elisha asked about it, it's possible that she came to grips that her husband was old and they hadn't been able to have a son yet. And she may have assumed that it was too far outside the realm of God's scope of interest to even bring it up. But Elisha wasn't gonna let it go. He was not letting go of the opportunity to show kindness to this woman.

She had shown him so much hospitality, and it attracted the spirit of God. It attracted. The office of a prophet was such a challenging role, and still is today. And it often meant that Elisha was persecuted, poor, hungry, and totally reliant on God to provide for his basic needs, which was often done through generous people like this woman. Proverbs 19:17.

Will you help the poor? You are lending to the Lord, and He will repay you. He will repay you. I like how some versions say, he'll Repay you with interest.

In other words, pressed down, shaken together, running over more than you expected. The woman tried to rebuttal such an extravagant gift from the Lord. And she pleaded with him, do not toy with my emotions. This is a fragile area and I know there's people in this room and that will listen to this later on that are in that same spot. My heart is too fragile to trust.

I can't. I can't. If you can't trust the Creator who knit you together, who can you trust? And you might be saying, nobody. I'm here to tell you that he will soften the soil of your heart if you let him.

If you let him.

Sure enough, about a year later, the miracle baby was born. The woman is beside herself. She's now raising a son that she never believed she'd be able to hold in her arms ever. And we don't know how many years go by between verses 17 and 18, but suffice it to say that it was long enough to see that the boy would mature enough to talk and to walk and to go into the fields with his father. So verse 18, one day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working on with the harvesters.

And suddenly he cried out, my head hurts. My head, it hurts. And his father said to one of the servants, carry him home to his mother. So the servant took him home and his mother held him on her lap. But around noon time he died.

She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. And then she shut the door and left him there.

She sent a message to hurry to the send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.

Did you notice something there? She didn't send a message saying, our son's dead.

I'm gonna tell you why.

The man responded, why you wanna go today? To see the man of God. It's neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath. And she said, it's going to be all right. We'll be okay.

I need to go see him. I got some business to talk to him about. So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, hurry up. Don't slow down unless I tell you to. That's called.

You're going to hoof it till you get there, buddy. As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. And he said to Gehazi, look, the woman from Shunam is coming. Run out to meet her and ask her, is Everything all right with you? Your husband, your child?

Yes. The woman told Gehazi, everything is fine.

It wasn't fine. But when she came to the man of God of the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, leave her alone. She's deeply troubled, and the Lord has not told me what it is yet. And then she said, did I ask you for a son, my Lord?

And didn't I say, don't deceive me and toy with my emotions and get my hopes up? Don't crush my spirit? Don't pull the rug out from underneath you? Why would you tell me something, give me this thing and then take it from me. Never said that before.

You ever had that moment in your life, God, Why would you say that? And now it's gone. The lights have gone out.

Elisha said to Gehazi, get ready to travel. Take my staff and go. Don't talk to anyone along the way, and go quickly and lay the staff on the child's face. The boy's mother said, now listen to me. As surely as the Lord lives and you live yourself, I won't go home unless you go with me.

That's called a mama bear right there. Not sure if you've ever encountered one of them. You ain't going nowhere. Woo. So guess what Elisha did?

He went with her. He sure did. He's like, yes, ma'. Am. Let's go.

Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child's faith. But nothing happened. There was no sign of life. And he returned to meet Elisha and told him, the child is still dead. In other words, it doesn't look good.

It doesn't look good. Takeaway number three. Faith requires us to pursue him in the pain acquires it. That woman said, I will not leave until you come with me. She didn't even tell her husband where she was going and for what purposes.

I gotta go. I got business to attend to. I got something I've got to get done, and it's got to happen now. She pursued the man of God who said, this is going to happen. And she's like, okay, buddy, you're coming with me.

You told me a promise. I'm here to lay hold of that promise.

Life is going fine. And then the unthinkable happens. The promised son, the miracle child, dies in her arms. And in an instant, it was all over. But there was this holy determination in this woman not to despair, but to lean into God's promises, to pursue him in the pain.

That's what faith looks like when lights go out. We continue to pursue his promises. Through that pain. She made the decision. Watch this.

To carry the boy upstairs and lay him in Elisha's bed. She could have laid him downstairs. She could have tried to take the boy with her to Elisha. No, no, no. I'm gonna put him in the bed.

We know that Elisha spent time in this room and in that bed, praying and interceding and dwelling in the presence of God. She puts the promise from God, which is that boy that's now seeming dead, into the place of prayer, intercession. It is in this moment when her faith. Friends. It is in this moment when her faith would either cling to hope or collapse in despair.

We have to drag our challenges, our turmoil, our grief, our sorrow to the only place that changes those things. And that's the place of intercession and prayer. I don't care if you're gonna drag it all the way there from downtown. You drag that junk into the place of prayer.

Because outside of prayer, nothing of lasting value happens.

She doesn't collapse. She doesn't plan a funeral. She goes to the very place in her home that hosts the Presence. Why? Because she went back to point number one.

Make room for the presence of God. She made room because when the junk hits the fan, where are you going to pull from? What will you draw from the Presence. But you have to first host it. Faith requires it.

Verse 22. She sent a message to her husband. This is going back again. Send one of the servants on a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back. I did a little research.

Shoon him to Mount Carmel. If you're on a donkey, is gonna take you a minimum of seven hours to get there. Minimum. If you're huffing it, minimum. Okay.

Not to mention the terrain, possibly weather, who knows. It's a minimum seven to eight hour donkey ride. She put the boy in the bed and made a commitment. I am going to find Elisha and we are gonna come back here together to my son. She didn't call her friends or her relatives and ask them if they think she should start planning a funeral.

She didn't partner with defeat. She saddled a donkey. She said, we got to go and we're gonna do it right now. And when Elisha's servant meets her on the road and asks, is everything all right? She says, everything's fine.

Maybe that's a little bit of denial, possibly. I think of it like this. That was a declaration. No, it's going to be fine. In the name of Jesus, if you do not know what it looks like to grope in darkness, the lights will go out.

And what will you say? I guess it's over.

Or will you say, no, no, no, I'm going to grope for that light switch until I find it. I'm going to seek until I find was her way of saying, I don't know how, but God is not finished yet. I'm gonna cling to the source of this promise. And it came from Elisha's mouth. So he's coming back with me.

Takeaway number four, the last one. Faith requires us to be patient as we press in for the miracle. 2nd Kings 4. 33 When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there. To Elisha, I don't mind you.

It took about seven or eight hours to get to Elisha. I don't know how long they stood there and talked, maybe 15, 20 minutes, I'm not really sure. And then they got back on the road and went right back. So the boy has been dead now for a minimum of 16 hours. Minimum.

I'm thinking more likely towards 24 hours. So a full day.

He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. Key word there he prayed. And then he laid down on the child's body, placing his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on the child's eyes, his hands on the child's hands, and he stretched out on him, and the child's body began to grow warm.

Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed and he opened his eyes.

We're not told how long Elisha pressed into that moment, but what if he was like, I tried. No, Elisha said, I'm going to go back and do it again. I'm going to press in for my miracle. I'm going to press in until I see breakthrough. I'm going to press in until I see change.

Elisha summoned Gehazi call the child's mother. And when she came in, Elisha said, here you go. Take your son. And she fell at his feet and bowed down before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. And then she picked up her son, put him on her shoulder, and she took him downstairs.

She again held the promise in her arms.

This time, Elisha is the one we see being patient while he presses into the miracle. No one's in the room now, except Elisha and the boy. And after he stretches out on the boy. The first time, there was a warming, but the miracle wasn't complete yet. Elisha had to press into this moment to see the miracle come to fruition.

The woman is undoubtedly on the other side of that door on pins and needles, praying and pleading that God would give her back her son. Maybe you're there right now in need of a miracle. Maybe you've been praying for a prodigal son or daughter to return home to the faith in Jesus. Well, my friends, now is not the time to get passive about your intercession. It's time to press in.

But you will acquire patience.

You have to press in for your miracle. Gonna wrap this up by taking us back to Hebrews chapter 11. Before I do that, I want to tell this quick story.

I got permission from my wife to share this story earlier. Many of you know, most of you know about our son Noah, who it was 10 years ago this month that he was diagnosed with a rare form of eye. Mark, you can come back up to the key.

Mark, you can come back up to the keys, if you don't mind. If you're even in here still, I'm not sure if you are or not. So 10 years ago, on August 5th, Noah was diagnosed and he had a form of eye cancer that required him to have his left eye removed. I'm not going to go into all the details. I've shared this story, so I'm not going to rehash.

I'm going to share an element of this journey I've never shared before publicly.

After Noah's eye was removed, he had a prosthetic eye replaced. And I remember the Lord took me to 1 John chapter 5, and he said, the next time you pray and you ask, you have to believe that anything you ask for in my name, I can do. I didn't know how that worked. Frankly, at that time, I didn't even know one John had five chapters. I'll be frank with you.

You.

But after that prosthetic eye was placed, the Lord began to stir our hearts to begin to ask God for the miraculous in the form of a brand new eye. I can remember on this stage, Pastor J calling the congregation, saying, we're believing God for the realm of the miraculous, that this boy's eye will be healed, restored. I remember that day. I remember the elders anointing him with oil. I remember this.

Shortly after that, Noah's journey was six months before Jesus took him home. People began to text Us and call us and email us with this one really specific thing. They said we had a dream or a vision that God was going to restore his vision, his eye. But it wasn't going to be another brown colored eye because his eyes were brown. God was going to give him another eye, but it was going to be blue.

A blue eye with a golden brown speck on it. I don't understand.

And we had people that didn't know each other emailing us, calling us and telling us, I had a vision, I saw this in a dream.

And so we didn't know what to make of it, frankly. We didn't tell a bunch of people about that because it sounds kind of crazy, but heck, we were praying for a brand new eye in miraculous. I'm like, what do we got to lose at this point, right? Several weeks go by, which turns into several months and we end up in the hospital with Noah. And It's February of 2016 now and we're clinging to this promise that God's going to restore his eye.

I don't know how to do it, guys. I don't know how to say this. I don't know what to do. But people would call us and they'd say, I saw this vision. I saw this.

It's a blue eye, it's got a golden brown speck.

Several days into our trip at the hospital, people started showing up from different places, different churches, people I did not know, I had no relationship with. I don't know how they heard about our story. I have no idea. But people started showing up to pray. Some of you in this room are probably on that list.

This was 10 years ago.

And this one time there was this sweet couple that showed up from the Billy Graham evangelization. I don't know how they heard about it. No idea. Somebody called him, his name was Leo. And he shows up and I meet him outside the room and he says, we came, we heard that you're believing for a miracle.

I was like, yeah. So I told him the story, told him how God had spoken to us and I believed that God was going to give him a brand new eye. He said, yeah, it's a blue eye with a golden brown speck, isn't it? I'm like, yeah, who told you that? Nobody.

I was in the car driving over here. The Holy Spirit told me, tell him I know about the blue eye and the golden brown speck.

What are you doing?

So you can imagine now a rock and a hard place. God, why haven't you done the miracle yet? And why do we keep being told that you're going to do this miracle and it's going to look exactly like this? Super specific. Why?

Several more days will go by. People keep coming, we keep praying. Noah's condition continues to get worse.

And then this man shows up that I did not know. He was the only person that day. It was a Friday. He knocks on the door. I go and I answer.

I'm talking to him there in the hallway. Can imagine a scenario. All I hear in the background is the beeping of machines. And I'm just desperate at this point.

This man tells me, my name's Peter, I'm a missionary to Turkey and I'm home fundraising for a little bit before I go back to Turkey and I heard about your story. I'm like, what?

Who's telling you people this? What is happening? This dude from Turkey. Throw that picture on the screen.

This was Peter's eye.

Peter had blue eyes, a golden brown speck in it. I kid you not. I took a picture of it so I wouldn't forget.

This man shows up out of nowhere. I don't know him, he doesn't know me. And God just said to go and pray for this family who's believing for a miracle.

Peter prays over Noah. We hug. I think we exchange contact information, and then he leaves. Several more days go by, and on February 17, the lights went out.

Jesus took him home.

I don't understand how many people had to tell me I was going to give you a brand new eye with a golden brown speck. Why did you send me a man that I've never met before that has this exact thing? Why do you build my faith? Don't promise me a son and then pull the rug off from underneath me. Don't do that.

Don't get my hopes up. God, I can relate to this woman we read about. Why would you do that?

I remember the Holy Spirit told me, and I've said this before here. He said, andrew, I need you to get down next to Noah's bed and I need you to put your hands on his body. And I want you to say the words, I still believe in miracles and I still believe that God is good or you are going to run. I remember.

So I did just that. And I put my hands on his body, cold and lifeless. And I said, God, I don't understand, but I believe in miracles and I believe you are still good.

I could still hear the machines and the people in the room. I could still hear them turning them off. As I said, this.

I don't have an answer for you, why people came. Why did I get all these testimonies about a blue eye and a brown speck? Other than this? I believe there are promises made to you and I. Things that are said to you and I that we won't see the fulfillment of on this side of the curtain, but we will on the other side.

When I get to heaven and I'm on the first bus out of here, man, whenever he calls me home, dude, whatever that looks like. I'm raising a family. I'm loving my wife. I'm in ministry, Praise God. But he's like, it's the day.

It's the day. I'm like, let's go. So I don't have a death wish. I'm just waiting to see that eye. I'm gonna see that eye.

Cause I know he's faithful. And there are people in this room, and many who will listen to this online later, who are carrying so much brokenness in their hearts. Some have lost children like Sam and I have. Some have lost spouses or dear friends. And the pain of those empty places is raw.

It's real. Some carry the scars of a terrible divorce, the weight of dreams crushed by failed businesses, or the long road of healing from abuse and addiction. If you're under the sound of my voice right now and you're carrying these burdens, whether it's sudden or long standing, I need you to know this. He sees you when the lights go out. He sees you.

You are groping in the darkness, looking for the light switch. He is with you now. So strong for you today. My wife and I both. Not because we're so strong or whatever.

Nonsense. No, man, we are simply a miracle that we're not divorced and I'm not in a ditch somewhere. God is. Is faithful.

He knows your pain, your grief, your frustration, your hope that sometimes feels so fragile. He knows it's been hard to cling to faith at times. And the truth is that scores of men and women of faith became well acquainted with sorrow. If you read The Bible, Hebrews 11, going right back to that 35. But others, by the way, this is the second half of that same verse that said women receive their kids back from the dead.

Well, the second half of that verse starts like this. But others were tortured, refusing to turn to God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. That's what I'm doing. Some were jeered at.

Others. I'm sorry. Some were jeered at and their Backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained and prayed prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half and others were killed with a sword.

Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats. Destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world. Wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith.

Yet none of them received all that God had promised to them. For God had something better in mind for us so that they would not reach perfection without us. The story of the Shunammite woman reminds us that sometimes, yes, God does bring restoration in this life, and we should ask for him to do it. Pray that thing into it. Pray that situation through.

Pray that prodigal home. Pray for that broken body, that broken marriage, that broken dream. Pray that thing into creation and existence. Pray it. And sometimes God answers that prayer.

And when restoration doesn't happen the way we want, when the timing we expect, there is a greater hope that applies to every person in this room. Under the sound of my voice. That is the hope of the resurrection.

John 11:35. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though they die, they shall live.

The promises reach beyond the grave and beyond the world's brokenness. Your lost dreams, your shattered relationships, your battles, though some things may never be restored exactly the same way, God promises new life and a resurrection, hope, peace, joy that death and brokenness cannot steal from you.

Now, the writer of Hebrews doesn't just let us stand there and admire all these people in the hall of faith and not call us to something. The very next verse of chapter 12, verse 1 says this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses who. Who what? Some of them didn't quite get what they thought they were going to see.

Since we've got such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects your faith. You need faith, friends. Where is your faith? In what have you placed your faith?

So while we wait for the day when Christ returns and every grave gives up its treasure and every wound is healed and every loss is restored, we are not called to just sit still. We're called to run, to keep believing. When the lights go out, to strip away what slows you down, to apply extreme accountability if it's necessary to fix our gaze not on what we've lost, but on the one who conquered death and is coming again, Jesus Christ. And until then, we must run the race, their eyes locked on Jesus. And we will hold tight to the hope of the Resurrection.

The day when he has made a promise to you, to me, to all those who've gone before us, he will make all things new. I will see that blue eye with that golden brown speck. I will run with our Son. I will. I will.

Would you bow your heads?

Thank you Jesus, for helping me get through that. Thank you, God.

Holy Spirit, I acknowledge that you're in the room. And I know there are hearts carrying many kinds of pain and loss sitting here tonight.

And some here have wounds that run deep and raw. In the silence, Lord, you see every tear and hear every silent cry. You know the depth of every sorrow and the weight of every struggle in the midst of pain that feels overwhelming. We ask for your gentle comfort and your healing peace. Would you wrap your arms around those who feel broken and remind them you are with them when the lights go out?

Jesus, you are the resurrection and the life.

Help us to cling to that hope when the road is long and the healing is slow. Teach us to build our faith on your word. To hold on through every single storm, to wait patiently for the day when every tear is wiped away and every loss is made whole. Thank you God for the examples of faith that we see in scripture. I pray Lord, that their courage would inspire us to live with a fierce, active and unshakable faith, confident that in you death, pain, brokenness, do not have the final word.

Word, you are the resurrection and the life. And tonight Jesus, we fix our eyes on you and we say we place our faith in Jesus.

In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

I want to encourage you this Friday night night watch, 9pm to midnight. If you just need to get in the presence of God, you need to drag some stuff into intercession. Get your rear end here, don't sit at home. Once a quarter, we do this. Drag your struggle, your grief, your pain into the place of intercess.