How to Respond to a Miracle Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Respond to a Miracle Part 2. He will be in John 11:45-57

That’s why God sometimes, he does just get out of the way, you know, people will not listen and they refuse to turn everything over to him and God says, okay, if you want to make a mess of your life, let me just get out of your way so that you can make a mess of your life.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church and the Ministry of Hope provided that we are able to be together today and that you’ve tuned in to be a part of this wonderful broadcast. Today we’re going to be continuing our study on how to respond to a miracle.

We’re going to be back in the Gospel of John chapter 11, so if you’ve been following with us you know that we’re going through a study in the Gospel of John and we’re just kind of tackling it chapter by chapter, verse by verse and we’re learning what God is showing us in this special passage of scripture and I hope that you will be encouraged and that you will be challenged.

Now before we get into our study, let me just remind you that we have a YouTube channel. I know there’s a lot of things going on, but listen, the YouTube channel is very important. If you’ll just go to the search button, type in Hope Worth Having, subscribe to the channel and you know there’s so much resources there, there’s so many things that you can get.

I tell people as little of Mike or as much of Mike as you want. And down to a minute, a minute with Pastor Mike, up to 30, 40, sometimes 50 minutes of teaching the Bible. There are interviews, there’s Q &A, there’s a lot of wonderful, great material that will continue to enrich you in your faith.

So please take advantage of that. That’s YouTube slash Hope Worth Having and it will be a blessing to you. Now let’s get into our study. Make sure you’ve got your Bible with you, pen, paper, ready to learn, ready to grow as we study John chapter 11, how to respond to a miracle.

We are reminded that we are to make sure that we ourselves. respond properly to a miracle, to a resurrection, that Jesus is the source of life and that he is the one who has authority over death. How do we respond?

Number one, seek Jesus preeminently. Seek him preeminently in your life, meaning Jesus is to be number one in your life. I love verse 45. I love how John writes the gospel under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

He says many of the Jews which came to Mary had seen the things which Jesus did. They saw it and John is just blunt. He just right to the point believed on him, believed on him, they saw the miracle and they believed on Christ.

The truth is that why wouldn’t you believe in Jesus? If Jesus raised someone from the dead, why wouldn’t you have faith in him? But John reminds us that there were those that did believe and that just as Lazarus experienced new life, there were others who were experiencing new life spiritually for the birth of faith had taken place in their hearts.

And they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the theme of the Gospel of John. It is the Gospel of belief. It is written that you might believe on him. John shares the seven miracles that we’ve been talking about and he shares them so that we might believe in Christ.

The emphasis is on genuine salvation that you and I would really believe on him. I want you to just see a little bit of that in the Gospel of John. I want you to go back to John chapter one. I want you to see this theme kind of threaded throughout the Gospel.

I don’t have time to take you to every verse, but I just wanna point out a few of them this morning so you can see this so that you would understand this. Verse 12, John chapter one, follow along with me as we go through just a few chapters here, not many, but just a few, but as many as received him to them, gave him power or authority to become the sons or children of God, even to them that what?

They believe on his name. Jump over to John 3 .16. You know it, but I want you to see it this morning. For God so loved, or for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever, what, should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jump over to John chapter five, verse 24. Five, 24, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and what on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.” Go to John 6 verse 29.

John 6 verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Time and time again, John is reiterating the word belief because he wants us to believe.

He wants all who read the gospel to believe in Jesus Christ. He wants them to see Christ preeminently that he would be number one in their life. This is why friends when I’m out there talking to people and sharing Christ with them, I’m inviting them to read the gospel of John.

Why? It is the gospel of belief. it’s the gospel that is constantly challenging them from chapter to chapter to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to not only believe on him but to look at his works to look at his life and recognize that he was sent from the father and that his works testify that he was sent from the father and that he is a hundred percent God he is a hundred percent man and he is bringing salvation to all who will believe in him this is your job as an evangelist this is what you are called to do when you go out there and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is that you are constantly bringing people back to the gospel of John knowing that God’s word will do its work in the hearts of people knowing that if they could just see the mighty works of our Savior if they could just see who he was and is if they could understand his love and grace and mercy that truly God would awaken their hearts and they would rise again unto new life and they would see that Jesus Christ is the true Savior this is what he’s calling you to do is to believe in him to seek him first of all in your heart that he is the priority of your life Jesus said in Matthew 6 33 seek he first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you when Jesus uses that word first it means priority your priority is to seek Christ your priority is to make sure that Christ is number one in your life this is the manifestation of your faith that Christ is more important than your career.

He is more important than your job. He is more important than even your family. I know that might shake you. I’m not saying put the church before your family. I’m saying put Jesus before your family.

And there is a distinction. And that Jesus, my relationship, my walk with him, my love for him, my worship with him is a priority in my life. And that when I am in tune with him, I will be all that I am to be to my family.

I’ll be that right kind of father and mother, husband and wife, the right kind of child to my parents. I will be the person God wants me to be in my family when Christ is number one. Seek him preeminently in your life.

Believe in him this morning and trust him as your Lord. and Savior, but also seek Jesus purposely. Seek Jesus purposefully, and I am startled by verse 46. Some of them went their way to the Pharisees.

We are not told of the hostility, but it certainly is implied, isn’t it? The religious leaders were not seeking Christ. They were not seeking the truth, but John contrasts. He contrasts from verse 45 to verse 46.

He is showing us there is a distinction. There are those who sought to kill Jesus. Their purpose was different, and that there was those who sought to know Jesus and experience the power of his resurrection in their life.

Think about this. Not even raising the dead convinced the religious crowd. They went back and they said, they went back and they reported. They said, Jesus, he raised a man from the dead. Four days later, he raised a man from the dead.

That was the report. What was their response to that great miracle? Was it faith? No, it was hostility. They were angry. They were upset that Jesus would raise the dead. They were upset that Jesus would perform this great miracle because Jesus was a threat to the religious elite.

He was a threat to their traditionalism. He was a threat to their political power. And Jesus came and preached a message of good news, a message of salvation and forgiveness. Jesus preached a message that was for everyone.

It was not just for a select few, but a message that infiltrated many, many, many hearts and cultures and communities. And this was a threat to the religious. crowd. And so what did they do? They gathered a council together.

Verse 47 says they gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, what do we do for this man does many miracles. They don’t even deny that he does miracles. They said, boy, we better have a committee to get on this, right?

You know, committees, I hate committees. I just want to be honest with you. They’re useless. But I know we have to have them, I guess. People like committees and they, I say the only way a committee can happen at the open door church, if it’s short lived, if it’s short lived, because you know why?

You can’t get anything done because committees like to sit around and talk. They like to pontificate and nothing ever gets accomplished. But here was this committee, the Sanhedrin committee, filled with chief priests and Pharisees and they had a session together.

This Sanhedrin committee was the highest judicial body in Israel. and they had authority over those that were tied up into their religion and yet they they rejected Jesus and I just was thinking this week about why do people reject Jesus well I will tell you that this group rejected because they had fear of losing control fear of losing control why do people reject Jesus because they have to give up the reins because when you give your life to Christ he’s now the boss he’s in charge of your life but some people say I want to run my own life Mike I want to do it my way and I say to them listen you got to be willing to surrender all to Jesus you got to be willing to come to the foot of the cross and humble yourself and be honest and say hi I’m a sinner in need of a savior and I am ready to relinquish control of my life because the truth is that when we control our lives we usually make a mess of our lives amen yeah that’s why God sometimes he does just get out of the way you know people will not listen and they refuse to turn everything over to him and God says okay if you want to make a mess of your life let me just get out of your way so that you can make a mess of your life and Jesus does that and people don’t want to receive him because not only they have fear of losing control but they have worldly self -interests look at verse 48 if we let him thus alone all men will believe on him isn’t that sad if we let Jesus go then people are going to start having faith in him they’re going to start believing in him they’re going to start following him that’s not such a bad idea amen this is how crazy their talk is but he says the Romans shall come and take away both our place and See,

really, they liked the political power. They liked being connected, because, see, Caiaphas was the high priest at the time, and he was in cahoots with the king, or he was in cahoots with the leader of Jerusalem and part of the Roman province there, and he was overseeing all this, and he wanted to be able to have that political persuasion.

He wanted to be able to say to the Romans, listen, you give me authority, and I’ll make sure that everybody votes the way you want them. Hello? It’s never good when you mix religion and politics. Did you know that?

Because when you mix religion and politics, you get corruption. You get corruption in the church. You get corruption in politics. You say, Pastor, are you going to vote Tuesday? I’m going to vote. I’m going to vote.

I’m going to vote pro -life. I’m going to vote freedom of speech, all that. You don’t have to worry about pastor. I like to vote. And that’s not my thing in the sense of not voting. When I first came to the open door church, people were pressuring me every election.

They said, pastor, we need you to put everything out there. We need you to do this. We need you to get up and tell the people who to vote for. I said, I’m not going to do it. And they said, well, then we’re going to have to leave the church.

And I said, that’s okay. I probably chased off more than I’ve ever attracted at the open door church. But I just felt like our mission is the gospel. And there’s other avenues. If you’re juiced up for politics, get juiced.

But I’m juiced up for Jesus. I’m juiced up for the gospel. I’m juiced up that I might advance the kingdom of Christ. And be careful because of your worldly political self -interest that you don’t find yourself inactive in the gospel because you are active in your worldly interests.

You’re trying to advance an agenda that does not line up with the Bible, does not line up with Jesus Christ, or does not line up with God’s calling upon your life church. This world is not our home. We are on a mission.

And that mission is to reach people for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to challenge you to make sure that you don’t link up in your mentality with trying to advance your political agenda. The church doesn’t have a political agenda.

We have a gospel agenda. And we have a message that brings salvation and forgiveness. And here is that message. And this is what I love. And this is how God even works. Even in the foolishness of their rejection, they preach the gospel.

Look at verse 49. Got this guy named Caiaphas. He’s the high priest. And he begins to speak in verse 50. He says, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.

He means it in terms of trying to get rid of this religious leader so that we don’t lose control of this Jewish Jerusalem, this Jewish, not it’s not a nation at that time, but this Jewish province that they are overseeing and Caiaphas doesn’t wanna lose that authority.

He doesn’t wanna lose that stronghold that he has, but he’s preaching the gospel. John tells us that in verse 51, this may he not of himself. But being high priests that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.

And here’s what I love, the Bible says Romans 5 -8 that God demonstrates his own love towards us, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That’s why I wanted to sing the power of the cross this morning.

That’s why I want to realign your hearts to the power of the cross, because that is our message church, is that Christ has died for us, that we should have died on the cross, but Jesus took our place.

And now, my friends, now we have eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ. That’s why I’m saying, seek him purposefully. Respond to this miracle and say that I have a new mission. My mission is not a political agenda.

It’s not a self -interest agenda. It’s not a worldly agenda, but my agenda is Christ and Christ alone. Hebrews 9 -12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

That’s what Christ has done for you. That’s what Christ has done for you. Even though this prophecy was uttered, it was not believed. It was not believed by the religious elite. Like what Warren Waresby said, and I quote, if the heart will not yield to the truth, then the grace of God cannot bring salvation, end of quote.

And that’s really what’s taking place here. Unbelief, so wrapped up into their own agenda. They cannot even see Christ and what he has done for them. I love that phrase. I want you to look at it there in verse 51, or verse 52, I’m sorry.

And not for that nation only, but that. also he should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad. Why did Christ go to the cross to save people from every nation, every people group?

To save people all over the world, to bring them to eternal life, not just for the Jews, to the Jews first, the Bible says, but unto the Gentiles also, that God has called us to reach across the nations.

That’s why I love our church because we’re a globally driven church, a church that has a mission minded heart, a heart that is wanting to take the gospel to the ends of the world, a church. that wants to even help a couple plant a church in Cincinnati, Ohio, a church that wants to send shoe boxes around the world to different people groups and nations and to children who may never hear about Jesus any other way but through the avenue of a box,

they hear about Christ and they receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Can God’s people give him praise this morning? Yes, amen, go ahead. Go ahead. Church, I was thinking about this. See, this is why I want you to seek him purposefully.

I was just thinking about this just off top of my head. That could be scary. But just off top of my head, I counted seven different people groups in our church. Seven, it’s gotta get bigger, right? But this is what God wants to do, not just to the nation of Israel, but to all the world, the gospels to go, right?

To all the world, to gather together one, the children of God, to gather them in one, to gather them together from every nation, from every place we are to bring the gospel. This is what 1 Peter 3 18 says for Christ, also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, that phrase bring us to God kind of lined up as I was thinking about this verse here of what he was saying is that God would bring,

that he would gather together, that God would bring us together as one children of God. We are one in Christ. It doesn’t matter what language you speak. It doesn’t matter what country you come from. It doesn’t matter what your ethnosis or your ethnicity is.

It doesn’t matter what people group you are, because we are one in Jesus Christ, amen? We are one in Jesus. I love America. I love America. America. Don’t misunderstand me, but I love the gospel more.

I love the gospel more, and I love that our church is not just a church of one nationality. I want our church to be diverse, and that’s our heart, because I want this to be true, and I want us to participate in it.

Revelation 7, 9, and 10. After this, I beheld in Loa great multitude, which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues stood before the throne, before the lamb, clothed with white robes, palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God was sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb.

Seek Jesus purposefully. See, they sought him to kill him. We seek him so that he might be known throughout all the world. My response to the resurrection of Lazarus is, I don’t want to hold on to this good news and keep it to myself.

My response is I want to get it out there to every nation, to every tongue. I want to do what I can. I’m willing to sacrifice time. I’m willing to sacrifice talents. I’m willing to sacrifice some money.

I’m willing to do it so more people can know Jesus. That’s what I’m willing to do. They were plotting to kill Jesus, but let us organize and mobilize to advance the cause of Jesus Christ in this church.

The third thing that I want you to note is we must seek Jesus perpetually because after being on the high of verse 45, it’s so disappointing to see how these people respond to the resurrection. In verse 45, the Jews’ Passover was nigh at hand and many went out of the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves, then sought they for Jesus and spake among themselves and they stood in the temple.

What thank ye that he will not come to this feast? Do you think he’ll come? Do you think he’ll come? Do you think he’ll come? I guess what stood out to me as I read the text is their indifference towards Christ.

You talk about missing it. They go back to their religion, back to their ceremonies, back to their rituals, back to what they’ve always known. And when they get there, they’re like, do you think Jesus will come?

Do you think Jesus will come? I don’t know about you, but somebody just rose from the dead, friends. Lazarus just came out of the tomb, my friends. We should be seeking him to worship him. We should seek him with passion in our hearts.

We should perpetually pursue him that we might know him and get closer to him and grow in him. Oh, the indifference. People shrug off the resurrection. People shrug off what Christ has done. People shrug off that someone’s been saved.

People shrug off that someone’s been baptized. It’s just old hat. Friends. Every week, God is doing great things through the ministry of the Open Door Church. He’s doing great things in the kingdom of Christ around this world.

How can we be in difference? It ought to really stimulate us to pursue him consistently and constantly to know him, to know, we can’t go back to our old ways. We can’t go back to the days of nothing and not caring and indifference towards Jesus.

He is risen. He is raising people from the dead. He is spiritually awakening people and people are coming to Christ. The young and the old are coming to Christ. People from different nationalities are coming to Christ.

God is doing a miracle, my friends. What is your response this morning? Is it indifference? Have you drifted into indifference this morning? Become unconcerned about what God is doing? is the highlight of your week to come and worship Christ and to go out and serve Him and to find ways to advance His kingdom.

Have you left your first love, church? Jesus said, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy priority love. Church, I call you this morning to respond in faith and expressing that purposefully and perpetually in your hearts as you realize what Christ has done in you.

It’s a miracle that you’re saved. Did you know that? It’s a miracle that He plucked you out of your sin. Give your life to Him and sell out to Christ this morning and respond to that great miracle and reject indifference in your heart.

Let’s pray together. Well, that was part two of a series on how to respond to a miracle. So if you miss part one, make sure that you reach out to us. We want to make sure that you have it and you have access to it and we want to encourage you as you continue to grow in your faith and to learn more about Jesus Christ.

We stated earlier that there is a miracle happening all the time when people come to Christ. The Bible tells us that all of heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to Jesus Christ. And so it is the greatest miracle of all.

And I want you to understand that you should not pursue or chase after miracles, but what you should really do is go after the miracle of salvation. And so make sure that you truly know Jesus Christ as your savior.

Make sure in your heart that you have repented, that you have turned away from your sin, and now have turned towards Jesus Christ to receive Him as Lord and Savior. I want to tell you about our book.

We recently just published a new book entitled Dynamic Devotions. There are times it’s hard for us to stay consistent in our walk with the Lord, but I am confident that once you use this book as a tool to help you to stay faithful to your prayer time and your Bible study time, that you will be able to be encouraged as well as consistent in your walk with Jesus Christ.

This book is going to be a blessing to your life and it’s going to help you as you study. There’s nothing really long, there’s not a lot of material, but it’s right to the point and it’s good, solid meat of the Word that will continue to strengthen you as you strive to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Make sure you make your order today. Go to Hopeworthhaving .com and just make your order right on the front page. Just hit the order button and for a gift of $10 or more, we’ll send you a free copy of the Dynamic Devotions.

You might want to pick up one for your friend and your family or maybe someone that you’re trying to reach out to. All of this material is going to be a blessing and speaks to the heart and is all designed to come straight from the word of God.

So make sure you get your copy today. That’s at a hopeworthhaving .com. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.