Miracles Are All Around I Chad Narayan

0:00 Hey, welcome to another week here at Zoe Church. We are so honored and glad that you take time to listen to this week's message. We are continuing on in our marching orders for the year, talking today about watching God work. But before we do, I want to take a second just to thank everybody who faithfully tithes and gives here to our church. We would not be able to do what we get to do without your generosity. And so we say thank you. And here we go into this week's message. We've been talking this year about watching God work. That is our marching order for the year to watch God work. And this watching God work is not a passive watch. It's not a sitting back saying, all right, God, what do you got? It is an active participation in what God is doing in your life, what God is doing in this city, what God is doing around the world. It is an active participation in joining and partnering with God as he moves throughout your life.

1:04 Our prayer this year is that you're going to see God work in your family. You're going to see God work in your marriage and with your children. You're going to see God work in your career. You're going to see God work in your coworkers that he's put you there as a pastor and as a witness. And you're going to see God work just in your life, but we're going to see God work in our city. Come on, anybody got faith? We're gonna see God work here in Los Angeles.

1:29 We're gonna see God work in our church. And so we accept that with a, just with a ferocity. We get fired up for what God is going to do as we watch him work. And today, I wanna look at just one verse. I wanna look at Psalm 66, five. Psalm 66, five, and what this teaches us about watching God work. It says here, Psalm 66, verse five, it says, come and see the works of God. He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of men. I love this. This is an invitation. This is an invitation for all to come and see, to come and see God at work. I don't know if you recognize this. God is at work in your life every single day. Come on, you got faith for that today? God is at work in your life.

2:25 And this is a personal invitation to come and see God's good works, his awesome deeds, that God is a great and majestic God. The psalmist invites us into this to be able to see that God is actually at work in my life every single day and that his deeds are awesome. And what I love is at the end of the verse, it says, to the children of men. Translation, what that means for us is that God is not selective in his miracles. God is not selective. It's not based on performance. It's not based on church attendance or giving. It says it's open to all. Come and see. Come and see how good God is. Come and see that he's been at work in your life.

3:19 Come and see how active he has been in protecting you. Come and see how active he has been in loving you. Come and see that you've had provision and sustenance every day. Come and see that the Lord is good and his deeds are awesome. His deeds are awesome. And as we come and see today, I wanna focus around this. The title of today's message is Miracles Are All Around Me. Miracles are all around me. Count your blessings one by one. Miracles are all around you. Miracles are all around, say it out loud, me. Miracles are all around you. It's a blessing. You got breath in your lungs today. It's a blessing that you got another day of life. It's a blessing that you got a job. It's a blessing you're sitting next to your spouse. Hold their hand, say, it's a blessing to be sitting next to you.

4:14 It's those children that you have. It's a blessing. That job, that career, what God has called you to do, that home that you live in, miracles are happening all around me. Miracles are happening. Miracles are happening. Turn to the person you're sitting next to and say, it's a miracle to be sitting next to you. It's a miracle. It's a miracle. It's a miracle to be sitting next to you. It's a miracle. Miracles are happening all around me. They're all around me. Occasionally, our kids will come to Natalie and I. Occasionally, they'll come to Natalie and I, and they will say this phrase, Dad, Mom, I'm so hungry.

5:02 I think I'm going to die. And it's funny because I remember saying that to my parents. And they'll say, Dad, I'm so hungry. I think I'm going to die. I said, well, good news for you. There's some food in the kitchen. You can go grab some in the kitchen. You can go grab something in the fridge. And they say, Dad, I don't like what's in there. That's funny, I missed the part where you pay rent around here.

5:35 I missed the last time you paid for groceries. I took my son Vincent to the doctors this week, and the copay, the lady looks, all right, it's gonna be $35 for this copay. I looked at Vincent, I go, pay. no just not even without skipping a beat he just looks at me he goes it's on you man the doctors are laughing I said dang what have I taught this guy but I used to come say this to my parents I'd say mom dad I'm so hungry I think I'm gonna die and say well go grab something in the kitchen I'd say I don't want that I want McDonald's and my parents would respond. I don't know if you had parents like this, and as a parent now, I love saying this line. My parents would look at me, and they would say, beggars can't be choosers.

6:31 Beggars can't be choosers. I think sometimes for us, we are selective in what we wanna be grateful to God for versus what we don't wanna be grateful for. I think sometimes we miss the miracles that are happening in our everyday life. We miss the miracles that are happening all around us. We miss the miracles that are all around you and I. Sometimes we get a little selective and we say, you know what, I'm praying for this, and God, I've been waiting for this, and why haven't you shown up here, and when are you gonna provide this, and when are you gonna do this? And all around us, miracles are happening that we're missing. Miracles that could build our faith. Miracles that could stir up an anticipation to see God move. Miracles that would help our gratitude, but we miss them. We miss them because we're stuck and fixated on something else.

7:31 Miracles are happening in our ordinary, mundane, routine lives. And the temptation is, is that we begin to focus so much on what God isn't, according to our translation, what God isn't doing or what God hasn't done, that we dismiss the great things and the miracles that he's doing every single day. this is a posture miracles happening all around me to be able to see this is a posture of awe and wonder that when I step back and as the psalmist says come and see it is a posture of awe and wonder to a really great God a God who is active in your life a God who is protecting you A God who is watching over you.

8:24 As Psalm 23 says, a God that is a good shepherd that's walking with you every step of the way. And even though you might be in the valley of the shadow of death, you don't have to fear evil because God is with you. Miracles are happening all around you. This is a posture. Awe and wonder are a posture. If I can step back and I can see that God is good, that I can have awe and wonder at the beauty of his creation, at the majesty of who he is. If I can have an awe and a wonder for all that God is doing, it stirs up my faith in anticipation for the miracles that are going to happen and the ability to see God work. Amen? I want to show you, as the psalmist writes this, the psalmist is writing this amongst other world religions and other world views and ideologies. And I wanna show you just ideologies that even still as a psalmist is writing, still are prevalent in our day today.

9:21 And I wanna show you the ideology that the psalmist is writing against, and I wanna show it to you against the Bible, what the Bible says, and even how science backs up the Bible. Check this out. If you see this right here, awe is a reverence and a humility and an awareness. So worldviews, performance. If I do enough, I'll be okay and I'll be loved. Man, how many of us have fallen into that temptation in that thought, that ideology, that if I do enough, I'll be okay, I'll be loved, and I'll be blessed. But what I love about the Bible, the Bible says God's love isn't manipulated, it's received. God's agape, unconditional love is for you today. You don't have to perform. You don't have to do anything. All you have to do is come and receive God's grace. Bible says in Romans 5, 8, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Look at how science backs this up. Awe and wonder shrinks self-focus and quiets rumination. It interrupts me-centered loops and widens my perspective. Awe literally will destroy performance-driven mentality in your life. That as I step back and I see the goodness and the graciousness of God, I am reminded that God is for me. I don't have to do anything to earn it. The second one is chaos, and in chaos leads to anxiety.

10:41 Everything is unstable, so I must take control. And that's one for me. Any other control freaks here today or watching online, right? And so what does that do? That creates more anxiety. It creates more stress. My whole life, my whole family, all of my finances, my home, everything, it's gotta be on me. And if at any point it's chaotic, I must take control and steer the wheel. But I love what the Bible says. Jesus is steady and unchanging. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? Awe downshifts the stress system. How many of us in our times of stress, we turn to eating? How many of us in our times of stress, we turn to pills?

11:40 Or the bottle? Or relationships? And right here, what does it tell us? that if we get our eyes focused on Jesus, our stress levels will go down. The Bible says in Philippians 4 that the peace of God surpasses all understanding and it will guard your heart and your mind. Amen? Come on. The last one, ritual, ritual, going through the motions, religion without renewal or relationship, going through the motions, keeping up appearances. This is what the Bible says. God wants transformation, but he doesn't want it through performance. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians, we are being transformed into his image. The Holy Spirit is working with us day by day, right? Look at what science says. Awe opens us outward toward others, increases humility, generosity, and pro-social behavior.

12:37 I love what Dr. Paul David Tripp says. Listen to what he says here. If every day I am not beckoned, wooed, and if I could use this term in a positive sense, seduced by the glory of God, I will be wooed and tempted and seduced by something else. When you live in awe and wonder, you begin to see God at work every day. God, you've been so faithful. You've been so good. you've been with me every step of the way. Miracles, they're happening all around you. They're happening all around you. Miracles are active in your day. There hasn't been a single day that's gone by where God hasn't been active in your world, that God hasn't been with you every step of the way, that God hasn't been your good shepherd. I wanna give you four things today, four things on how awe will transform your life. The first thing is it begins, awe begins with lifting our eyes.

13:31 It begins with lifting our eyes. Psalm 89, verse eight says it like this. Oh, Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, oh Lord, with your faithfulness all around you. Oh, Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, oh Lord. I grew up in a house, I don't know if this was the same as you, I grew up in a house where I was not allowed to use the phrase, oh my God. I was not allowed to say it. We do the same thing, Natalie and I, we do the same thing with our kids. You can't say, oh my God, and I remember being in a service, I remember being in a service, and in the song, the song said, oh my God, and I looked up at my mom. what do you say now thought we couldn't say it she's like chill bro it's fine if it's in worship but not when your sports team is losing i think we got to have some oh my god moments in our life i think in our week in our day we got to have some times where we step back and say oh my god you are so good, you are so great, you are for me. I love that the psalmist in Psalm 89, he steps back and he says, oh Lord God. Sometimes, oh, lifts our eyes, lifts our eyes and gets my eyes off of me, off of my circumstance, off of what I'm going through, off of what I want, off of my selfishness, and it gets my eyes on God.

15:07 Gets my eyes on the Lord. I think throughout your week, you gotta have some moments. Maybe you pencil them into your routine, or maybe just when you begin to think about it, you gotta have some, oh my God, you are so good. You have been so gracious to me. You've been with me every step of the way. And I've been a knucklehead this week. And thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for walking this path with me. You know what I love about this screen here, this LED screen here at Highland Park, what I love so much about the screen is it forces me to look up. In worship, I can't be mad that my kids spilled something in the car, head down. I can't be mad that I got here late to church with my head down. I can't be bummed about my circumstance just sitting in worship just like this. No, the screen forces me to lift my eyes up.

16:00 It forces, when we are in worship, we are lifting our eyes to the God who is in control. We are lifting our eyes in awe and wonder to say, God, you are with me. You're for me. You're not against me. It forces me to look up when the enemy wants to come for your awe and wonder. He doesn't have to destroy your life. All he has to do is distract you and get your attention away from it. That's all he has to do. That's all he has to do. All he has to do is divert your attention. Hey, why don't you start worrying about this thing that's going on at the office? Maybe you're not going to get that promotion. Or maybe this drama that's happening here or what's happening on the news. All he has to do is distract you.

16:43 And as soon as our attention begins to veer away from the things of God, then all of a sudden I'm, well, it is on me and I got to do this. And what about this? And what's going to happen here? And all the while God is just saying, just lift your eyes. The psalmist writes in Psalm 121, I lift my eyes to the heavens. From where does my help come from? It comes from you, the maker of heaven and earth. Awe begins with lifting your eyes. But awe isn't just something about lifting your head higher. It's about seeing things differently. The second thing I want to encourage you with is this. Awe changes your perspective. It changes your perspective. Lately, Natalie and I, we've started this tradition where we go to breakfast on Friday mornings.

17:41 And praise God, all of our kids are in school now. And so we got Fridays. And so we've started this new tradition. We're going to breakfast on Friday mornings, and I love it. We get the same thing. We get two coffees, dripped coffees. Amazing. We get some chicken, applewood, sausage. Woo!

18:04 We get some toast. Sometimes we throw some avocado on it. Sometimes butter and jam. Anybody else hungry right now? Right? The last thing, this is my favorite thing we get, pancakes. I love me some pancakes. The other day, we were eating breakfast together, and we're eating pancakes, and Natalie is like, man, there's something in this pancake that just makes it taste so good, so unique. And this is the kind of conversations you only have when you're married. Like, when you're dating, you're not having conversation about what's in the pancakes.

18:40 But we're like, is it the salt? Is it the butter? Is it the syrup? What is in this? The secret ingredient to your life of awe and wonder is your perspective. You don't need a new job. You don't need a new home. You don't need a new marriage. You don't need new kids. You just need a different perspective, a different perspective. Change your perspective, and you will begin to see God in a new awe and wonder, a new awe and wonder. Jeremiah 32 says it like this, oh Lord God, behold, you yourself have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm, nothing is too difficult for you. Nothing is too difficult for you. There's a prayer that I pray most mornings of the week and it's just a prayer for me to help remind myself and reframe the day around who is God and my role in it.

19:42 And I pray this prayer, I say, God, you are God, and I am man. You are creator, and I am creation. You are the potter, and I am the clay. You are the master, and I am your servant. And it helps reframe my day around this thought. Oh, Lord God, nothing is too difficult for you. The situation, the circumstance, what you're walking through in life right now, the miracle that you're believing for, all helps me take a step back and remember that miracles are happening all around me, but it stirs up my faith and anticipation and expectation that, God, you are gonna move, you are for me. It changes my perspective. It changes my faith, and it stirs it up.

20:37 LA Marathon is happening today, and if you grew up playing sports, You see a lot of the runners doing this today, and if you grew up playing sports, there was one rule that they told you that if you got tired, you couldn't do, and it was putting your hands on your knees. And so we'd be in practice, and we'd be like this.

21:00 Just tired. And our coach would walk around, hands off your knees! I'll just, coach, we can't, we're so tired. Tired? How about another mile? No, no, we're good, we're good, yeah, yeah. But what a picture of life. The things that you try and control, the things that you're holding onto, the burdens, the stress, the anxiety, the sleepless nights, the financial problems, all of it, if you begin to wear it, and don't give it to God, our posture begins to look like this.

21:42 And I just, God, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know how I'm going to get myself out of this. I don't know how I'm going to save myself. Maybe I'm too far gone. Maybe I can't ever be restored. Maybe the mistakes I've made are too great. I don't know if you're ever going to provide this thing that we need. God, are you even there? God, do you know what I'm going through right now? Are you even aware? Do you even see it?

22:16 Oh, and wonder what happens when I lift my eyes and I change my perspective. Airflow, it's like a breath of fresh air. Airflow begins to happen as I lift my eyes to the heavens And I remember, oh yeah, oh my God, nothing is too difficult. Nothing's too far gone. There's no circumstance. There's nothing you're facing today. There's nothing that can't be restored. There's nothing that can't be set free. There's no chain that can't be broken. There's no check that can't be written. There's no job that can't be provided. There's no marriage that can't be restored. There's no prodigal child that can't come home. Nothing is too difficult for our God. Lift your eyes to the heavens today.

23:09 From where does your help come from? It comes from God, the maker of heaven and earth. I don't have to worry. I don't have to fear. I don't have to have stress or anxiety because God is with me. Change your perspective. Change your situation. We say this a lot around here. If you've got a small God, you've got big problems. But if you've got a big God, you've got really small problems. Why? Because you recognize that you're not in control, but God is. And God's walking with you every step of the way. So I've got to look to God. I've got to lift my eyes. I gotta get a change in perspective. Then the third thing is I gotta go from spectator to witness.

24:04 I gotta go from spectator to witness. First John 1.3 says it like this, we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us. John is writing this to a church and he's saying, hey, these things that we're telling you, we proclaim these things to you, that which we have seen and heard, that you may also have fellowship with us, that you may have joy in what we've experienced, and now I'm telling you about it. Your life may be the only Bible that somebody reads. This week. Your life may be the closest picture to Jesus that somebody sees this week. at your workplace. there's nobody coming to save your workplace. God has divinely put you there.

25:00 As the resident pastor, RP, wear that badge with title. Nobody's coming to witness for me. As I spectate, that's just watching. But witnessing is saying, I'm gonna be a witness to what I've witnessed. I'm going to testify of the Lord's goodness. I'm going to testify of what God has done in my life. I'm not against sending people, you know, hey, you should watch this sermon or you should listen to this song. But I want to encourage you this week. I want to encourage you. Tell somebody your story. What God has done for you. God's goodness. It's great. I can listen to a song, but I want to hear about how God answered your prayer. I want to hear about the miracles that are happening all around you.

25:54 I want to know what God is doing in your life, because if he did it then, he can do it again. And if he did it for you, he can do it for me. So when you start talking about your story, when you start talking about what God has done, all of a sudden, I'm encouraged. Why do we come here to church on Sundays? It is to behold the awe and the wonder of our God. But it is to take that and then to go into our week and join with God what he is doing. To partner with him in what God is doing. We gather here in church or we gather at a connect group so that you can talk about what God is doing. You can experience what God is doing in your life. And as you experience that and as God speaks to you, as he heals you, as he restores you, you begin to tell your story at work. hey you know I heard you were going through this you know me and me and my spouse we walked through this a couple years ago I just want to let you know I'm praying for you I'm I'm here if there's anything you need I used to work as a lot attendant which is a nice way to say I just washed the cars but I used to work for a car dealership and I'd work in the wash bay and we would clean the cars after they got serviced.

27:11 And there was a guy that I used to work with, and when I started working, he asked me, hey, what is it that you wanna do? What is it that you wanna do in life? And I said, I wanna be a pastor. And he was like, whoa, hey. all right I'll see you at the end of our shift okay and so from time to time we would just talk and we're back there wax on wax off and I was just washing every single day vacuuming cars with them washing cars every single day. About nine months into working there. One day, he's on this side of the car, I'm on this side of the car, we're washing the front hood together. I'm just washing.

28:03 And he says, hey man, can you pray for me? Something's going on with my family right now, I just need some prayer. That began a journey of us, just conversations like that. over the hood of a car. this man would go on to meet his spouse. They became pastors together. He became a kid's pastor. You don't know what your story can do to impact somebody's life. Be a witness to what you've witnessed. Tell your story. The Lord has put you where he's put you because he has you there for a reason. Sometimes we're praying prayers. God, you've got to get me out of here. And God's like, I actually got you right where I want you. because there's some people in your life that need to hear about what God has done. Come on, let's clap and thank the Lord for his goodness today.

29:03 So awe helps me to lift my eyes, changes my perspective. I go from being a spectator and watching to just being a witness. And the last thing is that awe makes room for more miracles. It makes room for more miracles. Let me invite the worship team to come join me. Awe makes room for more miracles. Pastor Chad says this all the time. gratitude attracts miracles. Gratitude attracts miracles. Now, what do I mean by this? Making more room for more miracles. Your awe and your wonder is not a magic recipe for God to then create new miracles for you. Your awe and your wonder is for it to reveal what God is already doing in your life, the miracles that are already happening around you, the miracles that are happening every day.

30:05 And as I step back and I have moments of gratitude with God, I step back and I am reminded, wow. Count your blessings one by one. Maybe this week, something you need to plan your day around. Maybe it's in the morning, maybe it's at the end of the night. Maybe something to plan your week around is to have a moment of gratitude. I'm going to take out my phone. I'm going to open my notes app. And I'm going to write down five to ten things that I'm thankful. I'm thankful for. I'm grateful that God is doing this in my life. I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for that. Maybe this week it's just taking a step back and just saying, God, I'm so grateful for what you have been doing. And you begin to see there's more room for more miracles to be done.

30:57 I want to show you two communities, two different communities, two different cities in the Bible. One lived with awe and wonder and the other didn't. And look at God's power and ability in these two communities. Look at this. Matthew 13 says this, but Jesus said to them, a prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and in his own household. Look at what it says here. And he did not do many miracles there because of their what? Their unbelief. But look at this community here on the right. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, praise God, and to prayer. Now look at this.

31:49 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. I wonder if you're not seeing signs and wonders, many signs and wonders in your day, simply because you're not living with a sense of awe. You're not living with a sense of gratitude. That, God, I'm so thankful for what you've done in my life. I'm so thankful for what you're going to do in my life. I'm praising you for what you're doing now, but I'm also praising in advance for the things that you're going to do. I wonder if your home, if somebody stepped into your house, would they step into a place that said, man, I can sense that there's gratitude in here. I can sense that there is joy in here. I could sense that this is a house of honor and reverence and awe. I wonder if your coworkers would be able to say, you know what, I know that that person's going through something, but there's something about their life.

32:47 They live with a reverence and a humility and an awe of God. I wonder if your children, come on, I wonder if your children will grow up and say, you know what? My parents weren't perfect, but one thing I can take away. They lived with a sense of awe. They lived with a reverence and a humility for God. And I grew up in a house. I grew up in a home where I saw two imperfect people come together in marriage. And I saw, I grew up in a home where I saw many signs and wonders happen in our family because our family lived with a sense of awe. How much would your job change? How much would your home change? How much would your marriage change? How much would your kids respond if you lived with a sense of awe? And I want to take it a step further. How much would our city change? How much would Los Angeles change?

33:42 if we went through every community, every neighborhood with a sense of awe, and we lived and we said, hey, many signs and wonders are happening in Los Angeles. Why? These people, is it the sun? Probably. Is it the coffee? It's got to be. No, it's the signs and wonders happening because people in Los Angeles, there's a church there, there's a people group there that say, I'm living with awe and wonder. Many signs and wonders happen because that community chose to live with awe and wonder. How much would your life change if you step back and said, God, you're so gracious. We wrote this song, He's the Miracle, the new Zoe worship album. We wrote this song, He's the Miracle. Who's the miracle that we're talking about? We're talking about Jesus.

34:34 Jesus is our ultimate miracle. and as I step back and I, in view of God, I am reminded, Jesus, you took my salvation or you took my sin and you gave me salvation. You took my brokenness and condemnation. You gave me forgiveness, grace, and mercy. How much would my life change? How much would performance get out of my way? How much would anxiety get out of the way? How much would chaos get out of the way? How much would stress get out of the way? if I just opened up my eyes, I opened up my hands, how much would your life begin changing if you just began praising? If in the storm, in the circumstance, if in the confusion, you took a step back and you said, my ultimate miracle is Jesus. I don't need anything else. I don't require anything else. God, if you gave me nothing else, I would be more than happy.

35:27 It'd be more than enough because God, you've already been so good to me. gratitude is attracting miracles. Why? Because it's just happening out of nowhere. No, it's revealing what God is already doing in your life. Amen? Come on, let's clap and thank the Lord. I'm going to invite you to stand to your feet. Thank you for listening to this week's message. If you're looking for more information about our church or things happening in the life of the church, you can go to our website, zoechurch.org but we love you, Zoe.