The God of Miracles
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Transcript of The God of Miracles
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When the day of Pentecost had
come, they were all together inone place. 2 And suddenly there
came from heaven a noise like aviolent rushing wind, and it filledthe whole house where they
were sitting.Acts 2:1-2
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And there appeared to them
tongues as of fire distributingthemselves, and they rested on
each one of them. 4 And theywere all filled with the Holy Spiritand began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit was givingthem utterance.
Acts 2:3-4
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Now there were Jews living in
Jerusalem, devout men fromevery nation under heaven. 6
And when this sound occurred,the crowd came together, andwere bewildered because each
one of them was hearing themspeak in his own language.
Acts 2:5-6
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They were amazed and
astonished, saying, "Why, arenot all these who are speaking
Galileans? 8 "And how is it thatwe each hear them in our ownlanguage to which we were
born?Acts 2:7-8
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But Peter, taking his stand with
the eleven, raised his voice anddeclared to them: . . . Jesus the
Nazarene, a man attested toyou by God with miracles andwonders and signs which God
performed through Him in yourmidst,. . . .
Acts 2:14 & 22
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It is vital for us toconstantly live in the
understanding thatGod is the God ofMiracles.
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Not one thing haschanged since Jesus
sent the Holy Spirit tofill the mouths of Hisdisciples with
miraculous speech.
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After being empoweredthrough the baptism ofJesus with the Holy Spiritthey went everywherepreaching the gospel anddoing miracles in Hisname.
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In the midst of extremedifficulty their prayer wasfor God to demonstrateHis miraculous power asthey preached His Word.
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"And now, Lord, take noteof their threats, and grantthat Your bond-servantsmay speak Your word withall confidence,
Acts 4:29
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while You extend Yourhand to heal, and signsand wonders take placethrough the name of Yourholy servant Jesus."
Acts 4:30
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And when they had prayed,the place where they hadgathered together was
shaken, and they were allfilled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak the word ofGod with boldness.Acts 4:31
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Miracles are given to
demonstrate Gods love andcare for us and to give the world
a chance to see God in action.And they are for everyone!
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Our God isthe God ofMiracles.
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Jesus said we would seegreater works done throughus than He did while he was
on earth.
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God intends for us to continually
live in His miraculous power. Heintends for us to have our lives
touched by the supernaturalpower from on high. He intendsfor us to see Him at work in our
lives in a very direct way everysecond of our lives.
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"Truly, truly, I say to you, hewho believes in Me, theworks that I do, he will do
also; and greater works thanthese he will do; because I go
to the Father. John 14:12
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"And behold, I am sending forth
the promise of My Father uponyou; but you are to stay in the
city until you are clothed withpower from on high.Luke 24:49
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but you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come uponyou; and you shall be My
witnesses both in Jerusalem,and in all Judea and Samaria,and even to the remotest part of
the earth.Acts 1:8
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God wants to manifestHimself to the world byproviding, protecting andgiving His presence to Hischildren.
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For the eyes of the LORD runto and fro throughout thewhole earth, to show Himself
strong on behalf of thosewhose heart is loyal to Him.
2 Chronicles 16:9
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For the eyes of the LORDmove to and frothroughout the earth thatHe may strongly supportthose whose heart iscompletely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9
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God searches for thosewho He can pour out Hismiracle power upon. Hewants us to know that Heis our helper and that Heis strong!
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In the parables of theMustard Seed Jesus givesus some clues as to howto see a greatermanifestation of Hismiraculous power in ourlives.
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1. Find out what ittakes to see
miraculous powermanifested through
you.
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When they came to the crowd, a man
came up to Jesus, falling on his kneesbefore Him and saying, 15 "Lord, havemercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and
is very ill; for he often falls into the fireand often into the water. 16 "I broughthim to Your disciples, and they could
not cure him.Matthew 17:14-16
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Then the disciples came to Jesus privately
and said, "Why could we not drive it out?And He said to them, "Because of thelittleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, ifyou have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain, 'Move fromhere to there,' and it will move; and nothingwill be impossible to you.
Matthew 17:19-20
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Notice the disciples did not
blame the child or his father forthe lack of a miracle. They
sincerely asked why THEYcould not drive the demon out ofthe boy.
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That is what the disciples did
and so must we.
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I am called to believe God with
and for others. If we dont see amiracle it is me that needs to
find out what is wrong. I do notneed to find someone toblame. Especially the one
suffering.
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Not only that I am to believe for
the one who is possibly unableto hold on to faith because they
are overwhelmed with theircircumstances.
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Now we who are strong ought to
bear the weaknesses of thosewithout strength and not just
please ourselves. 2 Each of usis to please his neighbor for hisgood, to his edification.
Romans 15:1
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If we are going to attribute a lack
of the miraculous power of Godin someones life then let us first
attribute it to ourselves. Jesusdid not condemn those whowere suffering he healed them.
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In answering the question they
asked about why they were notable to see the miracle Jesus
told them two things that arevital to build an atmosphere forthe miraculous.
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First he said it was the littleness
of their faith.
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Then the disciples came to Jesus privately
and said, "Why could we not drive it out?And He said to them, "Because of thelittleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, ifyou have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain, 'Move fromhere to there,' and it will move; and nothingwill be impossible to you. "But this kind does
not go out except by prayer and fasting."Matthew 17:19-21
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Today I am going to share with you an
interpretation of this passage thatI
amalmost certain you will have never heard andmost likely never thought of. Yet I believe it istrue. In fact it is the most consistent way of
understanding Jesus use of the MustardSeed.
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I believe Jesus was telling the
disciples that they could not castout the demon because their
faith was not yet mature.It wasvery small but it had the
potential to grow. It was a
statement of hope and notdiscouragement.
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For sure it was a statement of
truth. Their faith was very small.Jesus was certainly challenging
them to grow in faith.B
ut it wasalso a statement of hope andencouragement that their faith
would grow like a mustard seed.
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The mustard seed has a growth
process. It starts as one of thetiniest seeds on earth but grows
to be a large shrub.
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And He said, "How shall we picture the
kingdom of God, or by what parable shall wepresent it? 31 "It is like a mustard seed,which, when sown upon the soil, though it issmaller than all the seeds that are upon the
soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up andbecomes larger than all the garden plantsand forms large branches; so that THE
BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDERITSSHADE.
Mark 4:30
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Jesus was telling them if they
would sow their faith they wouldmove mountains someday. But
he was also saying on that daythey were still developing theirfaith.
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It was an encouragement to
grow not a rebuke for somethingthey lacked.
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I believe he was saying,
If you sow it youwill grow it.
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The point is that we are to be
continually growing in faith. Wemay have almost no faith at all
yet if we sow what faith we have just like the little mustard seed we will grow in faith.
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One of the most wonderful
financial miracles I have everseen grew out of God telling me
this secret.
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I was a man of faith when my
sweetheart met me. I hadcommitted myself to be debt
free and trusting God for myprovision. I had lived this foryears and had seen marvelous
answers to prayer. I had alsolived in some very difficult
circumstances.
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When we were preparing to go
to Israel for a year we wereshort on funds and I told her that
we should get a one way ticketand trust God for the returnflight. She was not happy with
my idea.. That is actually anunderstatement..
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As we were discussing my lack
of sanity and her lack of faithGod spoke clearly and firmly to
me. He said, WhenI
want toteach her faith, I will teach herfaith. You leave her alone.
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I had enough sense and enough
fear of God to do what He said. Iworked a few weeks longer,
fixed up and sold a car and hadenough money to get a roundtrip ticket. That was a miracle
too but the greatest one was yetto come.
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During our stay at the Kibbutz
Carie became pregnant. Thatwas wonderful but what was not
so nice was the fact her duedate was just about the sametime as we were supposed to
return home.
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Though we had bought flight
insurance the company we hadpurchased it from had gone out
of business. When we appealedto the airline company they saidI could fly home but she could
not and that they would notexchange either her flight or
mine.
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Now you might say that was not
much of a problem except thatyou dont know how Israelis
have babies.
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Any kind of anesthetic was
considered weakness of thehighest magnitude. Even
Lamaze is for wimps to them. Aunaturel with every painexperienced to the full was the
true destiny and joy of onebearing a child!
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Not only that but the local nurse
loved telling Carie she would becoming over on the day she was
to deliver and helping her outwith the delivery right there inour little stone room.
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I was amused. Carie was
desperate But I was not theone having the baby was I?
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I had never heard her pray such
prayers of desperation. Shewanted to go home. The
problem was we did not haveany money to do so. We hadspent it all on a round trip ticket
that was now worthless.
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After several weeks of struggle
she did what all of us have to doif we are to see miracles. She
asked God to show her what Hewanted. It was that simple.
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She said she was willing to stay
and have her child in Israel ifthat was what He wanted. She
wanted to go home and if thatwas what He wanted she askedfor a tangible sign by the end of
the week. She said that if He didnot show by a miracle that she
was to go home she would stay.
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I challenged her that if she really
wanted to know that it was Godthat we should not let others
know about our need. Sheagreed that we would let ourFather who knows what we
need be the only one who wouldknow.
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At the end of that week, shortly
before sunset the leader of ourteam met her on the road and
said that God had told him togive her one hundred dollars.She had her first miracle.
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Over the next month it
happened just like that. Moneybegin to come from many
different sources all unsolicitedand each saying that God hadput it on their hearts to give.
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We had found a flight that was
very inexpensive but had tomake arrangements to purchase
by a certain date.If we did nothave the money by that date in
spite of the miracles we had
seen we still would be staying inIsrael.
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That day came and we were still
$60 short.
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No one knew.
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That morning before we went to
work Carie and I prayedearnestly that God would
provide but again surrenderedourselves to stay in Israel if itwas His will.
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Through the day we were in a
state of expectancy.Especially when the mail came.
We thought perhaps someonewould send us the rest of themoney. But it was not to be.
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The day was coming to an end
and we did not see the miraclewe thought we would. She
accepted it so graciously. As weprayed before we went to ourevening meeting with our team
she told the Lord that she wouldfollow where ever He would
lead.
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This is what God means when
He asks us to have faith in Him.This is true faith. It was the faith
Jesus demonstrated on theworst day of his life and theworst day in history.
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This is what God means when
He asks us to have faith in Him.This is true faith. It was the faith
Jesus demonstrated on theworst day of his life and theworst day in history.
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He went away again a second
time and prayed, saying, "MyFather, if this cannot pass away
unlessI
drink it, Your will bedone.Matthew 26:42
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But that night of surrender to
Gods perfect will for his life didnot lead to abandonment but to
the greatest miracle of history.the resurrection.
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At the end of our meeting a
visiting parent of one of theyoung people on our team came
to me and shook my hand. Hesaid he felt God had told him togive me what was in his hand to
me. It was $60!
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Then he put his hand in his
pocket and said I have some ofthis funny money (Israeli money)T
hatI
wont use soI
want togive that to you as well. It wasenough to buy several presents
for her relatives..
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No one had known that we had
any need much less the specificamount we needed that very
night. Carie had her miracle!
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My sweetheart learned faith
from God and not me. I am gladbecause I have watched in
wonder and awe since that timeas she has prayed for miracleafter miracle and seen them
happen.
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With each new experience of
believing God for these miraclesI have seen her grow in faith.
Like a Mustard seed..I
tstarted out very small. Now ithas grown to be strong and
often moves mountains.
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When he was very little I used to
let Ariel play my guitar as muchas he wanted. His earliest music
was not what the worldexpected for him to be the nextCanadian Idol but to me it was
the sweetest music I could everhear. I knew a secret..
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I knew that if he loved playing
that instrument and continuedplaying it. No matter how it
sounded. He would one dayplay beautifully from his heart.
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Like the Mustard Seed, He had
the essential element to becomea skilled player but it had to
grow.
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Growth in faith happens by
sowing it for a miracle.
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He presented another parable to
them, saying, "The kingdom ofheaven is like a mustard seed,
which a man took and sowed inhis field;Matthew 13:31
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and this is smaller than all other
seeds, but when it is full grown,it is larger than the gardenplants and becomes a tree, sothat THE BIRDS OF THE AIRcome and NESTINITS
BRANCHES.Matthew 13:32
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Like a mustard seed I
have seen that formiracles to come it takes
a certain kind of soil forour faith to grow in.
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When we sow it into good
soil our faith grows andbrings forth the fruit of
miracles.
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Derek Axford knows about
the effect of the soil on thecrops he grew up planting
on his fathers farm.
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Good soil does not just
happen. It has to beworked into a substance
that will give life to theseeds planted in it.
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The developing of the soil
that will cause our mustardseed faith to grow is the
second thing Jesus said tohis disciples in his answer to
their question about why theycould not cast out the demon.
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"But this kind does notgo out except by prayer
and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21
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God made it very simple
for us. If we want to see amiracle we need to ask for
it and to have the propermotivation in our asking.
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You do not havebecause you donot ask.
James 4:2b
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You ask and do notreceive, because you
ask with wrong motives,so that you may spend
it on your pleasures.James 4:3
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Jesus told his disciples
that to see the kind ofmiracle that was needed
they would have to prayand fast.
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Praying is asking.
Fasting deals with our selfmotives.
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These are the soil
conditioners that createthe kind of soil where faith
grows.
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Prayer and Fasting are
the soil conditioners thatcreate the kind of soil
where faith grows.
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I have seen the power of
prayer and fasting to bringGods miracle working
presence into my own life.
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I have seen it in history as
well.
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I would be so bold as to say that
I do not believe there has everbeen a move of God withoutbelievers doing their part bypraying and setting aside theirearthly preoccupations (fasting)
in order to call out to God forHim to show Himself throughthem to the world.
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That is exactly what the
disciples were continually doingin the days before the dynamite(dunamis) power from God fellon them in the upper room.
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These all with one mind were
continually devoting themselvesto prayer,
Acts 1:14
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But our prayer needs to be one
of expectancy.
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When we pray to God we need
to expect Him to answer. If wedont we may not even noticethat He did.
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When my sweetheart and I were
first dating she had her bikestolen from her sisters house inTulsa Oklahoma.
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What made it really bad was it
was a gift from her grandmotherand had strong sentimentalvalue.
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When she told me what had
happened I said we should praythat God would show us where itwas. I believed that He would.We prayed and I had a vision ofthe bike in a park under a bush.
I knew the park and so we wentthere to find the bike.
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It was there under the very bush
I saw it under. The nice part ofthis story is that my sweetheartis a woman of great integrity.She can tell you that thishappened exactly like I am
telling you. It is verifiable andcould not have happenedwithout God showing me.
I h f 18 4 Ohi
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In the summer of 1854 Ohio was
in the midst of a prolonged andsevere drought. A pastor in alocal church called his people topray for rain.
A hi h h th d f hi
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As his church gathered for worship on aSunday morning in 1853, Charles Finneywalked into the pulpit, carrying anumbrella. Setting his umbrella down by hischair, he began to pray, Lord, we do not
presume to tell you what is best for us. Youinvite us to come to you as children to afather and tell you all of our wants. We needrain. Unless you give us rain our cattle willdie and our harvest will come to naught. It isan easy thing for you to do, O Lord, send usrain.
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B t ti i t t
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But notice one very important
aspect of his behaviouraround this incident. Though
he told everyone that theywere going to pray for an endto the drought, he was theonly one who brought hisumbrella.
H t d G d t d
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He expected God to do a
miracle and God did.
Th tl id t th L d "I
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The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase
our faith! 6 And the Lord said, "If youhad faith like a mustard seed, you
would say to this mulberry tree, 'Beuprooted and be planted in the sea';and it would obey you.
Luke 17:5-6
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O it th t th
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Or was it that they saw
Jesus doing the miraclesfor others and wanted to
see the samethemselves?
Th k h t h ld
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They knew what he could
do because they saw himdo it with their own eyes.
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A d th t i tl h t
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And that is exactly what
Jesus wanted. He wantedthem to ask
Wh th did J t ld
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When they did Jesus told
them once more that theywould see what they
desired if they sowed theirfaith as a mustard seed
with expectancy of themiraculous.
Wh t t d it i h
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What a tragedy it is when we
lose our expectancy of Godsworking through miracles in
our life. God wants us to ask.God wants us to have propermotives and God wants us toexpect Him to worksupernaturally in our lives.
It i d ti t li lif
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It is our destiny to live a life
filled with His powermanifested in supernatural
works.
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He is theGod ofMiracles