GOD WORKED THROUGH ME ANYWAY | Watch God Work | Chad Narayan

0:00 Hey Zoe, welcome to another week here at Zoe Church. We are about to jump into this week's message, but before we do, I want to thank everybody who gives and to everybody who participated in Over and Above this last week. Over and Above is still going on, so make sure you can go to our website, zoechurch.org, for more information to give there. But let's jump into this week's message. We are continuing in our Watch God Work series, and today we're talking about Watch God Work Through. you. Here we go. I'm excited to watch God work this year. I'm excited to watch God work in our church. I'm excited to watch God work in our city. I'm excited to watch God work in your life. Do you have faith that God is going to work in your life this year? Here we go. Let's go. I believe God is going to work through your life this year. And, you know, watching sometimes connotates this thing where it's like, I'm gonna sit back and watch what God is gonna do.

1:02 The theme of this year, our marching orders, watch God work, is not a passive watch God work. Like when you're at home and you're just sitting back and you're watching Netflix, this is not what we're doing. We're not just sitting back watching God work. We're participating in what God is gonna do. And I like that we've really focused on this verse, Ephesians 3, 20. Now to him, him being God, who is able to do immeasurably more, anything that we can ask or imagine who is at work within us. So I'm excited to watch God work in your life. I'm excited to see how God works in our church. I'm excited to watch God work in our city. Do you believe it? You got faith for it? I got faith for it. It's going to be a great year. But I want to stick on that topic, watch God work through you. In the last couple weeks, we've been talking about different ways in which we're going to watch God work, whether that be in our finances or in our own life.

1:59 But I want to encourage you today around this thought that God wants to work through your life. You are not a mistake. You are created with purpose. You're created with passion. God has fashioned you together. He's given you gifts and talents to be used by him. You are not a mistake. You are not average, but you have God's DNA in you. And I want to encourage you that God is looking to work through your life, whether it be at your job, whether it be in your neighborhood, whether it be through your children, whether it be through this church or in this city, God wants to work through your life. I love that we've been saying this, that I am blessed to be a blessing. If God has put something in my heart, he's placed something in my hand. If there is something that is in your heart, that means that God has placed it in you, and that means he's given you what you can use for him to make a difference in people's lives.

3:01 Amen? And so it's God working through you, but before God works through your life, he must work in your life. so God wants to work through you this year but before he works through your life he's going to do something in your heart and in your life all together I thought today it would be good to do a Christmas story a Christmas story as we were in Christmas season so we're going to be in Luke chapter one today Luke one which is the angel Gabriel coming to Mary the mother of Jesus to give her the news that she is going to carry and birth the savior of the world. It goes like this in verse 26. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. I want to stop right there. I love this biblical truth. You are highly favored and the Lord is with you. Maybe people haven't, you know, said nice things to you over the years. Maybe you didn't have a family that was encouraging you and exhorting you and encouraging and building you up. I want to encourage you that that's not the way that God sees you.

4:20 God sees you that you are highly favored and that the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Last week, we talked about kingdom culture. We live in a kingdom that is led and reigned by our king, King Jesus. And so whatever happens in our world, whatever we're facing, whatever circumstance, whatever storm, Jesus is still and will always be in control. Do you believe it?

5:12 He will reign. How will this be, Mary asked the angel. Since I am a virgin, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who is said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. I love that. That's watching God work. People said, oh, Elizabeth was barren. Elizabeth wouldn't ever be able to conceive, but I love this, watching God work. It says right here that she was. So for no word from God will ever fail. I love that. Other translations say that nothing with God is impossible. You'll hear us say this around here at Zoe, that if God is here, anything is possible. And if God is with you, if the Bible is true and says that God is with you, anything is possible in your workplace, anything is possible in your home, anything is possible with your finances, anything is possible with your calling, anything is possible if God is with you.

6:20 I love Mary's response. Mary says in verse 38, I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. The title of today's message is I didn't think I had it, but God worked through me anyway. I didn't think I had it. I didn't think that I had the gifting. I didn't think that I had the calling. I didn't think that this prayer request was ever going to be answered. I didn't think I had the education. I didn't think that I had the right upbringing. I didn't think that God could use me, little old me, to make a difference in people's lives. I didn't think that I had it, but the great thing about God is he used you anyway. He's going to work through you this year. He's going to use your life to make a difference. Maybe this year was a great year for you. Maybe 2025, you're ending this year and you're like, man, this was an incredible year for me. This was an incredible year. And maybe you're coming into the end of 2025 and you're saying, this actually was the worst year for me. I cannot wait to get into 2026. Or maybe this season, the Christmas season, we sing the song, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. But maybe for you, you would say, it's not. It's actually the opposite. It's not the most wonderful time of the year. For me, there's a lot of grief or there's shame or there's disappointment from family members who have past or I don't get to go home this year or whatever the case may be for your life, I want to encourage you that the seasons that God walks you through, the things that you have walked through up until this point, maybe where you're at today, God will not waste this season and he will not waste this time that you're in. Amen? Romans 8 says it like this, that God works all things together for the good. God works all things together for the good of those who love him. God

8:26 is working your life together. God is shaping you. God is molding you. God hasn't given up on you. God's still walking with you every step of the way. And God is maybe using the things that you've experienced. Maybe they were unfair. Maybe they weren't your fault. But God is using those to tell a story. He's using, he's going to use it to make a difference in people's lives. He's going to use it to first shape you. He's going to mold you. And then he's going to send you out on the mission that he has for you. Maybe this year you're like, man, I don't know why I find myself separated and isolated from people. I used to have a lot of people around me, but this year I've just found myself old friends, family members. I just find myself just coming to church by myself. I don't know why. All of my friends have left. They said, I don't want to go to church anymore, but I still find myself here on Sundays, even if I'm sitting by myself. I find myself burdened to pray.

9:29 I find myself, you know what? I find myself just feeling like I need to get in the word of God. I find myself just burdened for other people. I find myself, I didn't ever think about my coworkers, but now I'm thinking about them and I'm listening to them. And their problems are just rough to listen to. But for some reason, God's helping me care about it, right? And maybe you find yourself in a season of just saying, where did everybody go and why do I feel these burdens? And maybe God is leading you into a season where he's kept you on the desert. He's kept you on the backside because he's preparing things in you because he's looking to walk you into a season where he's going to use your life. And maybe he's separated you from old friends. Maybe he's separated you from old relationships. Maybe he's began preparing things in you and you feel a burden to pray and you feel a burden to get to giving hope because God wants to do something through your life.

10:32 He wants to do something through you. You heard it here with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is Mary's older cousin. And before Gabriel comes to Mary, he first goes to Elizabeth's husband, Zachariah. And he says, hey, you guys are going to have a kid. I know it's been a lot of years and I know you're past the age of childbearing, but you are going to bear a son. And Zachariah's response is compared to Mary's response because Zachariah comes at God with doubt. I don't think that can happen. I don't think that that's gonna happen. So much so, he doubts so much that the angel Gabriel says, all right, man, because you got so much doubt, you're actually gonna be mute until the baby is born so that you can watch God work. And Mary's response, Mary's response is the polar opposite. You know what?

11:24 Be it unto me. I am the Lord's servant. God, you can use me. You can work in my life. And I wanna know if there's any people in the city of Los Angeles or online that would say, God, you can have my best. Yes. I'm surrendering to you this year. I'm submitting to your plan this year. I'm going to sacrifice my life. As Romans 12 says, God, I'm sacrificing my life. I'm laying it at the altar. You can use my life. I'm not going to be conformed to what culture says or to what my coworkers say. You can use my life this year. I didn't think I had it, but God worked through me anyway. And maybe you're coming into this year saying, I really don't know how God is going to accomplish these things. It looks bleak. The doctor's report, the finances, the homes. You fill out the laundry list of reasons why God could not work in your life, but I love it. God is the God of the impossible. He's the God of the impossible. He can do impossible things. If he spoke it to you, his word will never fail.

12:31 It's not going to fail. It will not fail you this year. I want to encourage you before God works through your life. I want to encourage you with three things today. The first thing is before God works through your life, he's got to work in you. He's got to remind you of who you are. he's got to get so much of of tv and social media and and and the culture try and shape and mold our thinking and god is gonna god has got to get around your life and say no no that's the things of this world i'm not going to conform to that i'm going to remind you of who you are you are a son and a daughter of the most high god you have gifts you have talents you got calling god because god has created you and he's sending you out. But before he can send you out, he's got to work in you. He's got to get you to believe that, right? The iPhone has that feature, that feature where before I can unlock my iPhone, it's got to have the facial ID. And sometimes it's really difficult when you're wearing sunglasses because you're like this. You're just trying and somebody's like, we're actually in public doing this, right? If the facial ID unlocks your iPhone, your identity in Jesus unlocks your destiny. Your identity in Christ unlocks your identity.

13:58 And I want to show you God's process here. I want to show you how God works right here. This is how God works in your life. This is his process of what he'll do. He first starts with imprint. He's going to imprint you with his DNA. It says here, the Bible says, I am created in the image of God. Genesis 1, 26 and 28 says it like this, that you are first created in his image, and then you are created to rule. That word rule means that you are created to partner with him, partnering with God in advancing his kingdom forward. So first, I'm created in the image of God. Second, there's identity. I am personally known and uniquely appointed by God. Psalm 139 talks about how you and I, we were woven together in our mother's womb. We were woven together. So I'm personally known and uniquely appointed. God, the third thing with God's process is he creates us with intentionality.

15:00 So I'm handcrafted by God. Ephesians 2.10. This is a verse to memorize this week. Ephesians 2.10. The Bible says that you and I, we are God's workmanship. We are his masterpiece created for good works in Christ Jesus. Now, what does this mean? The word that's used for masterpiece or workmanship is the word translated where we get poem. But it's not used in a literary sense here. It's used in the sense of fabric. And so as a person would design a piece of clothing, or as a person would design a couch and put fabric on it. This is how God designs you. So the next time somebody says something to you, remember Ephesians 2.10. Remember that God formed you. Remember that you are not a mistake. God was not surprised with your birth. God was not surprised with your calling.

15:53 God was not surprised with you. the angel says to mary you are highly favored the lord is with you i want to encourage you with that today the lord is with you you are highly favored and then last but not least he works in you internally i am internally shaped before i am publicly sent i'm internally shaped i'm internally shaped john piper says says it like this that you and i we are glory bearers we bear the glory in the image of God images are created to image you ever look back on a photo from 10 years ago and you don't just see the photo what do you feel you see the photo and you instantly remember that feeling what that season was like who was in it, what I was going through. A picture says a thousand words. Your life says a thousand words. You may not know, but your coworkers know because your life is saying a thousand words. Your family knows. If you're a father or a mother in here, your kids are watching.

17:11 They're watching. Your life is saying a thousand words to them a day. And when you worship, and when you read the Bible, and when you encourage others, and when you pay for somebody's coffee, and when you serve at Giving Hope, and when you're here at church on a Sunday, it speaks a thousand words.

17:34 My life is meant to be an image of Jesus because I bear his glory. Amen. Come on, let's clap and thank the Lord for his goodness. So God will start by shaping who you are. He'll start by working in you with, with who you are and your identity. But the second thing that he will do is he will stretch your capacity. He's going to stretch your capacity. And I love Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a prophet in the old Testament. And Jeremiah comes to God one day and he is royally complaining to God. Just, just, you know, petty stuff. Just go into God. You ever, you ever listen to somebody complain and you're not upset after a while, after a while, you're just impressed. This is impressive. The level of detail. You can't remember what you got to do the next day, but you can remember what this person said to you six years ago, down to a T, right? And so Jeremiah comes and he's just complaining to God.

18:37 And God answers Jeremiah in verse five with this verse. Check this out, what he says. He says, if you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? if you struggle with what people say, if you struggle with the past, if you struggle with frustration and anger in the current season that you're in and the current people around you, how will you be able to run in the calling that God has on your life? Come on. God will stretch you before he sends you because your calling requires running with horses. Do you have the faith to let God work outwardly through your life what he's currently doing inwardly in your life? Do you have the faith? Do you have the courage to run with the horses?

19:49 We don't live off of intentions. If we lived off of intentions, life would be so easy. I know I want to run with horses, but when God sends me a trial, when God sends me a test, when I have to climb this mountain, all of a sudden I'm like, you know. Yeah. Down here is kind of nice. Do you have the faith and the courage to let God work in you so that he can work through you? Natalie and I, my wife, we moved down here to LA in 2015. And I felt like I was called to ministry when I was 18 years old, when I graduated high school in 2009. And so I graduate high school and I sign up for college and I'm ready to go to college and I have a roommate lined up. I'm going to live with one of my best friends. We're going to live in Seattle. It's going to be great. And God got a hold of my life in July of 2009. And I felt called to ministry and I was invited to do a church internship. And I said, you know, I really feel like God is calling me to do this, but I had already signed up for school and I'd already signed up to live with a friend. And so how could I go back on signing up for school and putting down a deposit? How could I go back on, you know, telling somebody that I was going to live with them? But I just felt like this is what God had called me to do. So I had the conversation in faith and in courage. I had the conversation, hey, I said it to my parents. I said it to my friend.

21:23 I think this is what God is calling me to do. Years later, we'd moved to LA and it took faith and it took courage to move to LA. In 2016, at the end of the year, this year marks nine years since I had this conversation with Pastor Chad and Pastor Julia. At the end of 2016, we were out of money. So out of money that we had double overdrafted our account, which I didn't know that you could do. I didn't know if you didn't have money in your Wells Fargo account that they'd still let you spend. But it was pretty cool to find that out, that you could still spend money even though you didn't have it. And so it was awesome. Let's try it. Let's keep running this, right? And so I didn't know. And so we, you know, we had this conversation with Pastor Chad and Pastor Julia. I think we're going to need to move home. I think we're going to need to move home. And, you know, we went through the holidays, and we went into January, and we went into 21 days of prayer and fasting. And we made the decision.

22:19 We're going to stick it out. We know God has called us here, and we've never looked back. And it took faith, and it took courage to stay in L.A. It took faith and it took courage to go through the pandemic. It took faith and courage to stay here when a lot of people left. It took faith and it took courage to make these decisions. It took faith and it took courage for Mary to say, you know what? I have literally no idea how this is going to work, but you got my best. Yes. I don't know how this is going to work. I don't know how this is going to happen, but you have my best. Yes. life, life in following God takes faith and courage. I love that we're singing this song and I love, you know, the grateful song. And I love it because I love that line at the very end. I survived and you've survived. You've survived more than you give yourself credit for.

23:17 You've survived. I survived by the grace of God. And so have you. I survived my past. I've survived what I've walked through. I've survived the tests and the trials. And guess what? I'm going to keep on putting one foot in front of the other. And I'm going to continue to follow God and what he has for my life. And this is what the enemy and this is what people try and do to you. This is what they'll do. They'll try and take your testimony and use it against you. So they'll say, how could you with this past? How could you with these decisions that you've made? How could you with these relationships? How could you with these finances? How could you make it in LA? How could you trust God in LA? How could you, how could, how could, how could, and all of a sudden you start ruminating on how coulds. And so now I find myself in a series of how could I, I'm a failure.

24:10 How could I? I don't have the right calling. How could I? I don't have the right education. How could I? I don't have the right friendships or the right relationships. How could I? I don't live in the right part of the city. How could I make a difference in giving hope? How could I make a difference on a Sunday? How could I make a difference in a connect group? How could I? And we begin ruminating on these thoughts. And the enemy wants to use your testimony as an act of violence against your brain. But what God wants to do is God wants to come in and say, no, because you walked through that season, because I was there with you there, because of this and because of that, because you stayed faithful and you trusted me here, I can use your life. You just got to respond by saying, you can have my best. Yes, I'm surrendered to you. I'm submitted to you. And I'm laying my life down as a sacrifice to be used. I survived.

25:04 I'm grateful. I'm grateful for what God has done in my life. And I'm grateful to look back. And I don't let the enemy use that as a testimony of failure. I let God use it as a testimony of his grace and his goodness and his faithfulness to me. that says, if God is here, anything is possible. Anything is possible. So I don't let it, I can't get stuck in what the enemy says. I can't get stuck in what people say. I can't get stuck in what somebody might think of me. I can't get stuck, as Jeremiah was told by God, I can't get stuck with the race with men if I'm called to run with horses. I can't get stuck. I can't get stuck. I've survived too much. God's brought me through too much to just leave me there. God's brought me through a lot. How about you?

26:00 And guess what? We still got so much more ahead. Amen. Come on, give him a praise today. God comes and Jesus comes to the church on Sunday in Luke 13. And there's this woman there that's struggling. She's crippled. And Jesus is standing and he says to this woman in Luke 13, I want you to come forward to me so I can heal you. And this is kind of interesting because Jesus could have just walked over to her. She's crippled and healed her. He could have laid a hand. he could have thought a thought. He could have spoken a word, but he says to her, come forward. And I don't know how long it took for her to come forward. I don't know what the steps looked like. I don't know how long it took for her to get to her feet to come forward. I don't know what it looked like as she tried to make it to Jesus. As she walked, probably very slowly and walked as best as she could to Jesus. And I wonder if the disciples were there like you and I when there's awkward silence. I wonder if the disciples were like, hey, Jesus, why don't you just go over there, man? It's getting really awkward. It's kind of weird now. And Jesus stands firm and he waits for the woman to come to him. And as she makes her way over, Jesus heals her.

27:39 And I wonder when I look at that story, I wonder if what Jesus was doing, I wonder if what he was communicating to the woman was before this miracle and after this miracle, I need you to know that you do have the strength to participate. That before this miracle and after this miracle, you got up on your two feet and you walked to me. I need you to remember that you actively participated in this miracle. When we come to over and above and we give our finances and we think crazy thoughts like, this is not enough. No, you participating is all that you have to do. It's all that's needed because what God will do is he will take what you can give and he will bless it and he will provide a miracle for you. But it takes getting up.

28:37 It takes getting up so that when you give again in the future, I remember. I remember that. I remember when I gave. I remember 10 years ago when I gave. And now as I can give more, I still know I can't out give God, but I can remember what it was like to give that amount. And then the next year I can remember what it was like to sacrifice that amount so that as I continue on, I'm participating in what God has called me to do so that I can remember the before and after the miracle that it wasn't about anything I could do. It was about God's grace, but I remember that I participated in it because the thing with destiny, the thing with destiny is it's for the courageous. It's not comfortable. And so maybe this year has been difficult, but God has been calling you out. Hey, we're not we're not meant to be here in comfort land. We're here to be in courageous land.

29:30 We're here to be in faith land. And I need to know if there's anybody here at Zoe that would say in 2026, I'm signing up. I'm signing up with faith. I'm signing up with courage. I'm signing up to say, God, you can have my best. Yes, you can use me. You can use my life. You can use my finances. You can use my home. You can use my relationships. It's all to you. I'm surrendered. I'm submitted, and I'm laying it all as a sacrifice. Think about how LA would be changed if you just said, you know what? You know what? I'm going to use what I got. I'm going to use what I got and I'm going to get up and it may not be the best and it may not be what everybody else can give and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not going to get caught in the thoughts of footmen. I'm running with horses. I'm running with horses this year. I'm running in what God has for me. Amen. So God will start with you.

30:32 He'll start with you. And then he'll stretch your capacity for more. And the last thing that he'll do, the last thing that he'll do is he'll align your heart with his mission. He'll align your heart with his mission. I love verse 37. the angel says for no word from God will ever fail I am the Lord's servant Mary answered may your word to me be fulfilled may your word to me be fulfilled the distinguishing feature of Christmas is as the Bible says that Jesus is Emmanuel means God with us that God came from heaven to this earth, was born of a virgin named Mary, lived a perfect and sinless life for 33 years, and then gave his life on the cross. But it didn't end there. He rose again on the third day.

31:32 And that same Jesus ascended to heaven, and he's praying for you on your behalf. The distinguishing feature of Christmas is Emmanuel, God with us. And the distinguishing feature of our life as Jesus followers should be this. God is with us. That people should be able to look at our life and say, I don't know. I don't know what it is about that person, but there's something different about them. There's a way that they talk. There's a faith and a graciousness that they have for people. There's a kindness about them. There's a spirit and there's an attitude that's different from anybody that I ever met. And it is the presence of God. Exodus 33, Moses is having this conversation with God. It says here in verse 13, if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you.

32:30 Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go before us? God wants to work through you and send you this year, but before you go on this mission, he must remind you of who he is and who you are, and he will stretch your capacity, but he will align your heart with his mission for your life. The Bible says in Proverbs that many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the Lord who directs his steps. You and I, we got all the plans in the world. We got all the dreams and we got all the plans, but it is the Lord who directs our steps. And maybe some of the frustration that you felt this year, maybe some of the frustration that you've experienced has been a feeling of, I don't know what God is doing and I don't know what's happening right now.

33:36 but maybe, just maybe, it's a realignment in your life to God's will. Nobody goes to the chiropractor and gets realigned and says, that was awesome, super fun. realignment sometimes hurts. It's sometimes a little painful. Sometimes there's a little after pain, but God is realigning your life to his mission because he's got something in store for you. And as you walk in this next year, as you walk in this next year, remember the miracle is only for a moment, but maturity is a journey. And so God wants to work a miracle in your life, and you're going to be able to see it. But just like the woman in Luke 13, you got to remember that God is doing something in your life. God's molding you and shaping you, and he's walking you through tough seasons and tests and trials, all for the glory that goes to Jesus, and that you and I would be able to make a difference in people's life. Amen. Come on, I'm going to invite you to stand to your feet. Hey, thank you for tuning in this week. Just a reminder, you can go to our website for all the information happening in the life of the church, including over and above. If you haven't given yet, make plans to give. You can go to our website there. It is going to be open through the end of 2025. We love you, Zoe, and have the best week.