 If God can do it for John Smith, he can do it for you. Let me say it one more time, and I want it to get down in your heart. If God can do it for John Smith, he can do it for you. No matter what you walked in here with today, no matter what you've been holding on to, no matter if you just got the call and your world just turned upside down and you walked into this room and you're looking to meet a God who can do the impossible. I'm telling you he's here today. He's here today. If God can do it for John Smith, he can do it for you. I want that to get down in your heart today. God is here in a powerful way. You can feel his presence. And I believe that God has come to meet many of you who need a miracle. You're facing an impossible situation. What happens when you get that call and life turns upside down? Because we're all one call away from life turning upside down. What happens when we get that call and life turns upside down? Do you fall apart in fear or rise up in faith? Let me ask you again. Do you fall apart in fear or do you rise up in faith? And the decision you make in a split second could determine how God's gonna work. I believe that if Joyce Smith would have walked into that room after her son had been underwater for 15 minutes and dead for an hour and eight minutes, if she would have walked in and she would have said, goodbye, we'd be telling a completely different story. But instead, this mama bear walked into the room and she cried out to the Holy Spirit. She said, Holy Spirit, raise my son from the dead. And at that moment, every apparatus in the room came back on. What's dead in your life today? What area are you looking for a resurrection? Because we still serve a God who resurrects. We still serve a God who can turn dead things and bring them back to life. And God is looking for men and women who will walk in and not say goodbye but say, Holy Spirit, bring my son back to life. Holy Spirit, bring my family back to life. Holy Spirit, bring my life back to life. That's the kind of God that we serve. You guys have incredible pastors here, pastors. Thank you so much for your hospitality. I love to see what God is doing here. It's so amazing. And we're so honored to be a part of your services today and really share. You know, this is an incredible story of God doing a modern day miracle. Raising a boy from the dead. But listen, this story is not about John. It's not about me. It's about a God who can still do the impossible. It's about a God that can take a boy after an hour and eight minutes and bring him back to life. It's about you and I positioning ourself for God to use in moments like this. In every miracle that we read about in the New Testament, there's always a human that God chooses to partner with and be that conduit. And my question is, when you walk into a room and you see a dead boy, what are you gonna do? What are you doing in your situation right now? One of the things that people ask us all the time is, did John see heaven? What was it like when he was asleep? And we tell people all the time, we actually prayed that John wouldn't see anything because it was so traumatic. And he didn't, he saw nothing. But it was at that moment where God dropped up my heart. He said, this story enjoys too. This story is not just about John. If he would have seen heaven, that would have just been about him. He didn't because God's purpose for this story was that everybody that came in contact with it would have their own experience with God. The people that need miracles, the people that need God to show up, the people that need God to turn situations around. And I'm telling you friends, friends here on Zoom and online and everyone that's listening, there are times that only God can fix what we're looking to do. There's times that only God can show up and do what we need him to do. And that's exactly what he did at that moment. I know many of you are in need of a miracle. And what the Lord dropped on my heart is I was praying for this service today. Is that question, what are you desperate for? Desperation moves the hand of God. What are you desperate for? So many times when we get desperate, we run and we try everything and God is the last place that we stop. I've heard even people say, well, I've tried everything. I guess all I have left to do is pray. No, how about we start there? Let's start there. Let's start there. All you people when you run in and you get like the people that the WebMD people when something goes wrong, you head right to the computer and you start figuring it out. Listen, I wanna tell you something about WebMD. Every situation has the same circumstances. So just go to God instead. When you get that report that maybe cancer is there things just turn upside down. And listen, we're all one call away, right? And what we do in that split second changes everything. Whether it be healing or miracle in your finances or miracle in your families, God sent me to tell you that He loves you and He hears you. You're not forgotten. It might be taking a little bit of time, but God loves you. Don't give up and don't give in. Some of you, you've been holding on for a long time. You've been holding on for that miracle and I'm here to tell you today, don't give up. In scripture, we read about sudden lease. We read about those moments where God suddenly shows up. We read about those moments where people are holding on and they're crying out to God. And listen, there's a lot of suffering sometimes that goes on. But I wanna submit, we give up way too soon. Don't give up before God shows up. Stick in there and find out what you've been fighting for because God's gonna show it to you. God intervened for John just like He's gonna intervene for you. He loves you so much. I want you to know, and I know this church knows this, but God is still in the miracle, in the healing business and the deliverance business today. No matter what we see around the world, sometimes we wonder, is life upside down? It might be, but we serve a right side God. My prayer is that the church in America will begin to see the impossible become possible again. That we'll look to God and that we'll hold on to what He wants to do. And I wanna share a few thoughts with you. And I'm gonna be pretty quick today. It's gonna be pretty simple. It's just a simple thought. We've spent a lot of time digging into scripture and really figuring out what to do when life turns upside down. Listen, when you're facing a boy in a room that the doctors don't even know what to do, there's no handbook on what to do. And there are times in this story where we had to just cry out to God and say, God, what's next? What's the next strategy? What do you want us to do? And every moment God would give us strategy. He would cause us to stand and really hold on and see God show up. But I wanna tell you something that first night, Joyce and I walked out of the room after we'd been told that 99%, there was a 99% chance that John was not gonna make it in the morning. Every organ was in catastrophic failure. That was after God raised him from the dead. They were getting ready to do transplant. His pH levels, no one could live. Everything was going wrong. Those are those moments where you have to hold on until God finishes the miracle. Those are those moments where you have to believe in faith and stand forward and say, God, listen, there might be 99% chance that he's going down, but there's still a 1% chance and that 1% with you is all we need. The doctors said, we don't know what to do. We've come to our end. How many of you know when doctors say they don't know what else to do, there's nothing else they can do? That's where God steps in and there's miracles that happen. But we can't fall apart in fear. We can't just give up. I wanna ask you, when crisis comes into your life, what's your go-to? What happens? Is it to fall apart in fear or is it to rise up in faith? And how do we rise up in faith? But what's your go-to? How you respond in that moment of crisis? What, I think how we respond is so important. If you allow despair and unbelief and worry and anxiety to go on in your life in moments like this, that's the outcome you're gonna have. But I wanna challenge you, stand up in faith. Don't let worry and fear, you know, the greatest virus we have going on in America today is not COVID, it's fear. And God did not call us to live in fear. So when that fear starts to rise up, that's where you have to step out and say, God, I'm rising up in faith and that fear is getting put away. Because I'm holding on to your promise as God. I'm holding on to what you're saying, not what anybody else is saying. Listen, when Jesus was met with unbelief in scripture, it literally shut down his ability to do miracles in his city. Matthew 13, 58. And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief. For healing and a miracle to happen, God partners with us. Every time you see it in the New Testament, God was partnering with people. And John 14, 14 would come alive. Yes, ask me for anything in my name. And I will do it. That's the word that we have. God says, I will do it. I will do it. You know, for Joyce, God was preparing her months in advance. She had done a Bible study. And in that Bible study every day, she said, I believe God. I believe God is who he says he is. I believe God can do what he says he can do. And I'm believing God. What's God preparing you for? In those moments, you have to really watch that and say, God, okay, what are you preparing me for? The other thing about a miracle is there's no equation to see a miracle in your life. There's not an A plus B equal C because then we would trust the equation instead of trusting God. So in those moments where things seem to be going sideways and you might be in the middle of a storm, don't give up. God has a plan. He has the best plan. Positioning ourselves for a miracle means that we take the principles we find in Scripture and we hold onto them. The promises that God gives us. The disciples face a situation where a storm had come up. They were getting ready to cross the sea, the sea of Galilee. And if you know anything about the sea of Galilee, it's a very shallow sea with mountains around it and the wind would come down and there would be 20 to 30 foot waves all of a sudden. Many of you may have heard this story before, but I think it's fascinating. We're gonna read it together in Luke 8, 22 through 25. One day, he and the disciples got in a boat. Let's cross the lake, he said, and off they went. Now remember, they had an assignment on the other side of the lake. That assignment was to set the gatorine boy free who had been so demonically oppressed that he lived in chains. How many of you know that when God has an incredible purpose in your life, that's when the biggest storms come up? That's when things turn upside down. If the enemy is messing with you, no, you're on the right track. If he's not, then you have to wonder if you're going in the same direction. They got in the boat and the storm came up. It was smooth sailing and Jesus fell asleep. A terrific storm came up and suddenly they were on the lake, water poured in and they were about to capsize. This is what's so interesting. They had a moment where they fell apart in fear. They woke Jesus and they said, master, master, we're going to drown. You know what, I find fascinating about this is most of the disciples were fishermen and they had been through storms like this before. It's interesting no matter how many storms you've been through, don't ever not take a storm seriously because it can knock you off. It can knock you, knock you apart from Jesus. They said, we're going to drown. Get into his feet. He told the wind, silence and the waves quiet down because you see, here's the thing. In the middle of a storm, we find Jesus sleeping. He's not afraid of your storm. He said, quiet down and they did it. The lake became smooth as glass. Then he said to his disciples, why can't you trust me? Jesus asked us that same question today. In the middle of the storm, why can't you trust me? Why can't you trust me? I would not want to be the one that has to answer that to Jesus. Why can't you trust me? They were in absolute awe, staggering and stammering, who is this anyway? He calls out to the winds and the sea and they do what he tells them. Here's what the disciples forgot. The disciples forgot that Jesus was still in their boat. Friends, Jesus is in our boat today. Do not forget that we serve a God who's still in our boat. Sometimes it might look like he's sleeping. Sometimes it might look like we say, God, where are you in all of this? But don't ever forget that Jesus is still in your boat. He's still right there with you, no matter what the situation seems like. If you're facing a 14 year old boy who has tubes coming out of his body and the doctor said that he's not gonna make it overnight, Jesus is still in the boat with us. He never leaves us. There's a couple of keys I wanna remind you. First of all, you can have peace in the middle of the storm. If you're in the middle of a storm right now, that peace that Jesus gives us, a peace that passes all understanding, peace that passes what we can see, what we feel, what we know. He gives us a peace. Remember, Jesus was still in the boat. That's why we can have peace. The disciples panic, Jesus slept through the situation. In life we're gonna face storms. Peace does not come from our surroundings that comes from him alone. Which means peace breaks off all fear, all worry and anxiety. Listen, we live in a world today where that's acceptable and I'm telling you, fear, worry and anxiety is from the enemy. And it's set to get you off track. That's where it comes from. Be on guard. Key number two is words matter. Listen, the power of life and death is in our words. What you are speaking over your life right now is what you will reap. We live in a world where words are not that important. The power of life and death is in our words. If you notice, Jesus spoke to the storm. He didn't sit there and get all worried and try to, no, he spoke to the storm. Jesus hardwired, God hardwired this into the world that we live in because when he created the heavens and the earth, what did he do? He spoke them into existence. And I wanna tell you what you're sewing in your words now could possibly be what you reap in the next season of your life. And I'm talking about everything that comes out of your mouth. That's one thing Joyce did. She would not let anyone in that room who was gonna speak death. The power of life and death. Stop looking at your checkbook and say, oh, we're not gonna have enough. Stop looking at your job. Oh, I just hate this place. Start speaking, stop looking at your family and say you're going down. It's time to start speaking life over every aspect of your life. Every word matters. And guess what? Things may not to start to come into line right away, but you keep speaking life and it will. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Key number three, you have to trust him. Trust him. In Matthew 9.29, Jesus says, become what you believe. What if Jesus is saying that to you today? Become what you believe. What do you believe? Become what you believe you have to trust him. Key number four is don't focus on the outcome. So many times we say, God, I'll pray if you do it my way. We try to control the ending. We try to control what Jesus is doing in our lives. Listen, there were people that asked us, Pastor Jason, would you continue to pray for John if you knew he was gonna die? And the answer would be yes. Joyce and I tell people all the time, we prayed for more people that have died than lived and resurrection is not on our resume. But guess what? When we say God has a purpose, when it appears like Jesus is sleeping through the storm and God answers you differently than you expected, I've heard people who said I prayed for a loved one and they died and that must mean that Jesus doesn't heal, that is not true. Because the Bible tells us that as they walked across the throne into heaven, they were given a new body. See, the greatest miracle of all is salvation. We're all gonna die. John's gonna die. Lazarus died. Listen, news flash, no one gets out of here alive. We're all gonna die. So many people I've talked to say, well I'm bad at God, that God would take my loved one. Who took your loved one? Because who brought death and sin and sickness into the world? It was the enemy. So stop letting the enemy point a finger at God and say God's not good because God's right there with you. I always say this, if the enemy wants to mess with me, I'm never gonna believe that God's not good. I'm gonna take 100 more people to heaven with me every time he does. That's how we get him back. About nine months after this story happened with John, I got another call. They had a call from a dad, I'm gonna wrap up here. I got a call from a dad who said, my 12-year-old daughter is being life-flighted from Branson, Missouri to St. Louis. She had the flu and then she had a stroke. And they just go, Lord, okay, this is gonna be another John. Like this is gonna be right on, yet we're right there, we know how to pray, we know how to believe. And so I went up to the hospital room and I walked in and again, I mean, when you see a kid with tubes all over their body and they're in a coma, it about takes your breath away. I walked into this room and I said, God, we need another miracle. We need you to raise this girl up. And then dad said, yeah, I haven't been serving the Lord since I was 18. He was now 40. And I told him, I said, we're gonna see another miracle. God's gonna raise this girl up. The next day I came back and I saw this dad on his knees at the hospital bed and he looked at me and he said, pastor, I've given my life back to Jesus this morning. And I thought to myself in the middle of all this, the love of Jesus comes through and touches this dad. And then he looked at his daughter and he said, I told God today that he would be a much better father than I could ever be and I'm okay if he takes you. Said that to his daughter. And I said, no, that's not what's gonna happen today. We're gonna stand, we're gonna believe in faith. Like this is what's gonna happen. And about an hour later, her numbers dropped. And an hour after that, she died. And I walked out of that room and I said, God, I don't understand. Remember, a miracle is not an equation. And he said, watch what I'm gonna do here. And I always have trusted God. I've always known that when God says something, you can trust him. I said, okay, God, I'm gonna watch what happens here. About two weeks later, I went down to Branson, Missouri and I did her funeral. There were 1,200 middle schoolers in the room. I think we had about 30 saved. I mean, it was incredible. But what I saw is this dad was over here. He got up on stage and he started to talk to the kids about how good God was. And afterwards, I met with the children's pastor and she said, Pastor Jason, do you know what happened here today? I go, well, we had a funeral and God moved. He goes, no, she goes, you don't understand. Every Wednesday night, his 12-year-old daughter would come down to the altar and pray, God, whatever it takes to bring my dad to you, do it. I still remember that moment. And I said, okay, God, I trust you. And that man will be an eternity because his 12-year-old daughter, whatever it takes, God, so don't get mad at God at the outcome. Because I promise you, God is working. God works all things together for good, not all things are good. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video? It cost you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell so that you can do your mind each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance, and so many other things, go to HungryGen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.