Success and Miracles

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on this station at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach biblical truth in the culture and marketplace of ideas, using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth and sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of the Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com. Let's join this week's extended edition as Dr. Davis teaches on success, or significance, four days to a miracle, and much more. Is the life that you live successful or significant? You may never know the impact that you have, but that's okay.

Significance is not about keeping score or time. It is about the lingering effect. Will the effects of your life outlive you? Don't spend your life chasing success, chase significance. This is the part where the Lord came to me and said, you know, look at the past 12 years of your life.

I've been calling you for a long time into deeper depths and higher heights to me. And I looked at my own life and saw how I had chased success rather than significance. And that is the shift that the Lord needed to make in my mind and also in my heart, which is what led me to make probably the second most important decision I've ever made in my life. First is to give my life to Christ and second is to follow Him wholeheartedly. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. You have the opportunity to make these choices each and every day from here on out.

Remember what I said in the beginning. The choices that you will make are the choices that make you. God's determination of success is based on three choices. The first choice, choose to live a life with a blessed hope. Choose to follow Christ. The second choice, choose to live a life with a sanctified mind. Be prepared for the battle with the word of God when the enemy comes to frustrate your purpose in God. And the third choice, choose to live a life not to chase success, but to chase significance. And if you are one of those that are about to make a life-changing decision, or if the Lord is speaking to your heart about being obedient to Him, don't delay.

Don't delay today. Christ loved you enough to come and die for you. It is our reasonable service to be obedient to Him. Even in my own independent study and in my own life, Christ has been working major miracles. And today I want to talk about being rooted in Christ and the verse in Colossians that talks about being established in the faith. But I want to talk to you today about how we must build our faith.

If our faith is weak, our work will not be strong. And as I said before, I've felt this urgency for many years to really sound the alarm of Christ's second coming and that we're living in the last days. And in John chapter 9 verse 4, Jesus tells us that I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day.

The night is coming when no one can work. So I want you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 11, the death of Lazarus. I've really hesitated about speaking here about Lazarus because I feel like all of you know this story so well and you're saying in your mind, I've heard Lazarus hundreds of times.

But if you'll just hang on until the end, I think you're going to see that we're going to glorify God one more time with the story of Lazarus. So let's get into John chapter 11 verses 1 through 5. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Martha, who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold him whom you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. So I want to talk to you about four days to a miracle.

You've heard the song numerous times. He's four days late and all hope is gone. Some of you listening to me today, the Lord showed me that your dream has died and you have lost your hope. And you are telling the Lord that he is four days late, that you're low on hope, you are poor in spirit. You are abiding in the Lord, but you are still poor in spirit with no power. Some of you have the spirit of heaviness so much to the point that you feel that your chest is going to bust. Some of you are bound up in the prison of religion, not knowing how to be set free.

Some of you are showing up to church Sunday after Sunday with a smile on your face, miserable on the inside, and leaving church in the same condition because you have lost your hope. I want to tell you that all it takes is four days. Mary and Martha waited four days on Jesus.

Let me show you the four days. Earlier in John chapter 10 verse 40, we see that Jesus is physically located beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing at first. We know this to be Beth-bara, which was about 20 miles from Bethany. You can confirm that later in John 1 28, but take my word for it. Jesus is at Beth-bara. Mary and Martha are in Bethany.

They are 20 miles apart. Now Lazarus gets extremely sick and in verse 3, they sent to Jesus saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. How do they send to Jesus? How do they get to him? The messenger leaves and goes to tell Jesus on day one.

He traveled without delay because he was really sick, it was urgent, and 20 miles was about a day journey. So the messenger comes to Jesus on day one. So day one, they send the messenger. It's a day's journey. He gets to Jesus on day one.

If you're taking notes, write that down day one. In verse 4, it tells us when Jesus heard the messenger, he said, Go and tell Mary and Martha that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. He tells the messenger. The messenger journeys back to Bethany and returns to Bethany on day two.

Verse 5 tells us that he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. He chose to stay two more days. So on day four, Jesus says, Let us go to Judea again and gets to Bethany on the fourth day.

So let's review that. Day one, the messenger comes to Jesus. Day two, the messenger returns to Bethany. Jesus waits one day. Day three, Jesus waits another day, then departs. Day four, Jesus arrives in Bethany.

But I left out one important detail on this timeline. Let's look in verse 11, where Jesus says, Our friend Lazarus sleeps. And in verse 14, Jesus says plainly, Lazarus is dead. So when did Lazarus die? In verse 39, Martha says, Lord, he has been dead four days. So Lazarus died on day one when they sent the messenger to Jesus.

So let's review the timeline one more time. Day one, the messenger comes to Jesus. Lazarus dies on day one. Day two, the messenger returns to Bethany.

Jesus waits one day. Day three, Jesus waits another day, then departs. Day four, Jesus arrives in Bethany.

But there is one more thing that I want to add to this timeline. Where is the middle? The middle is day two. Day one, the messenger comes to Jesus.

Lazarus dies. Day two, the messenger returns to Bethany. Jesus waits one day.

That is the middle. Day three, Jesus waits another day, then departs. Day four, Jesus arrives in Bethany. Mary and Martha waited four days.

Allow me to briefly summarize from Mary and Martha's perspective what they have experienced in these four days. They dearly love their brother Lazarus so much that they call Jesus even though they know it is dangerous for him to come back to their hometown. Lately, the Jews were seeking to stone him, but they were desperate because their brother was going to die, so they sent a messenger. But before the messenger got back, their brother dies.

No Jesus and no messenger. They bury him within 24 hours of his death, according to the Jewish law. Then on day two, in the midst of mourning the death of their brother, a word from the Lord comes and says, This sickness will not be unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. But Lazarus is already dead. With their eyes, they can see that Lazarus is dead already. On day one, they had already buried him. Then two more days passed, and they are living through the death with the mourners at their house, going back and forth to the grave.

He has been dead four days, and they have lived through the whole ordeal. Then Jesus shows up, and they say, Lord, aren't you about four days late? Couldn't you have come when we called you?

But couldn't you have just spoken the word and healed him like you did the Roman soldier's daughter? I thought we were close. I thought that you loved us. But some of you listening to me today are asking the same questions of Jesus. I thought that you loved me. Why didn't you show up when I called for you?

Why did my request go unanswered to the point that it died? On day four, we know that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the greatest miracle of his ministry. Raising Lazarus from the dead was the greatest miracle of his ministry. But some of you listening to me today are going to see great miracles in your life, but you have to go through this four-day cycle first to get it.

So if I would name this cycle, I would name it the four-day cycle to the miracle. Some of you have prayed for God to manifest his glory in your life, but you are confused by the cycle that you are in. You have been fooled by the prosperity gospel or the mirage of Facebook. Not everything that shines is gold that has been purified in the fire.

Let me say that another way. Not everything that shines is a permanent dispensation from heaven. Some of you have prayed for permanent dispensation from heaven, which are great miracles. God does not hand out great miracles without preparing your heart for them first. If you cannot endure the pit, you cannot handle the palace, in the words of the great John Hagee.

If you cannot endure the pit, you cannot handle the palace. God has a four-day cycle to his manifest glory. The question is, do you truly desire to see the manifest glory of God in your life? Do you truly desire to see the manifest glory of God in your life?

And are you rooted enough to endure it? So let's study the cycle. The messenger comes to Jesus and Lazarus dies. Day one, Mary and Martha sent the messenger to Jesus.

They said, Jesus, the one whom you love is sick. They informed Jesus of their situation and made their request, but Lazarus still died. Notice the Bible calls Lazarus a certain man.

Verse two, the Bible says that Mary, that Mary. The Bible tells us that many are called, but few are chosen. Because you have been chosen for salvation, Philippians 1 29 tells us, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but to also suffer for his sake. To be rooted in Christ, you must understand this concept. To identify with Christ is to suffer along with him. This is not routinely preached in our pulpits of America today, but this is the absolute truth. We ask God for a miracle.

We do not expect this cycle of suffering to come. We serve the God of our own minds. The God of our minds is a God that works like an ATM.

When we request money, we enter our PIN number, it comes out instantly, and we drive off. If you are experiencing blessings in this manner, you are entering the PIN number 666, the way of man. God does not work that way. To be promoted to God's palace, you must endure the pit. Greatness in the Lord will not come without a struggle. The glory of God will not be manifest in your life until your heart is prepared to receive it, to handle it, and to hold on to it.

You must go through the process. But today you must ask yourself, are you willing to walk this road? You can be saved and not see the manifest glory of God in your life. You can live on the fringe of Christianity. You will make it to heaven, but with the smell of smoke on your garment. Greatness comes only by way of suffering and sacrifice. She can be reached by email at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28384. You can hear Truth Matters devotionals on weekdays at 820 a.m. and 520 p.m. Until next time, let's all work together to teach of biblical truth to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another and bring the Gospel to the world, because truth matters. . . .