Jesus: The Mystery of Life, Hope, and Restoration

1. "And in life, some doors open automatically while others stay close. Some people pray and experience immediate breakthrough and healing while others cry out to God year after year after year, waiting for him to move. And then in a quiet whisper, God opens that door. And I don't understand it. Why does some people, one person get blessed? Why another person gets stuck? I don't know. I go to God. God, why is this happening? And while we pray, for vision, and while we pray for clarity, it often feels like we're walking through life blind. But then there's those suddenly moments. Often it's at the very last second when we realize that God was at work all along in the background. Even when we didn't know it or feel it, God was doing something. Tell your neighbor, our God is mysterious. God is mysterious." [56:56] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "I can't explain it. I can't tell you how he's done it all, but what I can do is point you to the one that holds the earth at a perfect 24 .33 degree tilt, the one who has the whole earth world in his hands, the one who controls the tides, the one who turns a caterpillar into a butterfly. He is faithful. He is constant. Our God is good, and he always shows up, especially when we need him the most. Can we just praise God for that?" [59:43] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "And I love this story because you see as the text begins, it says soon afterward. And as we go back in the beginning of Luke 7, we find Jesus was in Capernaum. This was his headquarters. It was his ministry headquarter, just like the headquarters of Shiloh and all that God's done these last 59 years. Jesus is in Capernaum. And as he's ministering, a centurion servant came to Jesus and said, my leader's son is gravely ill. We need you to heal him. And Jesus replied, okay. And based on your request, I'm going to come to you. But as Jesus was on his way, the centurion said, I'm going to come to you. I'm going to come to you. And he sent another servant to tell him, I am a man of authority. Lord, I do not need you to physically come. If you just say the word, a miracle will transpire. And the Bible says that Jesus marveled at the great faith of this man. There was nobody who had had this kind of faith at this time. And he said, I've never seen faith like this anywhere. See, great faith isn't about whether you shout loud or not. Great faith is not about how much scripture you know. Great faith is taking God at his word. If God said it, I believe it, period. That settles it in my life. Come on, who has great faith here at Shiloh? I trust what Jesus has said. The soldier said, I don't need you to be your physical presence. If you just speak your word, it is done, done. And immediately the Bible says, say that with me, immediately the servant was made well. And here we are soon afterward. I feel that for some of you, you are in a soon afterward moment. It's a difficult moment. It's a not understood moment." [01:01:57] (131 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "We are a church and the church of Jesus Christ. We have the antidote for suffering. We have the answer for all of those crying out in affliction. And his name is Jesus. That is who they are looking for. The Jesus that Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah 53, 4 through 5, where it says, surely he has borne our grief. He has carried our sorrows. Yet we, esteemed him as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he has wounds for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by Jesus' stripes, we are healed. Come on, yell it out with me. I am healed. Jesus came to heal, to restore, to bring freedom into your life. Into the life of every person in the city of Oakland, Bay Area, and the world." [01:05:16] (67 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "And Jesus enters this town called Nain. It's interesting because the name means a beautiful, pleasant place. Let me tell you, there's no place like Oakland. Beautiful. Best weather in the world. I'm sorry if you live in Concord. You know you're jealous of Oakland. Anywhere you live outside of this city, this is heaven on earth. This is heaven on earth. This is heaven on earth. This is heaven on earth. Weather. You just don't know. And Nain and Oakland were different cities in size and topography. But just like Oakland, Nain was beautiful on the outside. But beneath that beauty was deep affliction. And Jesus came with this crowd upon this funeral procession." [01:04:09] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "And when Jesus acts, praise reacts. That's why at Shiloh we start every time we come together responding to the goodness of God. That's why when people ask to have funerals and weddings here, we say, sure, but we're going to do it. Because we're not an event center. We are a place that carries the presence of God. Amen? It's not a time. It's not about coming late. I'd ensure you don't come late. Do you know what happens here before you arrive for this service? At 855, all of the Team Shiloh that's here huddles. And we get together and we pray. We talk about you today. We talk about how people are our passion. We want to see our city saved for Jesus. You know how that's going to happen? When you get up. When you get up. You get up and begin to tell like this little boy. He got up and all he could do was, I can't imagine. I'm going to ask God one of these days. I believe he was praising God and he was saying, look what God did. He probably started telling people what he saw in heaven and started saying, look, I was dead and I'm alive. Look, I saw my mom. She was depressed. I was part of the cloud of witnesses. But look what God's done. He saved me. He turned my life, my life around. I was dead, but now I'm alive. How many have that story? I was dead, but now I am alive. God is here. God is here. God is here. God is here. And I proclaim that good news over our city every day." [01:40:36] (98 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)