Ghost Stories Recap

God wants resurrect the dead things in your life.

For our October City Nite, Pastor Tyler Kirkle brought a powerful word out of John 11, about the story of Lazarus.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” John 11:21-27 NIV

He starts off by telling us a story, about his habit of pushing his car to it's limit when he needs to get gas. How many of us do this? The good thing about this is, even when we do run out of gas, our cars don't die. They just need to be refilled, or rather, they're asleep.

In the story of Lazarus's death, Jesus specifically says that Lazarus is not dead, he's asleep.

Two Claims

In this story, we see two claims: Dead and asleep. There's a big difference between things that are dead and things that are asleep.

Spiritual death looks like this: anxiety, depression, loneliness, anger, addiction... the list goes on.

But God. He can take what's dead within us and bring it back to life. He can breathe His life into our bones and awaken something new inside of us. He can turn anxiety to peace, depression to joy, addiction to freedom.

Two Friends

We see two friends: Mary and Martha.

When Jesus arrived, Martha was the first to meet Him, and then she went inside to get Mary, who was mourning the death of Lazarus. Martha didn't let Mary stay where she was at. She challenged her to go meet Jesus.

Who we hang around matters. We need friends in our lives that will challenge us to go to Jesus. That's why it's so important to get in community and join a Group or a Crew!

"Friends are like an elevator. They either take you up or bring you down." - Pastor Tyler Kirkle

Two Names

We see two names: Resurrection and life.

God doesn't just want us to have a moment with Him. He wants us to walk with Him. We can have a moment of breakthrough on a Sunday, and experience the same things we were struggling with before on Monday. He wants to sustain us. And when we lean into him daily, He does just that.

He doesn't just want to resurrect us, He wants to be our source of life.

Two Sends

Finally, we see two sends: Unwrap and let go.

The most beautiful part of the scene we look at above is that in Mary's pain, Jesus was right there with her. The bible says that he was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled." He weeps with her. This is the same God who takes us in our pain as well. He feels with us and loves us right where we're at.

The God of everything cried for us.

God is with you in the dark times.

When Jesus commands Lazarus to come out of the grave, Jesus asks someone else to take the linens off. Look at it like this: Hurt people hurt people, but free people free people.

The send of a Christian is that God wants to free you, and once we get freed, God wants us to help free others.

God is moving in the youth of our city, and it's such a privilege to witness. Join us next City Nite for Friendsgiving on 11/17 at 6:30P!

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