“How To Jumpstart A Miracle!”
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1) Introduction.
1) Introduction.
“How To’s”
Brothers and sisters, we serve a miracle working God!!!!
Think about this: When you and I see a miracle happen, that is very much a special event!
It’s not something that happens everyday!
Some people have seen one or two, or even twenty!
But even if you have been around many miracles in the making, still they are the exception.
We are mostly used to that which is normal and expected.
We are used to the natural.
But God is not natural.
He is supernatural!
The miracle that will change your life and your family forever?
That same miracle to Jesus, is just another Tuesday!
When He heals you and delivers you or changes the desperate situation you have been heartburning and praying that’s, that’s just natural to him!!!!!
It won’t be the first miracle He has performed that hour, nor will it be the last!
All over the world, people are calling out to God!
In different time zones and languages all over this globe, desperate people will rely on God to save and heal and deliver and before the day is done, he will have done exactly that many times over!
Aren’t you glad that we serve a God who is moved by compassion?
Aren’t you glad that his hand is not shortened that he cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear?
He does hear your prayer!
He hears the cries of a desperate heart!
And He is able to help you!
Okay, so maybe you say “I’m one of those.”
“I am one of those who needs a miracle!
Perhaps it is a known situation, obvious to all that you need help with.
Perhaps it is a very internal and private need that only you and God know about.
Well, if you need a miracle today, you’ve come to the right place.
First off, I will tell you that good things happen in relationship.
The casual acquaintance does not do things for you that will change your life.
But those people you call friends, family, those people who share life with you, those relationships are where the best things tend to happen.
The things that make our lives rich and special are most often born out of relationship.
Let me say then, that If you make Jesus your friend, if you spend your life and affection on Him, you will see great and supernatural things!
Life I have learned, is a business of seasons.
We have this ebb and flow.
We have mountain top experiences and then we have those days spent in the valley, the low points.
And there are times in every life, when you simply need a miracle!
Not tomorrow, but today!
In the here and now!
“God you are my only hope!”
“You are my source!”
“Help me Jesus!”
Now if that is you, I am so glad you came to church today!
Because:
I’m gonna tell you how to Jump start a miracle!
An Angel, well met!
A few years ago, on a cold Sunday morning, before our hour and a half trip from Daly City to Santa Rosa, I went down to the car, to check the oil and warm it up.
As I left the apartment building, I noticed a little red saturn parked there with a tall, stately man standing in front of it.
I thought to myself: “Surely, you are not gonna try and fit inside that car?”
I was surprised to see somebody else out and about.
Normally, you could fire a cannon down that street on a cold winter morning and not hit a thing!
The hood was up and so I asked him if he needed a jump.
As it happened, He said no, but nothing else. “Ok, I said, have a blessed day!”
Then as I got to my car, to warm the engine, I realized that my battery was dead!
Oh no! We left the lights on last night!
Well, I walked back to the guy, pretty sheepish, and I said, “Hey there, I guess it turns out that I’m the one who needs a jump!
So, he pulled the saturn over, I hooked up the batteries and had her going real quick.
He was a big man, but real quiet.
Now, usually, I would take the opportunity to try and talk Jesus with a helpful stranger, but for some reason I can’t explain, that morning, I just didn't feel the need to!
I thanked him and off the Louws went to church!
And the next day, It began to dawn on me….
I had never seen that car or that person before!
I never saw Him again!
I saw the car a few days after, but the lady driving it was a different race and a different life stage than the man I had seen.
She was never accompanied by anyone else and I never saw him again.
Finally, it hit me like a brick!
The man I had seen and talked to…
That man was an angel! To this day, I am utterly convinced!
It all made sense!
If he had not been there to jump my car when it was dead, I would have never made it to church on time, never!
I knew it then, in my very soul!
Then my wife noticed, the license plate frame on that little car was from a dealer in Santa Rosa!
To this day, I know that God sent an angel to help me and to build my faith!
See, my battery was dead!
Dead as can be!
What I needed was to hook up to another power!
I had to get a little juice running through that battery so I could start the car and get it charged!
All the systems of the car, the electrical system, the engine itself, the transmission, the hydraulics in the brakes, all of those systems upon systems were geared and calibrated to work well and work together!
All it needed was a little jump start!
Just a little jump to get things going!
And I wonder today, whose faith needs a little jump?
Who needs a jump in the hope department?
Do you need a financial miracle?
Do you need a miracle of healing?
It can happen this very hour!
Maybe what you need is Just a little shot of faith, a realization that
“I can make it through this!”
“I will survive and come out stronger on the other side!”
And if God provides for you today, in a supernatural way, it won’t be the first time HE’s done it!
Nor will it be the last!
Hey, it wasn’t that long ago:
We were lost in transgressions and sins!
But God, who is rich in mercy, reached down to you and to me!
He saw us there, trapped in our sin and our shame!
He reached out to you and saved you!
Know this:
Jesus Christ can save anyone from anything!!!!
If you find an addiction that God cannot overcome,
If you ever find a sickness that God cannot heal,
My friend, you have found the impossible thing!
Jesus Christ has given us everything we need to live right and be right!
Today we can be clean and new and the Scripture tells us:
2 Corinthians 5:17 King James Version (KJV)
2 Corinthians 5:17 King James Version (KJV)
17 ...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Jesus is so good to us!
Now let me ask you wonderful people today, how many of you could use an honest to God, supernatural miracle?
In your family, in your work life, in your bank account?
Don’t be ashamed! If you need a miracle, it is what it is!
Hey, sometimes we all need a miracle!
What is a miracle?
Well, it is a supernatural act of God!
It is something God does for you that you could not do yourself!
It is an outcome that cannot be achieved through natural means or the facility of man!
A miracle is God on your side!
Now, let’s get that Bible open!
I. Text & Scripture Setting
Mathew 15:21-28
Turn with me to The first book of the New Testament and you’ll find chapter 15, right about the middle.
Truth comes to us today on the wings of a story!
Jesus is going on a road trip!
Matthew 15:21-28 King James Version (KJV)
Matthew 15:21-28 King James Version (KJV)
21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
Up to this point, most of Jesus’ ministry had been in Gallilee, but now he takes to the road travelling to an area where there are Gentiles!
The Messiah is not expected here and now, looking and acting like this!
He certainly is not expected to waste time and miracles among gentiles!
These people were not part of the Covenant or Contract that Israel had with Almighty God.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
You have to understand what is happening here…
This woman has no right approaching Jesus!
She does not have any claim to an audience, much less a miracle!
And yet that is the one thing she needs more than anything else!
The daughter who she carried in her womb for 9 months, who she raised and loved, is now tormented by an unclean spirit!
This demon has terrorized their family and made their lives a misery!
This mother’s life is a dreadful roller coaster ride of revulsion and compassion and hate and love.
But blood is blood.
Notice what the lady says:
“Have Mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David!”
Now I don’t know just exactly how much she understood about Jesus, but I do know that there were many religious people in Israel,
Old, white beards that spent their entire lives immersed in religion and none of them were calling Jesus Lord!
In the beginning of this chapter, the Pharisees had sent out a delegation from Jerusalem and were trying to spar with Jesus.
But God was not impressed!
He said things like:
“These honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me!”
“In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
These men, who were supposed to be men of God, spiritual leaders, students of Holy Writ, Jesus called them “blind and leaders of the blind.”
“Eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man, it is the things that come from within!”
“You don’t want to know the things in their hearts, the chambers of their imagery!”
Religion met God and the altercation was uncomfortable.
Jesus leaves that discussion and comes here and in our text, he meets this woman.
This woman, who would not have been allowed to enter a synagogue, recognizes that Jesus is Lord!
And friend that is exactly where your miracle begins!
When you acknowledge that Jesus is Lord!
When you make him not just “A Lord.” But “Your Lord!”
Your miracle begins the moment you recognize Messiah and realize that He can touch you, and that He is moved with compassion!
The moment that you separate God from everything else, and you recognize him for who he is!
“This Jesus, your heart screams, is God in fullness and in flesh!”
“He is able to help me!”
So it was with the blind man, who cried out:
He called to the savior the same way:
“Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me!!!!!”
Now Verse 23...
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
At first, Jesus won’t even talk to the woman, he talks to his disciples about her.
Ever been treated like that?
Asking for someone and they won’t even respond to you directly?
I’m just gonna tell you, if I was her, I’d have been deeply offended!
But read what she does in verse 25, and you will see the moment her miracle began!!!
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
Okay, see this is where everything changes!
Before this moment, there is no hope of a miracle, no hope of any change!
“Then came she and worshipped him..”
This is how you do it folks!
This is where the miracle happens!
This is how you jumpstart your miracle!!!!
#1 Recognize the Messiah!
#2 Share the problem with Him!
And then notice the vital thing:
Before ever Jesus spoke to her..
Before He looked her in the eye,
Before she received the miracle, this lady chooses!
She makes a choice: “I will worship Jesus!”
And there it is: Jesus has to be more important than your miracle!
When a man or a woman, a boy or a girl can choose to worship before the prayer is answered, God takes notice!
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
You heard right! She is likened to dirty mongrel begging under the table!
“No miracle for you mongrel.”
Jesus says that the Jews are children, they deserve miracles, but you don’t!
She could have stormed out!
Many’s the person today, that would turn on Jesus, shake their fist in his face and curse him to hell!
“I asked nicely!”
“I worshipped you!”
But she does not do that!
She knows that her daughter’s life is in the balance!
Already, she had decided to worship the only one that does what people say the Messiah can do!
She had already decided, miracle or no miracle, I will worship the Lord!
That’s where it is folks!!!
Loving God not for what HE can do for you, but loving God simply because He is God!
We love God, because he is God and beyond that even the angels cannot think!
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Did you hear the invitation that Jesus gave her?
He said in effect: “It’s up to you! Be it unto thee as you wish!”
Now that’s what we call a blank check!
Jesus literally gave her a blank check signed: Jesus
“As much as your faith can hold!”
Anything she asked that day, I believe she’d have got it!!!!
Now let me ask you today:
How much can your faith hold?
Are you willing to recognize the Messiah?
Can you acknowledge His Kingship?
Are you willing to worship Him before the miracle?
Jesus Christ is giving true worshippers a blank check today!
What will you write on that check?
“Jesus, I need that new job!”
“ I need healing in my relationships!”
“I need a breakthrough in my walk with you God!!”
“Lord, I have a parent, I have a child, that needs a miracle!”
How about this one:
“Jesus, I need your Holy Spirit!
He is ready to fill you! He wants to give you joy like you have never known!
And even now, like electricity races to ground, the love of God is flowing to your needs!
Let Him flow here today!
God wants to meet your needs!
He wants to answer your prayers!!!!
Listen to the secret!
Here it is:
The secret is worship!!!!!
True Worship!!!!
John 4:23 New King James Version (NKJV)
John 4:23 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
Do you believe God can fix it?
I do! He does!
He can take your brokenness and make you whole!
That’s what he asked people: “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?”
Is your prayer a child lost and without peace?
God can reach him!
God can reach her!
Even now the angels of God are watching over them!
All you have to do is worship!!!!!!!
The Isrealites worshipped and God delivered them from Egyptian bondage!
Paul and Silas were beaten! I can almost hear them judder at the post, each time the cane whacked into flesh!
When the stripes began to ooze blood and fluid, they could have complained to God!
When they were locked in stocks, they could have gone quiet and sullen, angry at God and people.
But that’s not what happened!
My Bible says that at the very lowest,
At breaking point, they did not break!
They chose to worship and praise a God who is far, far bigger than the world of men!
He is bigger than the here and now!
He is the creator!
He is deserving of worship and worthy of praise!
They chose to worship him at their worst, and all of the sudden, that worship lit a spark that blew those prison gates right off!
Earthquake!!!!!!
Deliverance!
The miracle!
They didn’t do it for a miracle, they did it because they had a relationship with a living God!
Because praise and worship was in their hearts!
Sometimes you don’t know what to do!
Nothing you can do!
Not so!
Even bound!
Even wounded, you can praise!!!!
The miracle was there all the time, ready to get lit off, ready to blow up!
All that was needed was a little jump start!
Time after time, people across the ages have made a choice to worship and seen God come through right on time!
When you can worship him regardless!
When He is greater than your answer,
Just watch Him come through for you!
It’s almost as though in a spiritual sense, your worship creates a fresh breeze!
It gives the angels of God something to ride on!
Let them ride on the current of your worship and your faith!!!
You do not have to be in church to worship God!!!
You can worship God with your hand in a sink full of dirty dishes!
You can worship God in scrubs on your lunch break!
Isaiah 66:1-2 King James Version (KJV)
Isaiah 66:1-2 King James Version (KJV)
66 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Conclusion:
So there you have it:
There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God!
You are a child of the living God, maker of heaven and earth!
If you can worship him sincerely, before he answers and before he provides, He will judge the issue and you may just find yourself in the middle of a miracle!
Tell you what, why don’t you just lift your hands in closing today?
Yes, I know the situation is complicated.
I know there are a lot of factors involved,
I know that sometimes the way forward seems dark and hopeless, but I choose to worship a living God!!!
How about it?
Perhaps even, you might pray with someone else here today, and put some jumper cables on their faith!
Pray with them!
Believe God for them!
Is there anything too hard for God???
NO! NO! NO!!!!
He knows what you have need of before you can even ask!!!!
And you are His child! You are his church!
You are the apple of His eye!
Need a breakthrough? Come get it!
Need miracle?
Jesus has a whole line up with your name on it!
Why not today?
Go ahead and praise HIm!
Maybe you need to humble yourself beneath the mighty hand of God!
Just do it!
You’ll be glad you did!!!