Walk to the mess - Jesus raises a dead boy. You can raise the living. Luke 7:11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Let’s imagine together this scene of Jesus walking to a mess. 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Everything stops. People are looking at Jesus rudely like, “what are you doing, what in the world you think you’re doing?” And right at this very moment Jesus shows that he has command over death… That Jesus has command over the thing that we fear the most. 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. Here is a very simple message. That message is that somebody has to walk to the mess. There has to be somebody who, like Jesus in this story, is filled with something from above, is thinking different than the rest of the crowd, who isn’t beat down like everyone else, who isn’t just another person who is mastered by the problems of life but knows the master of life. 1. The Jesus I follow is awesome. John 1:4-5 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. First, In Jesus is life. And secondly, notice how his life was the light of men. And thirdly, He is light in the darkness in the darkness cannot overcome it. That’s what Jesus is showing in this little miracle, “give me all of your darkness, give me all of the world’s darkness, give me all of the darkness that the devil has created, give me all of the darkness that your sins have created, give me all of the darkness of your mess, and no matter how dark it is it cannot overcome me.” 2. You’re not Jesus but that doesn’t mean you can’t do Jesus like stuff! 9 superhuman things that you can do in the name of Jesus anytime you want to walk to the mess. 1. You can give away hope. “I know the God who can make something out of nothing!” 2. You give someone your faith. “I know the God that I believe in and this is not going to separate you from his love.” 3. You can give somebody something that God has spoken. “This is what God has said…” 4. You can give comfort. 5. You can give the love of God. 6. You can give encouragement. 7. You can pray a prayer of faith. 8. You can stand in the gap. 9. You can be available. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 3. Live a life where people know that you have been with Jesus. Mark 3:14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.