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Well, hello, River Valley. I am so excited to be able to be with you here today. Can we just greet all of those watching online and around the world? We're so excited that you're joining us this weekend. And I want to give a special shout out to our River Valley locations around the world. River Valley, Vancouver, Eswatini, and soon to be River Valley Tokyo. Can we greet everybody who's tuning in online? So excited that you're with us today. Well, my friends, can you believe that we are at the beginning of November already? And do you know what that means? It means all of you are decorating for Christmas already. How many of you are already decorating for Christmas? Come on, loud and proud. I mean, Pastor Becca's house has been decorated for Christmas and school started. Love you, Pastor Becca. It's true. I saw. I saw online that Pastor Logan had his Christmas tree up. And just yesterday, Pastor Davey posted about drinking eggnog already. So I don't know where some of you are at, but some of us are still trying to be thankful in the house today. Well, this weekend we are kicking off a brand new series on miracles. How many of you love a good miracle in the place today? Come on. I believe God works miracles in this place and I believe many of you will get a miracle today. Now listen, some of us look at miracles as the small things, like a parking spot at the front row of Target on Black Friday. Can I get an amen? Or hitting all the green lights on the way to work. Maybe you view a miracle as a wide open checkout lane at Costco on a Saturday. You know that's the hand of God. Others of you like that free Starbucks as a miracle. Some of you dads, if your kids are quiet on a Sunday afternoon so you can get that nap in or watch that game, that's a miracle. And wives, your husband's actually reading your mind and picking the restaurant that you want to eat at without you having to tell them that is a miracle from in heaven. My wife said I could say that joke. It's okay. Okay, all joking aside, all these things, we may say that they're miracles, but can I tell you today, all those things that I just mentioned are not miracles. You see, everything I just mentioned might be favor or even a good thing or good timing, but not miracles. Because let's be honest, if every lucky break is a miracle, then our God is only as big as a good parking spot. Okay? If God's greatness fits inside of a Starbucks cup, we're thinking way too small. My friends, God's miracles are way bigger than that and they change the course of your life forever. So hear me when I say, today, don't diminish the miracle that God wants to work in your life. We are classic in the church today for diminishing what God wants to do in our lives. Personally, so many times it's easy to say I believe in healing for that other person, but I don't know if I believe in healing for me. I believe that there could be a financial miracle of provision for everybody else. But I don't know if that can happen today. My friends, don't diminish the miracle. And here's why. Because when we label everyday coincidences as miracles, we domesticate God, we manage God. And a domesticated God can't do the impossible. My friends, don't diminish the miracle that God wants to work in your life today. I don't just want to see a God that's as big as my circumstances. I want to see a God that could shatter my circumstances, that could intervene in the midst of my life and completely transform everything. How many of you are glad and grateful that the miracles that God works on our behalf is greater than a free Starbucks or an open line of Costco. Amen. Amen. Now, the miracles that God works, let's focus on those. Because my goal today is really twofold. Number one is to help us understand as a church what miracles are. And number two, give you the opportunity to receive your miracle today. Today could be that day. And so many times we're like, man, I gotta get worked up to that place emotionally to receive a miracle. I gotta kinda have a just like read my Bible extra this week before I receive my miracle. Man, I don't think God asked anybody's permission to work a miracle. I think God just worked miracles when he wanted to. And what if today is a day that Go wants to work that miracle in your life? You see, the miracles that God works splits red seas in half. It brings water from the rock, it slays giants on our behalf. The miracles that God brings into our life brings the dead back to life. It rips sin from our souls and it makes the blind see. As it says in Romans 8:28. The miracles that God brings works out all things, makes them all work together for the good of those that love God. To them who are called according to his purpose. Today's message is called miracles for me. Say miracles for me. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you that today we have an opportunity to come open handed to come expectant. God, we know that what we walk in expecting, we walk out receiving. So, God, we don't want to just come in thinking you're going to do nothing. God, we expect a miracle. Lord, you know the silent prayers of people's hearts. Prayers for peace in their life. Prayers for physical, emotional healing. God. Prayers for provision or even reconciliation in their families. And they know that the only way that can happen is if you intervene and you bring a miracle. So, God, we pray that miracles take place all across our house this weekend in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Amen. I remember bringing our first daughter home from China. Her name is Abilee. She's absolutely amazing. And I remember we had gotten her home and we had gotten her settled in. We had completely unpacked, and we got into a rhythm after a few weeks. And one morning we got up pretty early. Cause we're still on that grind of waking up early with our kid to feed him. And we go into her bedroom and we recognize she's not really moving. She's really lethargic. Her eyes are barely open. And how many of you know when your first kid gets sick for the first time, you freak out, right? You're on WebMD finding out your kid has everything under the sun, you know? And so I picked her up. And as I picked up Avali, her arms hung limp to the side and her legs were hanging limp. And I'm like, oh, my Lord, what is happening? And there was something clearly wrong with my little girl. So I bring her back to our bed, and I lay her between my wife. And I said, christina, she's not doing well. I don't know what to do. And so we both decided we're gonna lay hands on our daughter before we do anything else. And we're gonna bring her before God, surrender her to the Lord, and ask God to meet our needs. Man, I can't tell you about the fear that hit my life. Like, my goodness, my girl's not doing well. What could have gone wrong? Like, did we miss something? Are we bad parents? What's going on? And so we lay our hands on her. And my wife prays and I pray. And her prayer went something to the effect, God, we don't know what's going on with her. But, Lord, you do know what's going on with her. We know that you are the God that sees us, that heals us, that sets us free. So in the name of Jesus, I pray that you heal our little girl in your name. Amen. And I am not Kidding you. We opened our eyes and my daughter looks at me, giggles, slaps me across the face, and gets up and goes and plays, like, literally. I don't know what the slap is about. I forgave her because God healed her. But still, God healed my little girl on that day. That was a miracle for me. And I want you to know God has miracles for you. Don't just be thinking it's for other people or for videos that you see on a weekend. No, no, no. I believe that God has a miracle for you. So with that in mind, let's define what a miracle truly is. If we could just kind of put it in a single phrase, it would be that a miracle is a manifestation of God's authority, his control and his presence. An intentional act of the Spirit that awakens praise for what he's done, faith in who he is, and hope for what he will do. My friends, that's exactly what happened. Every time God worked a miracle in the Bible, it created praise inside of his people. It created faith for what God wanted to do and for who he was, and it created hope for what he would do in their future. Now it's easy to hear the title of this message, Miracles for Me, and think to yourselves, oh, here we go again. Another preacher preaching a word that's all about getting all the blessings that we can receive and, and trying to tell me about how I can live my best life now. And my friends, my response to that is a heartfelt, yup, that's exactly what I'm preaching about today. Because in the Bible, last I checked, in 2 Corinthians 1:20, all of the promises of God are what they're yes and amen. Isaiah 54:17 says, no weapon formed against you will prosper. That's for you. Isaiah 52:12 says that God goes before you and that he has your back church. That is for you. And in Psalm 77:14, it declares that you are the God who performs miracles. You display your power amongst the people. My friends, if you are part of God's people, then that is for you today. And we have to walk in expecting God, making our heart posture open before the Lord to be able to receive that miracle today. If you are a follower of Christ, then you can believe that God can bring his miracles into your life. Now, now, today we're focusing in on miracles that God has for us. And we need to understand the purpose of miracles and exactly why God chooses to work miracles. And I'll say this right out of the gate, that miracles are for one thing and one thing only. And that's to bring miracles, God glory. And that's to let everybody else around you know that it's God who is actively involved in this world and in the lives of those who love him. And that's why it's important to have the right perspective when it comes to miracles. And to fully get that, we have to understand how God's people viewed miracles in the Bible, because it's completely different from the way we view miracles today. Now, the Hebrew word in the Bible for miracles is nested, and it literally means a banner, a signal or a standard raised up, something lifted high for all to see. It's a victory banner that becomes a milestone. It's a marking point for all to look at that God is still God. Now think about it. We think of the Red Sea splitting. We think of the Red Sea parting. That's a milestone that's been lifted up that we still talk about today. And it shows God's power, and it shows his faithfulness. We think of the woman with the issue of blood who was just desperate to break through the crowd. And so she falls on her hands and knees and says to herself, if I could just touch the hem of his robe, I know that he can heal me. And that desperation opened a door for her to receive her miracle. And what is it? It's a sign. It's a banner of victory that's lifted up for us today to look back at and says that God's power still is here. His presence is still in our lives, and his miracles still work. Whenever you have a miracle for yourself, understand that God does it so that no matter what happens afterwards, no matter what the devil tries to say to you, no matter what lies the world tells you, you can look back and say, no, no, what you're saying is wrong. Because my God has shown up in my life once before, and I know that he can do it again. And I believe today many of you who receive that miracle will receive that milestone. You receive that sign that you could lift up in the middle of your circumstances so that people know that God is the one true God. In biblical times, God's people didn't view miracles as though they were God breaking in on the scene and suspending natural laws in order to accomplish his goal. In biblical times, they didn't view miracles as though God decided to hack the system from the outside. And that's how many of us view miracles today. We think God is just in heaven, letting us just go on autopilot here on Earth. And if we pray hard enough, or we live faithful enough, or we say the right things, or check our box on attendance at church enough that maybe, just maybe, he will get up off his throne in heaven, rip open time and space, reach across and cause a miracle to happen, and then just go back to his throne. See, that's how many of us in modern day looks at miracles. But in biblical times, God wasn't far removed from them, every once in a while deciding to show up. No, God's presence, the divine, was infused in absolutely everything in the world around them. They knew that God was always there, that he was always present, and that he was always ready to move in their life. And I wonder, church, what would happen if we stopped praying and believing as though God is far removed and might listen to us, and instead we started to pray and believe that God was all around us, ready to act on our behalf? How would that change your prayers today? How would that change the way you move? How would that change the way you think? No longer would you be thinking that God is a transactional God to where you gotta put in the corner of the right prayer and hopefully the vending machine of heaven opens up and the miracle drops down and you get it. No, you don't even have to do that because our God isn't transactional. He's transformational. And he is here to show you that no matter what happens around you, you could say, God, I just need you to intervene. And you're already swimming in the divine. He's already all around you. He's gonna show you how he wants to act. You see, when a miracle happens, it's God showing us the world the way it was always intended to work before sin. Tim Keller says it best. He said we modern people think of miracles as a suspension of the natural order. But Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power, but also wonderful foretastes of what he's going to do with that power. Jesus miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts that the world we all want is coming. Now, what would happen if you thought of miracles? That way of God making it intervening and making it so that your life, your circumstances are the way he's intended for you? That's best. How would that transform the way that you ask God to work a miracle. My friend Paul Olson does a lot of great research for us. He says this. He said a miracle is the macro for. Or it's the micro of what God does in the macro. It's the little bit. It's a little foretaste, It's a little bit of insight into what God does in larger ways. Every miracle is a glimpse of God's bigger story. And the bigger story is he is making all things new. You go to the book of Revelation and he says, behold, I am making all things new. So every miracle is a glimpse of him consistently and constantly making things new. It's something old being made new again. It's light breaking into darkness, it's order invading chaos, something out of nothing. A miracle is sickness made healthy, A breakthrough in what was stuck, protection in what should have destroyed us. Even salvation itself, my friends, is a miracle. When a heart once dead to God comes alive in Christ and. Can I just stop right now? That's the greatest miracle you need in your life is for your heart that is dead to come alive in Christ and to beat the way that God originally designed it. And today, if you don't have that relationship with Jesus, you need to take advantage of it before you leave this house today. Here's the thing. When you look closer, every kind of miracle points back to what Jesus accomplished for us with his death and resurrection. Healing the sick foreshadowed the healing of sin. Sickness on the cross. Raising the dead pointed to the life he would bring through his own empty tomb. Deliverance showed his authority over every kind of evil. Multiplying bread revealed that the bread of life would be broken and multiplied for the world. Every act of restoration was a preview of the cross, where Jesus took what was broken and barren and bound and made it whole, fruitful and free. At the cross, every single miracle meets. Jesus just didn't perform miracles. He became one. So you might be saying, okay, Terry, I have that perspective on miracles. I know now I need to be expectant for miracles. I know my perspective on God needs to change to where God isn't far removed. But he's right here and he's up close and personal. And now I know, Terry, that God, whenever he works a miracle, is giving us a micro of the macro, that he is making all things new and he's showing us the way things should be. But you're saying to yourself, what does this mean for me? Like, literally, what does this mean for me personally? I mean, this message is called miracles. For me, after All. So watch this. In the Old Testament, we see the parting of the Red Sea, the sun standing still during a battle, the walls of Jericho collapsing, Elijah calling down fire from heaven, and Daniel in the lion's den. In the New Testament, we see Jesus working miracles, but turning water into wine, walking on water, raising the dead, feeding the 5,000, and healing people. In fact, healing is the dominant miracle we see in the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament. In the New Testament, there are 37 distinct miracles recorded, and 60 to 65% of them are healing. So what does it mean for you, my friends, today, if you need healing in the place God has it for you, that's the miracle for you that God is gonna bring you healing in the midst of your circumstance. Some of the healings were restoring sight to the blind, making the lame walk, healing paralysis and cleansing lepers, stopping a hemorrhage, straightening a deformed limb, and healing fevers and diseases. But this is where it changes for us and becomes a miracle for us. Because every single time that Jesus healed somebody, what did he say afterwards? Go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. My friends, don't miss the moment. The miracle that is for you isn't just about the moment. It's about the ripple effect in your life that comes after you think of blind Bartimaeus who was sitting on the curb begging for money so that he could get bread and live to eat another day. And Jesus comes on the scene and heals Bartimaeus. And what Bartimaeus didn't do is go back to the curb and keep begging for money. But what did Jesus say? He said, go and sin no more. And did Bartimaeus go back to the curb? No. He knew that miracles are made for mission. And he got up and he took us up and he took off to live the life that God had created him to live. And the life that God is creating for you to live today is a life where you go and sin no more and use the miracle not as the exclamation point of your life, but as a launching pad into the plan that God has originally intended for you. So I believe today you can experience that miracle. Miracles change the trajectory for a person. They change the trajectory for a people, group and for a nation. My friends, a miracle isn't just about the miracle. It's about turning our eyes towards God and off of our own circumstances. It's about allowing God, who specializes in the impossible, to reveal himself in our impossible situations. And God often uses the healing or the miracle of healings to do this. Now, healing is one of the clearest pictures of what God's power and what miracles look like. It embodies three dimensions of who God is. First, healing reveals God's authority. Psalm 139:14 says, we are fearfully and we are wonderfully made by my friends. Every single heartbeat, every cell that dies and is replaced, every wound that closes proclaims his authority as creator and sustainer. When Jesus healed a paralytic that was lowered through the roof, he declared, the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Every act of healing then becomes a sign raised high declaring, the king reigns and his kingdom is here. When Jesus heals you today, he will declare that the king reigns and that his kingdom is here. Healing demonstrates God's control over our circumstances. Listen. Our bodies don't heal themselves by chance. The same God who rules galaxies and governs cells, orchestrating renewal at every level. He's the same God. And the body's rhythm of dying and replacing, fighting and mending is a testimony to to God's sustaining power. Psalm 103:23 says, don't forget all of his benefits who forgives you your sins and heals all your diseases. Not only does he have authority to bring the miracle of healing into your life, but he also has control over your situations. And finally, healing reveals and shows his presence. My friends, healing is never just about recovery. It's about relationship. I want to say that again, healing is never just about recovery. It's about relationship. Like I said, every single miracle points to Jesus. It should cause us to go and sin no more and live our life on mission and be the man or woman that God has created us to be. Every single miracle is not just about recovery, especially in regard to healing, but it's about relationship. Every time Jesus healed, he drew near to people, touching the untouchable, lifting the fallen, restoring the outcast. The Bible says in Luke 5:17 that the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And every time Jesus heals, he shows that his kingdom has come. As the worship team comes back up here today, this really hits home to me because I've experienced a few miracles in my life. But the first time I experienced a miracle that changed the trajectory of my life was when I was in my early 20s. You see, for 12 years as a teenager, I struggled with pretty severe clinical depression. It was bad. It was so bad that there were times where anything would trigger the chemical imbalance in my body, the chemical imbalance in my mind to where I Would fall into deep darkness in my heart. And I didn't know how to get out of it. It wasn't just a bad attitude I had or a bad outlook or a bad circumstance. I remember I would have to lay in my room with the lights off and something covering my ears because any outside stimulation would trigger my depression. And all this happened before I came to know Jesus. My parents made the right decision. They got me evaluated. They had me see a couple psychologists and psychiatrists, and they got me on the right medication. And I wanna just draw a line right here and say, God uses medication as a miracle in some of our lives, and he takes care of us so we can get our head above water even though these bodies might be fallen. God uses medication to help us continue on. And I was able to. To be prescribed with 40 milligrams of Prozac every single day. And when I would take that, I remember it wouldn't make me feel incredibly happy and high. It would just keep me even. And I would thank God for that. And after a while, I had given my life to Jesus Christ. And I said, lord, become Lord of my life. I repent of my sin, and I confess that you are Lord. I'm going to follow you the rest of my life. And every morning I would wake up, and before I do anything else, I would take two little pills and I would go about my day. Even so I could just operate. And it was amazing. And one day, God challenged me. He said, terry, I want to heal you. I had already relegated myself. God, I will live the rest of my life serving you, fulfilling the mission you've given me, fulfilling the calling you've given me. And I'll take Prozac every morning, and it's gonna be all good. It's all good, God. And God says, yes, that is all good. But my will for you today is that you get healed of this. And he began to churn up this desire in me to be healed. And I can't tell you how many times I came forward for prayers for healing, saying, God, I really want it, man. There were times I would work myself up into just, like, I'm really receiving this, God. Like, I'm really. My arms are open as big as I can. I'll back up a Mack truck to get this miracle into place. God, whatever it takes, I'm ready to receive. And I would come up to the front and I would get prayer. And I would always test this out with the advice of my doctor. He said, listen, if you want to test it out, don't take it in the morning, and by noon, you should start feeling if it's happened or not. And sure enough, I would get prayer. I would go home, go to bed, wake up the next morning, not take it. And around noon, I. I would start to feel the intensity creep in and the depression creep in. So I go back on it. I can't tell you for years how many times I came forward to receive healing for my clinical depression. And every single time, I would walk away and it wouldn't happen. And I kind of finally relegated myself to just, like, rationalizing it, rationalizing it and saying, well, maybe this is my thorn in my flesh. Like Paul, he had a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble, man. Maybe this is my thorn in my flesh. And I remember sitting on the front row one Sunday night, and the altar call happened, and all my friends went up and they responded to the altar call. And I'm sitting on the front row, man. I'm just ready to go get some wings. Like, let's get out of here. And God said, terry, go up and get prayer. And I said, no, God, I'm not gonna go get prayer. No, I'm good. And he said, terry, go get prayer. I have a miracle that's waiting for you. I said, God, you have been talking about this miracle like you mean business for the last 12 years. I'm good. I said, I'm gonna sit here until altar call's over, and then we're gonna go get wings. And God said, well, then altar call won't end. An hour later, my same jabroni friends were sitting out in the front going after God. And God goes, terry, go up for prayer. And I just. With the worst attitude ever. Fine. And I get up and I do this, and this guy comes up to me and he says, hey, son, would you like anything? I said, yeah, I want to be healed of depression. He goes, you want to be healed of depression? And I think I looked at him and said, duh. Like, I just. Like, I was not here for it. And so he prays over me, one of the most intricate. God. Like, it was almost like God just started downloading into him. All of my life and everything I struggled with. With depression and what my body needed to do to correct. And he says, amen. And he says, do you feel different? And I'm like, nope. Bye. And I take off. Just the worst, right? I'm still a pastor. Don't worry. Just the worst. I go to bed, wake up the next morning, go through my day, go to bed. Wake up the next morning, go through my day. And I do this for two weeks until I realized that after 12 years of taking medication every single morning, God caused me to supernaturally forget to take it for two weeks. And God had completely healed my body and my life and delivered me from depression. Man. I remember talking to my psychiatrist who. And he goes, how's it going? Like, just trying to be, like, a little sarcastic. I'm like, God healed me. He said, nah, why don't you try to go in office? I'm like, bro, I've been off this for a month every single morning. If I didn't take it, I would feel it. But can I tell you, it's been 30 days, and I haven't felt a thing. God has completely, 100%, without a doubt, worked a miracle in my life, and he has healed me to date. And in a moment, we're gonna have the prayer teams come up here, and we're gonna have them ready to pray for your miracle. And it may be healing. I believe for many of you, it is healing. And you might need emotional healing from trauma. You might need physical healing. It could be mental healing like I just talked to you about, but God has healing for you. I believe others of you might need a miracle of provision, reconciliation in your family, something that only God can do. And I believe that he wants to do it here. You might show up incredibly expectant with your arms open, ready to receive, or you might show up like, I don't. Yeah, I want to be healed, but I don't know what's gonna happen. Can I tell you, our posture doesn't matter when it comes to God's plan and his will and his purpose for your life. As we enter this miracle season, building up to miracle offering. How awesome would it be if you could look back at November 2025 and say, that is when I got my miracle. Even to this day, almost 25 years later, I look back to that day because it's a signpost that says, God has the victory, and he's worked in my life before, and he could do it again. Amen. Amen. If I could have the prayer teams come up today and line up across the front. Don't leave this place without getting your miracle. Don't leave this place without letting God show up in your life and make everything the way he's originally intended it to be. I want everybody to bow their heads. If you're in this place today and you need prayer, you need a miracle in your life. I want you to slip a hand in your air right now. I want to pray for you. And then every hand that goes up, I want you to find yourself up front. Don't just mean business in the seats, mean business at the altar. Father, you see every hand raised. We acknowledge that we need a miracle in our life. And we know that you're a God of miracles. Not a God that used to work miracles or works miracles if we get holy enough or big enough or desperate enough, but you are a God that is so close to us, you know what we need in terms of miracles before we need it. And I want to pray over every individual. Even as we sing this next song and open up the altars for prayer before we close. I want, Lord, for everybody to encounter you. It's not just about the recovery. It's about the relationship. And I pray, Lord, that as they come up and lay everything before you, that you meet them where they're at, that you give them their miracle, that they find their healing, that they find their provision, that they find you on the other side. We thank you, Jesus, and we pray that you work here today in your name.