Trying to make sense of God and how He operates is often a fruitless exercise. He tells us that His ways are not our ways, and once we begin to surrender our logic and start trusting Him, He can start working miracles in our lives.
Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
without him you cannot
but without you he will not
when we travel across a bridge it
typically means
that two bodies of land have been
separated
by a challenge this bridge
is designed to take you from where you
are
to where you are trying to go the bridge
that god has constructed
for you to move from the natural to the
supernatural
is the bridge called faith unbelief will
keep you stuck where you are
unbelief is so powerful it’ll stop god’s
work in your life
he says i believe help my uncle
he said i believe but i’m shaky will you
give me what i lack so i can go deep
enough to believe
so even if your faith is weak you’ve got
a faith helper
so get ready for your miracle
as long as you cross the bridge
what i want to talk to you about today
and what i want to challenge you with
today is to stop blocking your miracle
i’d like to suggest to us today based on
the word of god
that a lot of us haven’t seen god
come through because we’re holding god
up
we are delaying or denying
his supernatural presence into our
situation
and into our circumstances
now let me explain what i mean by
something that is supernatural
god has natural laws that govern the
world
the world works by natural
predictable laws but when i talk about
something
supernatural i’m talking where god
trumps his own laws it is where
god overrules himself
he has set the laws in place but a
miracle
is when god overrules a law he set in
place
in order to accomplish something he
wants to do
when you accepted jesus christ as your
personal savior
you entered the realm of the
supernatural
which means that you have access to that
which operates outside of the natural
the problem is that we’re so tied to the
natural
we often misresist or deny
the supernatural
our story is a very familiar one in
john st john chapter 11.
it is the story of the resurrection of
lazarus
i’ve mentioned that on a number of
occasions but today i want to take you
on a little deeper journey into this
story
now to summarize the whole chapter is
about this one story
to summarize martha and mary have called
on jesus to heal their brother
lazarus who’s sick jesus has said
his sickness is not unto death and jesus
delays going to help their sick brother
get better
during the interim of jesus’s delay
lazarus
dies jesus
shows up too late
he dies after saying he wasn’t going to
die
after they had called on him we have two
frustrated sisters
martha the the verbal one says jesus if
you would have been here
i brother would not have done where were
you when we needed you
and if the truth were told
there are many here today who have been
disappointed by the lord
the lord didn’t do what you clearly
understood he said he was going to do
when you thought he was going to be in a
hurry he’s taking his time
when you thought he answered your prayer
the answer was the opposite
in fact if the truth be told
some of us believe god actually made
stuff worse
by his negligence
and by his delay and even by his denial
if the truth were told
that’s our story and we’re going to pick
it up
in verse 38 so jesus again being
deeply moved within came to the tomb
now it was a cave and a stone was lying
against it jesus was being deeply
disturbed
by the pain the anguish the emotion
of what he was dealing with in the life
of martha and mary
in fact in verse 35 the shortest verse
in the bible
it says jesus wept so jesus
cried at the pain he
shared the pain of martha and mary but
let me tell you something about jesus’s
emotions
while jesus sympathizes with our
infirmities hebrews chapter 4
so he comes to the tomb
and when he gets there he issues
a command verse 39.
jesus said remove the stone
there is a stone a large boulder
over the cave where lazarus body is
buried
and jesus says remove
the stone he ushers a command
that involved the action
martha
mouth because she’s the talkative one
says to jesus martha the sister of the
deceased said to him lord
by this time there will be a stench for
he has been
dead for days
jesus heard her do
what he hears us do when we either do
not like or do not understand his
instruction
we argue back with him with human logic
that may be absolutely correct your your
facts may be impeccable
you are absolutely correct martha
dead four days he does stink
jesus responds
and jesus said to her did not i
say to you let me stop right there
can’t you hear
are you not paying attention did not i
say
to you your ears not working
let me explain something lucy
jesus never
wastes words
he never says anything because he feels
like talking right now
when he says something he wants you to
pay
exact attention to his wording
nothing will block the supernatural
movement of god in your life like your
logic
your education some of us have
educated ourselves out of the
supernatural we’re just too smart for
god
too intelligent for heaven too brilliant
for the kingdom of god and so we
live with our logic and so we live only
in the natural
didn’t i say to you
can’t you hear girl
what did you say to her jesus
didn’t i say to you that if you believe
you will see the glory of god
didn’t i say to you if you
believe you would see in the
supernatural
if you believe you would see what would
you see
the glory of god what is the glory of
god it’s god on display
the glory of god is god revealing
himself
as god in your circumstance the glory of
god
is when god advertises himself the glory
of god
is when god puts himself or his
attributes
on a billboard so you can see god at
work
but you will not see it in the physical
until you believe it in the spiritual
you and i are blocking our miracles when
human logic
that if even if it’s correct trumps what
god said
you have just done what matthew 13
says he did not do many miracles there
because of their unbelief
so you will be limited i will be
limited we collectively will be limited
to the natural
when we do not move the stone that is
when we do not act on what god has said
whether we understand it can figure it
out
like it or not
and that is what often happens with
christians limiting us to the natural
because we can’t figure out how god’s
going to do this we can’t figure out
where this is going to come from
so didn’t i say to you that you would
see with your own eyes the glory of the
god but you won’t see the supernatural
till you believe and you believe by
doing what i told you to do
and god is saying i’ll wait
i’ll wait until you decide to believe
now wait until you decide that you’re
not gonna
just throw facts my way like i don’t
know what i’m talking about
i created the world and you’re gonna
describe to me biology
let me tell you something about the will
of god
god has a revealed will
that’s what he says in the bible and he
has a secret will deuteronomy 29
29 says that the secret things belong to
god he hasn’t revealed them
now here it is you cannot get to god’s
secret will if you’ve ignored his
revealed will
in other words if he says move the stone
or whatever it is in your situation
he tells you to do but you have to see
what he’s going to do
before you move the stone you’ll never
see what he’s going to do
because he’ll keep secret his secret
will until he sees
you believe his revealed will so if you
don’t do what you know he said
he won’t show you what he’s up to
in secret in the supernatural realm
and you can’t figure it out ahead of
time
because he’s the unfiguratable god
his ways are not your ways his thoughts
are not your thoughts
isaiah 55. so you can’t figure out what
is he going to do how is he going to do
this before i move this stone
let me try to figure it out that’s an
excedrin pm headache
now watch this
verse 41 so they
removed the stone
so they removed
the stone see some of y’all missed that
so they removed
the stone how did that
stone get moved was she called a small
group
notice jesus was talking to her
but she didn’t move the stone they moved
the stone
why did they move the stone even though
he’s talking to her
because the stone was too heavy for a
woman to move
she needed somebody to help her move it
because it was too heavy for a woman to
move
what am i trying to say what i’m trying
to say is
some issues are too big for you to
handle by yourself
some stones problems difficulties
are too tough you you’ve done it too
long you’ve been in it too
deep it controls you owned you you’re
addicted to it
it’s a strong cause if you could have
moved it by yourself
it would have been moved by now
[Applause]
so there were people who were brought
alongside
to help her move something she could not
move herself
too deep that’s why you need community
that’s why you need people around you
to help you move stones you can’t move
because god won’t move until the stone
is moved
so if you cannot move the stone get some
people who care about you enough
who crying with you enough who love you
enough
to put their hands on your stone that
you gotta move
everyone in here should either
be getting help to move a stone or be
helping somebody else to move a stone
because if you’re helping somebody else
that means you got some folk who can
help you that’s what church is supposed
to be
and so they help her move the stone
now it’s going to get deeper now
some of us are asking god when
god is saying then
how long then
where are you god waiting on then
i’m waiting on you to do what i told you
to do
so that i can do what i’m going to do
and we are now introduced to a doctrine
in the bible
and we see the doctrine practiced right
here
it’s called the doctrine of divine
intercession
bible says in hebrews chapter 7 verse 25
that jesus is our intercessor
the bible says in romans 8 27.
the holy spirit is our intercessor
according to the will of god
so it has to be god’s will of course god
just doesn’t do everything we want
because we want it
but there are a lot of things in god’s
will he’s waiting to do
after he’s seen faith in action so he
says
then jesus says raised up his eyes
and said father i thank you that you
have heard me
so let’s look at what happened here i
thank you father
that you’ve already heard and we’ve
already talked about this
in other words when they sent
word to me about the need of a miracle
you and me daddy had a meeting
and in our meeting when we discussed
this
we agreed that when we saw
faith we were going to do a supernatural
work
you and i have already had this meeting
but even though you and i have had the
meeting
in the spiritual realm they’re not going
to see
what we agreed on in the physical realm
until the bridge of faith is built
so that my intercession for them
becomes you bringing to pass what has
already been agreed on
so why is that important for you to know
that your supernatural miracle
whatever is in god’s will to do has
already been agreed on in the spiritual
realm
that means you do not have to beg god
to do something that is in his will to
do
he is not you waiting on god if he’s
agreed to it
it’s him waiting on you to move the
stone
so he can let you see what was already
previously agreed on
[Applause]
it’s called the intercession of the son
and of the holy spirit bringing
into the physical realm what has
previously been agreed on
in the spiritual realm once faith has
been exercised
even if it has to overrule logic
and correct logic
this is the intercession of god what a
great truth
that god stands like a defense attorney
between the client and the jury
to plead your case
about something that’s already been
agreed on in the spiritual realm
that’s why the bible says he’s already
been to the
end and then he backs up to the
beginning
so he already knows where this thing is
going but
faith activates it in your experience
the father never turns down the son so
the key
is getting jesus to ask for what you’re
asking for
because you may feel like god has turned
down you but he never turns down jesus
because you do always answer me but if
what you talking
in what jesus is talking father not
listening
oh by the way that’s why john 10 says if
you deny me before men i will deny you
before my father
if you acknowledge me before men i will
talk to my daddy about you
we are in a stinky situation because
he’s been dead four days and he thinks
we’re in a trap situation because
he’s been locked down behind a stone
that a whole group of people have to
move
are you trapped is the only hope for
this thing a resurrection
you qualify for the supernatural
when he had said these things he
cried out with a loud voice lazarus
come forth
notice the specificity of the cry not
y’all come forth because then everybody
from the graveyard would have got up
what he requested was the specific
answer to the specific request
not a general answer that applies to
everyone when you need a miracle you
ain’t talking about everybody
you talking about it’s me it’s me it’s
me oh lord standing in the need of
prayer you
you you need him to call your lazarus
not just some vague answer oh by the way
that’s how you know it’s god when he
calls it by your name
lazarus a specific answer to a specific
need in a specific situation predicated
on a specific
request lazarus come forth now watch
this watch this watch i don’t want you
missed this
get ready to close it out here but don’t
miss this cause
it says the man who had died
came forth bound with hand and feet with
wrappings and his face was wrapped
around
with a cloth jesus said to them
unbind him and let him go
okay watch this now
it says he came forth
but he didn’t come forth walking he came
forth
shuffling because he was still tied up
he said he was tied up around his legs
around his hand around his head he was
still wrapped in death cloth
so watch this now he was alive
but he was not liberated
because he was still tied up now he had
a miracle
the miracle was what was dead is now
alive
so he comes walking out because he’s
tied up
but guess what jesus did he called this
small group
he said i want you all to untie
his legs and i want you to unhook his
arms
i want you all to unwrap his head
because i
want the other folk to participate
in my miracle god just doesn’t want to
do
miracles that excludes you he wants to
do miracles
that include you you are part of the
miracle
he did enough to get it going he says i
want you all to finish it off
so that you can see how i can use people
in the lives of circumstances
to do what they can do i’ll get him
alive
y’all can at least unwrap the boy
you and i are participants that’s why
ii corinthians chapter 6 says we are
workers together
with him he will do what we can’t do
he wants us to do what we can do so that
we become
partners in the supernatural miracle
working
process and it closes by saying
and many believed on him
so let me tell you something
god doesn’t do miracles just to show off
he doesn’t do the supernatural to flex
his muscles
he does the supernatural so that his
name will be known
many believed on him that’s the problem
with a lot of folks coming to church
looking for a blessing they looking for
what god’s going to do for me i want a
new house new car new clothes new this
you know
do something for me bless me i want my
blessing i want my bless my blessing
and then after god does something he
gets no
notification no glorification you’re not
witnessing you’re not talking about him
you’re not giving him the credits you’re
not responding and giving you’re not do
you’re not doing anything you just
talking about your blessing
he doesn’t just bless you for you he
blesses you
for his name his glory your impact your
testimony
your ministry let the redeemed of the
lord say so
when you get your supernatural you
better open up your mouth
and you better declare the greatness of
your god
cause only your god can go into your
grave
and raise you up and give you life you
better give him
the glory do his name
[Music]
a miracle is where god trumps the
natural law
to accomplish something that is in his
will
but we can block our miracles we can
block god
overriding what nature says
or what circumstances dictate ought to
be happening
we can block that by our disobedience
and by our faithlessness
god is still a miracle-working god he
still
can trump the natural order of things
the scripture says over and over again
nothing is impossible with god
but god does also make clear to us
that if we refuse to put faith before
sight
if we have to see it before we believe
it
then the miracle we are asking for
needing and desiring
may just never occur god wants to know
that we believe what he says
even though our physical eyes
do not yet see it it is absolutely
critical
that if you need a miracle if i need a
miracle
we believe in a miracle-working god but
how will
you know that you have positioned
yourself for your miracle
very simply are you doing what he asked
you to do that you do know
so you can see what he wants you to see
that you don’t know but that you need
prove that you really want a miracle by
your feet
not just by your feelings by your
movement
not just by your mouth by your life not
just your lips move in faith what he has
revealed
because when you obey his revealed will
you’ll see his secret will
unveiled
[Music]
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