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Sam, don't you love those stories of people getting connected? I love how one of the gentlemen talked about getting on a pathway, and that's what a growth track is, whatever it may be. I think it's just super important. I know I wouldn't be here today when I showed up in church, and I was not raised in church, that the church gave me a pathway, gave me some steps. And I think it's super important that if you just started attending Church of Highlands, we wanna do everything we can for you to be able to follow that and find out all that God has for you in your life. So it's important. Important to us. So I know you'll enjoy that. But let me take a moment to welcome all of those that have joined us at one of our many locations. We love you. Shout out to Oxford today. Pastor Mark is there today visiting with you. I know they're seeing all of our campuses, Pastor Mark and Jill, and it's just awesome. Jill's here today at Grants Mill, and so they just love you. Shout out to Oxford. But then also all those that are watching us online or maybe on demand, thanks a lot for being with us wherever you're at. And let me just say how much we love all those that are watching. All of our church family that is in the correctional facilities. We thank God for you. We pray for you. You're a part of our family. Come on, Grantsville, let's clap our hands for all those that have joined us. We love you. Lot of love. I love the series that we're in right now. Goodness of God. Goodness of God. And that base camp scripture has just been going over and over again in my heart. There in Psalms 3. 34, verse 8. Thank God. Oh, taste and see. I love that. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that takes refuge in him. How important is that in the days that we're living in right now? So we're in this series, Goodness of God. And I loved every single installment. How timely how right now it is for Jesus to reign in our life and for Jesus who forgives us. How important is forgiveness right now? We're seeing that at a massive level. Lord, forgive us. And we're walking in that. And then Jesus calls. What a great job Pastor Mark did with that message, living a life on mission. And we wanna make sure we're leaning into all these installments. I know we have the app here at the church that kind of gives you other experiences around that. But then also we've got a field guide Which I love taking notes, love being a part of all that. So you wanna make sure it's out there in the for you. But if not, make sure you grab one of these field guides where you can walk along with it during the week. And I just wanna say how excited I'm at maybe you saw this on the app that Pastor Mark and Jill have called us to a night of prayer. And so we've got a night of prayer for revival tonight from 6 to 7 Central. You don't wanna miss that at all of our locations. I am fired up. I cannot wait to be here. Cause God is doing something in the world right now. God is doing something in our church. We're sensing revival and there's no better way to experience it than through prayer. So I wanna encourage you to be out tonight from 6 to 7 praying. I want to encourage, hey, let's pack out all of our campuses, all of our students, our college, our young adults, our singles, our married, and all of the senior adults that are in my category right now. We'd love to have you out for prayer. So don't forget about that. We'll see you here for prayer. We're going to have a great, great time. And I just want to say, if I've not met you, I know we have so many new people that are coming to our church. I get to serve here and I love the role that I get to be a part of in the area of outreach and missions and reaching out to people. It's a reflection of your generosity. And I could just say you are the most generous people on the planet. And this is a great season. We're planting new churches, we're helping people that have food shortage in their life. We're continuing to help people get Bibles. We've given out Bibles. I mean everywhere these days we're giving out Bibles not only locally, but around the world. This is a good season. As we go into the October, November and December, which is a legacy season. This is a time of generosity. Cause we have such an opportunity to literally make an impact on hundreds of thousands of people. And not only are we gonna be there in a compassionate way, but we get to see an eternal impact. And I'm looking forward to all that God is going to do. And I just wanted to say thank you. Cause we get to see it constantly. It's like 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your generosity is helping people all around the world. And that's another expression of the goodness of God. I call it the Goodness of God on the God. And we do that cause we're a go church. And so how many knows we've been saying this God is good and all the time. So we're gonna jump in this series the goodness of God. And I wanna take a few minutes and talk about Jesus restores. Jesus restores. And I want you to look at that thought. Jesus restores. I know a lot of times we can ease into a moment like this and just think about what somebody else that needs to be restored. But I want you to look at that for a moment and kind of pause and ask yourself like I've been asking myself, where do I need to be restored in my life? I believe that every single person that's in the room, there's an area that you could be restored in. And I'm praying that the Holy Spirit and at the end of our service, we're gonna have a special time of prayer for you, for all of us in an area where we're gonna believe that Jesus can restore this area of my life. Amen. Let's all pray. Father, we love you and thank you for the word and thank you for worship and Lord, we just ask you to speak to us for a few minutes. We need you, we need you. We need you. Do what we can't do. Do a work, do a miracle. Bring resurrection power. Let this not just be a house of miracle in general, let it be a house of miracle for me. On today In Jesus name and everybody said a good amen. Why don't you turn to the person next to you and say, I'm glad you made it to church today. Come on, look at that other person. That was your second choice. Tell them. You look like you could use a little church, my friend. Hello. I don't know if you've ever seen me and my wife together. If you have seen me and my wife together, you have recognized something that I married way up. It's obvious. If you ever see me and Dylan walking, you're wondering, wow, the great grace of God that is falling upon the brother. So I married. I mean I hit the marriage jackpot when I married Dylan. Monique Rizzo. My goodness gracious. Catch. It took me a minute. Now it took me some work. I had to work hard, I had to double down, I had to get after it. And then finally she caught a glimpse of all this. Now many say that she out punted her coverage. That would be me, myself and I, I would be the only one who thinks that. Now I will not be saying that when she's attending the next service. I married well. I married godly. I married faithful. I married discerning. There have been times in our marriage. We've been married 36 years. We'll celebrate 37 years this time December. And there have been times in our marriage where my wife got a word, like a word from God that was defining a word from God that was a mile marker for where we were as a family or where I was as an individual or where we were as a couple. There's been these landmark verses or scriptures that God gave her, and when we leaned into them, they defined where we were in a season. And. And not only spoke and I want you to hear this. Not only spoke to our now, but it spoke to our next. That at times didn't look too good. I don't know if you've ever been through a season where you thought, my goodness, I don't know how I'm gonna make it out of this season. And I'm not real sure what the next season will look like. So often God gave her a word. And about 13 years ago, when we were walking through a tough time in our life and just devastation and bad decisions that I had made and. And things going on in our life and this and that, and good seasons, bad mountains, valleys, all these different things, God gave her word out of Joel. The Book of Joel. Now, the Book of Joel is in the Old Testament, and it's one of the shorter books in the Old only three chapters. And Israel is in a tough time. Israel has suffered great loss and great devastation. And Israel has been through a lot, and they are desperate. And if you looked around, it didn't look too good. But. But God Almighty gives them a word and says, if you will turn to me and if you will look to me, then I will do more than you could ever imagine. Not only will I restore what was, I will restore even beyond. Now, if they looked around in the reality, it didn't look too good. God gave Delyn those words. And not only did it define us, now it continues to define us. Joel, chapter two. I read several verses 23, all the way down to 27. Be glad then, you children of Zion. Rejoice in the Lord your God. He has given you the former rain faithfully. He will cause the rain to come down on you. The former rain and the latter rain. In the first month the threshing floors will be full. Cause they had not been full. The vats will overflow. And they had not been overflowed. They were devastated. It was plague and famine, the new wine, the oil. Here we go. So I will restore. I will restore the years the swarming locust has eaten the crawling locust. Hey. Consuming locusts, chewing. How many knows One locust is bad I got Swarming, crawling, consuming, chewing. I love how it drops down says and. And you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously for you. And my people will never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people will never be put to shame. Can I have a good amen for God's word? I will restore. I love how the Bible is clear here that even in the midst of pain, even the midst of challenge, that I will restore you. I will be there for you. I know it doesn't look good, and I know it looks beyond repair. And I know Israel, when you look around, there's no way out of this. But if you will turn to me, I will restore. I will renew. I will resurrect you in your life. And not only will I do that, I will establish you in a new relationship with me. And you will not be living in shame. You will not. You will not be living in guilt. You will not be living in the past. You will live forward in my grace and mercy. And that verse, verse 25, has given us strength so often as a family, and it's given me personal strength in my life. Maybe you're here today and you're in the room. You need restoration. You need God to do something. Maybe you need healing or hope or renewal, resurrection, revival we've talked about. You need God's power to touch. Maybe your mind, maybe it's your body, maybe it's your emotions. Maybe your spirit. Say, Dean, I've been dealing with failure. I've been dealing with loss and guilt and pain and hurt and just layers of struggle, layers of sin in my own life. Maybe there's shame. Maybe it's in a relationship. Maybe it's in marriage. Maybe it's in a job or just in the world that you're living in right now. Maybe we look at our world and we just see craziness and there's fear and division and opinions and hurtful words and you just. You just. It'll never be the same. I've seen my best days. And I'm gonna have to live in this. Now is forever. But I'm here to announce to you that the goodness of God is just not when everything is perfect and Everything is nice and everything is neat and everything is easy. No, no, no, no. The goodness of God can deal with the dilemmas of our life. It. It can restore and it can resurrect all things in Jesus name. Why Jesus restores. He restores. I love Old Testament, what it tells us in Joel chapter two. But I love this window in Mark chapter five. I don't know if there's a greater window or a greater chapter for me that gives this picture of how Jesus restores. He walks into some situations and there are different things that are happening. And he brings restoration to all three stories, which gives one message, one truth, one promise that Jesus can restore. So I'm just gonna look through Mark chapter five with you. Gonna have a little Bible study Sunday. What did we do today? We went to Bible study. Bible study with Dino. Just gonna walk through Mark chapter five. Here's the first scene that we find in Mark chapter five as it talks about how Jesus restores. He starts off with a demon possessed man. Wow. Let's start a little strong out the gate. He's living in the tombs. He's bound, he's tormented, he's lonely. Scary stuff. But Jesus shows up, sets him free, restores him. It's like the original First Freedom conference that takes place right there. Restores. Listen to what he restores. I want you to hear these words for your life, for your faith. Restores his mind. Losing his mind restores relationships. Restores. How about this Puts him in community and puts him on mission. We heard that in the testimony of the growth track. See, one of the things that happens when you get restored, then God Almighty not only just restores you, but then he directs you into family, into community, and into purpose. And he did it for that demoniac man. The second scene that I love is. Here we are with the woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years. It's all right there. It describes the suffering that had gone on so long. But then Jesus meets her and she touches the hem of his garment and he restores her. And again he restores her physically. He restores her socially because of what she was going through. It was like she was seen as an outcast. He restores her spiritually. And you know what else? He restores her dignity. When he looks at her and says, I know no one's really. Everybody has labeled you. Everyone's labeled you. But I call you daughter. Now I'm going to give you purpose. Now I'm going to give you family. You're gonna go back in the house Of God worship. God Almighty again restores into community. And why? Cause there's nothing good in isolation. I'm gonna live for God all by myself. Good luck. Group team connection. We see this as a part of the restoration of Jesus. And then the third seed is in Mark, chapter five, which I love, is Jairus daughter. She gets restored from death. She died. Back to life. Think about that. From death to life. Jesus restores her. She was dying, and then she dies. And Jesus shows up and brings her back to life. What does that tell us? What. What is in common on these stories in this little Bible study time that we're having is this right here, and I'll say it over and over again, that nothing is too far gone for God Almighty, the demonized, the diseased, the dead. He restores broken minds, broken bodies, and broken life. Clap your hands if you believe that he is a restorer. That's revival. He's restoring. Never too late, never too far gone. That's what Joel was saying. That's what Jesus demonstrated with the demoniac man. That's what Jesus demonstrated with that precious woman who had been fighting sickness. That's what Jesus demonstrated to Jairus daughter. Never too far gone. I like comeback stories. I'm a basketball player. Many of you know my folklore of basketball. There's a whole myth and a legendary tale. I love basketball. I love when games come back. When you're down and you come back. I looked up what was the biggest deficit that ever was overcome. It was a game in 2016 against Texas a and M and Northern Iowa. Come on. Them Aggies were up in there and then. And they were down by 12 with 44 seconds left. They said half of the stadium, the arena was gone. Everybody in the car. Everybody then leaving. The Aggies are getting beat, man. They're getting beat at home. And I had an Aggie story, but I'm gonna hold up on it. And so anyway, they were getting beat. 44 seconds left. Everybody's in the. Everybody's left. Everyone's given up. The time is running out. And all of a sudden, they make a three. Boom. What's up with it? Steal the ball. Whoo. Lay up. Pass it again. Knock down. Step back. Woo. Knock it down again. Last second, Chunk. Whoo. Whoosh. Ah. Tie the game. Overtime. Aggies win. Aggies win. Wow. They won. Everybody in the car. Everybody going home. Can I tell you something? There are times in our life where people think they're done, they're not going to make it, that marriage is not going to make it. Those People ain't going to make it. Can I announce to you today there is time on the clock. Shoot your shot. There's time on the clock. Never too far gone, not in the name of Jesus. Not your marriage, not your situation. It's never too far gone, not in Jesus name. There is time on the clock for restoration of your life. That's the goodness of God. That's what this series. That's the heart of our church. It's the heart of Pastor Chris. It's the heart of Pastor Mark. There is all. There is an hey. There's always a new beginning. There's always a fresh start. The heart of God. I'll read you these verses of Jairus daughter. They will speak for themself. Verse 21. When Jesus had again crossed over by the boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, It's a big deal, Jairus, everybody knew him, came and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, the feet of Jesus. He pleaded earnestly with him, my little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her and she will be healed and live. And the Bible says that Jesus went with him. And then a large crowd followed and pressed around. This is when the woman with the issue of blood interrupts Jairus plan. Jairus was a synagogue leader. He had influence. He was well to do. He was known. He got the attention of the Savior. He brings him. And then all of a sudden, in the middle of all of it, this woman that nobody really knows, nobody is really informed about, she shows up and she interrupts, touches the hem of his garment. And Jesus brings healing. Who touched me? Paul says stops. She receives healing. In that moment, I bet Jairus was like, what about my daughter? My daughter is dying. Do we really need to take a break? Why are we waiting? Why is this taking so long? Why are we here? Bible says in verse 34, he said to that lady, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. While Jesus is saying that some people come from the house of Jairus and announce to him and everybody else, your daughter is dead. She didn't make it. She didn't make it. Messengers come from bad news. Don't bother Jesus anymore. No need to bother the teacher. It's over. Clock ran out. Clock ran out. Don't bother the teacher. It's amazing. The messages that will come into our mind come into our phone, come into our life. Messengers with messages that he can't Restore you. Don't bother Jesus. How many times are we told today, don't bother the Lord with your prayers? Why are you bothering the Lord with your crying out? He's not hearing you. There's people way more important than you that are way more spiritual than you, that are way more churchy and way more, way more perfect than you. Why are you bothering him with this thing over and over again? I love the response of our Savior. Overhearing what he said, Jesus said, don't be afraid, Jairus, look at me. Don't be afraid. Don't let panic get on you. How many knows panic will get up on you? Oh, can I have a better amen? How many know fear will get up on you? In a minute it'll jump on you. Don't be afraid. No, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't let anybody else follow except Peter, James and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house, synagogue leader was there. Jesus saw a commotion. Why is all this commotion? People crying and wailing out loud. Mourning, crying. He went in, said, why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead. But as they all laughed at him, they laughed at Jesus. They laughed. Mourning and mocking. Mourning and mocking. There comes a time in your life where you have to decide that my house is gonna be no longer a house of mourning and a house of mocking. My house is gonna be. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. It's gonna be a house of miracle. I'm getting the mockers out. I'm getting the mourners out. I'm gonna walk in the miracle. Don't give in to all that, Jairus. Don't do that. He put em all out. He didn't get security to put em out. He put em. Jesus said, y' all got to get up out of here. Get out the house. Get out the house. He took the child's father, the mother disciples who were with him. And they went in. They went in. I'm believing tonight at prayer. We're going in. We're gonna see miracles. We're going to believe God. We're going in. Going in where the child was. He took her by the hand and he said, talitha cum, which means little girl, little girl, get up, rise up. She was 12 years old at this. Immediately, completely astonished. Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around. Mama, what y' all doing? Can we go to set my lab? Where my baby doll at? Where my game at? And Jesus says, shh. Get that girl something to eat. Where's the snack? Y' all got a snack. Get that girl a snack. Most scholars believe, because she had been sick for a long time, she had not eat. How many know? Sometimes when we're dealing with sickness, we don't eat. And when you get your appetite back, it shows what? Full restoration, full life. Get that girl something to eat. I'm believing today that as we pray at the end of, in a few minutes for restoration, when we're done being restored and God helps us and God touches us, and God meets us, you know, we're gonna go eat, bless God, get you a miracle and go to Dairy Queen. Come on, somebody go on to Dairy Queen. Get that blizzard. Permission granted. Dairy Queen. What's the framework of the miracle? What's the framework of our life? What do we take away today? It's just three things. The first thing I want you to take away is sometimes you gotta get some things out. You gotta get out. Hey, doubt, gotta get out. I gotta get doubt out. Hey, Jairus, get your timeline out of here. You know what? I have found out that many times, and I wrote this down many times. Here's the reality that. See, before God raises your daughter, sometimes he has to evict your doubters. And there's some things that need to be evicted out of your life. There's some things that need to be turned off and need to be deleted. It may be a social media account, it may be a person. There may be something you need to get out your house, get out your mind. It may not be a big thing. It may be how you see your identity, how you see your self worth, and it may be what you're dealing with. But he said, we got to get this out of here. And we get it out. We need to get something in. Let the Lord in, and when he gets in, let him stay there. Just don't come to church. Be a part of the church. Get the Lord in. Lord, I'm getting these things out of my life. And I'm going to let you in. I invite you in. My marriage, my mind, my health, my pain, I invite you in my life. So we're gonna get some things. I think restoration is about getting some things out. I'm gonna block that. I'm gonna throw that out. Ain't even gonna play with it. Not even gonna play with it. No more throwing it out. And then I'm gonna let him in. Lord, I invite you into my life. And did you know what happens? You get up. Get up out there. Get up. Little girl. Little girl, arise. He reaches through the veil. Of the unseen. He reaches through the veil of the supernatural. He reaches to the other side where she is dead. He says, little girl, arise. And gives her back to her parents. Full life, full health, new walk, new way, new work, new words. That's restoration. Hey, you ain't too far gone. Marriage, addiction, grown kids. Healing in your body, peace in your mind. Restoration from a horrible decision. Arise out of that. Don't stay in that. Don't stay there. Jesus restores. Get something out, get something in and let him rise up. That is the goodness of God. So can I encourage you as Pastor Mark has encouraged you? Taste and see. The Lord is good. He's been good to me. He restored me. Not only does he restore you in the book of Joel, he restored them better than it was. I'm not trying to get back to where I was. I'm trying to get back to a new life and a new walk about not 100% restoration. Oh, come on, somebody. I'm believing God for double restoration in my family. Oh, somebody ought to clap their hand. Double restoration in my life. Double restoration in this world. Double restoration for my family. Amen. I want to put a list up on the screen. I'm going to pray two prayers today. Going to pray for the end of our time. To Jesus. Be Lord of our life. Be saved. These. Which one is yours? What about you? What about everyone in the room? Everyone watching? What about you? These are all things that Jesus has restored. There's many more. These are the ones that we put together and you see the biblical story behind it. But the attitude of prayer. I want to say these to you because I'm believing. Why not you? Why not now? Why not? Jesus restores us to health. Need healing in your body. I just need. I've been so sick. Wake up in the morning. I don't feel right. Something's going on in my body. Doctors can't find it. He restores. Restored a community. I feel abandoned. I feel I have no friends. I used to have a lot of friends. I don't have anybody. Purity. Man, if I could go back. Hear me. Church, undo, Redo. Wow. Purity. Wholeness. He was wholeness. Lord, make me whole again. I feel broken. I feel divided. My finances, my goodness. It is a struggle every day. I struggle every day. He wants to restore them. Freedom. I am bound. I am bound. Dino. Joy. I don't know when the last time I have been happy. I am sad every day. Lost, grief, hope. I don't have hope. I don't think. When I think about the future, it's just another nightmare. I've lost hope in my marriage. I've lost hope in my spouse. I've lost hope in the church. I've lost hope in people. Put another setup. Leadership. I'm not leading my life. I'm not leading my soul. I'm not leading my family. I'm not leading my heart, my home. I'm just not a leader. I've lost it. Made a bad decision, messed up. Leadership, forgiveness. Well, that's a big one. I just feel. I feel dirty. I feel like I've been marked by my worst day. I'm reminded the clock went to zero. How about faith? Get doubt out. Get the timeline out. Sometimes when we're waiting, it doesn't mean God is neglecting us. Sometimes that's where our faith is being developed. In that little moment. Sound mind. That's a big one. I am losing my mind. Kids, life, money, pressure, stress, job, righteousness. I don't feel holy. I don't feel accepted. I feel like God is mad at me all the time. Jesus restores us to family. My family is fragmented. Jesus restores us to humility. I just want to be pleasing to God. I just. I feel far from God. Jesus restores us to life, life. Everything's dead. I need a new life. Bow your heads all across this room. Everyone in every room, online. Holy Spirit, speak one of those words to my friends. Every head bowed, every eye closed. It's a holy moment. Not worried about our friends. We're not dealing with our phone. Jesus wants to restore you in one of those areas. There's something for you. Will you let him in? Will you let him? Can you believe it? If you have. If one of those areas. You want restoration, One of those areas right now. Just so we can connect. All over this room. If that's you say, Dino, I need to be restored. I need Jesus to rest. One of those. Lift your hand right now. All across the street. Leave it up, Father, you see every hand. Believe for it right now. Just leave your hand up. Believe for it right now. Believe for it. Restore our family. Restore my life. Turn my house from doubt. Mourning. Let it be a house of miracles.