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•Jesus Raises The Dead•By Joshua AdamsThey laughed at Jesus because they thought they knew how the story ended.The girl was dead.As far as everyone standing in that house was concerned, there was nothing left to discuss.Then Jesus arrived.When He said, “The maid is not dead, but sleepeth,” Scripture says something almost uncomfortable to read:“They laughed him to scorn.”Matthew 9:24Think about that.They were standing in the presence of the One who gave life, laughing because His words contradicted what their eyes were telling them.Then Jesus did something I have learned not to overlook.He put them out.“But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.”Matthew 9:25The people who laughed did not get the final word.Death did not get the final word.The circumstances did not get the final word.Jesus did.There is something in this passage that reaches far beyond that room.Sometimes people will pronounce something finished because they cannot imagine God doing anything with it.They will look at your past and decide who you are.They will look at your failure and decide what you can become.They will look at what you lost and tell you there is nothing left.Sometimes you will even do it to yourself.I know I have.I have stood over pieces of my own life and quietly decided, “That part is over.”Then God showed me how little I understood about what He could still do.That does not mean every dead dream gets resurrected.It does not mean God promises to restore everything exactly the way we wanted it.Matthew 9 is not permission to turn Jesus into a guarantee that every circumstance will end the way we choose.It is something greater.It is a reminder that what looks impossible to us has never intimidated Christ.So be careful about putting a period where God has not put one.Be careful about declaring someone unreachable.Be careful about deciding your usefulness to God ended with your worst chapter.And be especially careful about allowing the voices outside the room to become louder than the One standing inside it.Everyone else had already decided how this story ended.Jesus had not.And when He took that girl by the hand, every person who laughed discovered that their certainty had never been authority.Christ still has the final word.#Matthew9 #JesusChrist #FaithInJesus #BibleTeaching #ChristianFaith