Welcome to Part II of the sermon "YOU ARE". As we concluded Part I with God displaying His mighty power to those heroes of faith in the Bible, we continue with glorifying the same God that is still displaying the same awesome power to us today. We worship You and are thankful dear God that YOU ARE our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Through our trials, pain, struggles, hardships, disappointments, sicknesses and discouragements God is always on time to bring us joy and comfort in the midst of our most difficult times. His promises are true and His faithfulness is never ending. The sacrifices that we make unto God will be rewarded according to His will. “Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” (Psalm 50: 5) Because of the encouragement that He sends, a suffering soul that puts their hope and trust in Him will yet surrender praises throughout the years to come. The God of our lives commands deliverance to His people. Those that keep the laws of God are preserved forever from glory to glory. “Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen.” (Psalm 72: 18-19)
God's supernatural blessings cover a broad spectrum of wonderful things that He chooses to bless His people with. The amazement of His grandeur leaves us speechless and it is always designed for His glory. He reveals it to all people according to His will as we share the goodness of His majesty. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.” (Matthew 4: 23-25) “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Seek the LORD, and His strength: seek His face evermore. Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.” (Psalm 105: 1-5)
The goodness of the Lord is hard to keep to oneself. The greater the blessing, the more we want to tell how good He has been to us and we tend to appreciate it more. Miracles happen every day all through the day in various forms to various degrees. One thing that is for certain is that some things can only be done by God alone. He continues to show His mighty power to those who serve Him and even to our enemies. I heard a story on television a few years ago about a man who was caught assaulting young women on a college campus. When asked why he didn’t assault a certain student who was walking alone one night, his answer was “because of the big dude that was walking with her.” It was reported that she was walking alone but God dispatches His angels to protect us from all harm. “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” (Psalm 91: 11)
Dear God, in like manner You Are the One who sent Your angel to help me place Steve ever so gently and slowly on the floor after he had passed out in my arms after surgery at Kaiser Hospital. You revealed to me that I should have fallen frontwards or backwards because I wasn’t strong enough to handle his weight. “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.” (Psalm 34: 6-9)
You are the Protector who saved our 3-year old son Shaun after he was accidentally hit on the top of his head with a pick-axe by my neighbor as she was working in her yard. By Your grace he only required a few stitches. “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deuteronomy 5: 29) “Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.” (Deuteronomy 4: 40) “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 12: 28) “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.” (Deuteronomy 28: 4)
You sent out virtue from our daughter Kim as she hugged me and told me that she had asked the Lord for forgiveness. “And He came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of His disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all.” (Luke 6: 17-1
You Are the Mighty One who grew new arteries in our Dad’s chest which was discovered after he had a heart attack. No surgery was needed and the Doctor confirmed the miracle by stating that it was “God’s bypass.” “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9: 23)
You Are the One who gave me the vision of Steve anointing me after reading in your Holy Word of Samuel anointing David. “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.” (1 Samuel 11-13) The vision came to fruition a few hours later when Steve walked up unannounced and anointed me.
You Are the One who saved our son Stevie as a child when we were playing volleyball in the yard and he ran into the gate and hit his throat on the protruding iron gate latch. I heard the breath leave his body as he fell to the ground. I turned around in an agony and started to pray. I felt the Spirit take over that prayer and Stevie got up unharmed. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8: 26-27)
You have miraculously blessed the Brethren many times right in church, including immediately stopping the severe nosebleed being suffered by Sister Shirley. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5: 13-15)
You Are the Mighty One who saved our daughter-in-law Crysti as she was on life support with no chance of recovery according to the physicians. When all hope seemed lost I was planning her funeral, but God stepped in and gave me a dream that Crysti was released from the hospital walking up to her front door and I yelled out to her that she was a miracle. Shortly after the dream, while at the hospital she pulled the intubation device out of her throat even though not fully conscious. She has completelyrecovered from that point on and God gets all the glory. “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15: 13) “Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy ….. Let Thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee.” (Psalm 33: 18 & 22) “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3: 24-26)
Your manifested revelation to the three Pastors that the even the trees, mountains and hills praise God was awesome. “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55: 12) “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together” (Psalm 98: 4-8)
Our 3-year old granddaughter’s hand was accidently slammed in a car door. We called on God and her fingers were only bruised and slightly swollen. You Lord, are the One who saved her little fingers from being broken. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5: 16) “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Ephesians 3: 20)
As a backsliding sinner with a terrible headache, you are the One who sent thunder to not only heal me but to forgive my sins. “God thundereth marvellously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend.” (Job 37: 5) “Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.” (Psalm 81: 7)
You are the One who healed Sister Shirley’s son of severe eczema.
While Kim and I were shopping in a Department store with 2-year old Carly, she got separated from us. I told Kim to search in one direction while I took the other. We met up in the same place without Carly. We searched again calling for Carly with no answer and met up in the same spot again and decided to contact Store Security. We were about to be in a state of panic but God directed my head to a rack of women’s clothes just a few feet away from us and took my eyes to the floor of the clothes. I saw her little shoes sticking out of the clothes. She was hiding from us. Abba Father, You are the One who gave our anxious hearts sweet peace. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 6-7)
My Mom’s elderly friend Dan had cancer and was paralyzed from the waist down after having surgery. It came to Steve and I to visit him after asking the Saints to pray for him. The next day we went to visit Dan not knowing what to say because we were told he was an Atheist. His condition was bad and he was sleeping a lot. We managed to talk to him about God and Jesus, telling him that God loves him and that he needed to repent. He agreed so we prayed with him but he fell asleep again. We left and came back the next day and Dan was very alert and watching television with my Mom. He said that he had asked for forgiveness. It was quite evident because he was a totally different person. He mentioned a few times that he wanted to get his legs back. Two days later my Mom called saying that Dan was not doing very well. We rushed over to see him and saw that his health was rapidly declining. We watched him for about two hours and we saw his legs rise up off of the bed two times as he took his final breath. Dan got his legs back, and Father, you are the One Who answered his prayer. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7: 7-8)
Father, You know which direction we should take even when we don’t. You are the One Who led us to go through our garage instead of the front door and smell the gas leaking from the dryer in the laundry room late one night. “But I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy in the morning: for Thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Psalm 59: 16) "Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.” (Isaiah 54: 16-17) “For Thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for Thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.” (Psalm 31: 3)
You are the One Who healed one of the Elders from gallstones.
With a detached retina, blind in one eye and going seven days beyond the possibility of repair according to attending physicians, You are the One Who made a way to restore my sight.
We are more than conquerors when we are spared from near car accidents, when we needed a job and were blessed with favor on the job, when the doctor’s report was that we’d never walk, talk or have babies, but we defied all the odds. We are more than conquerors when our enemies rise up against us and you step in on our behalf, when we had no money or food but we received money or checks in the mail, when we nearly lost our minds, when we should have died in the womb, when countless times we weren’t feeling well but you healed us, when our sins were forgiven and even when we should have been locked up but God was the judge and jury and He bailed us out. Lord You are the One Who makes our cup overflow with your goodness, your grace and your mercy.
We can go on and on with the marvelous miracles that God has done in our lives. Let us be thankful for every mountain that He has brought us over, for every trial He’s seen us through, for every blessing that He so lovingly gives and for supplying our every need.
Bring love wherever you go, be kind wherever you are, shine bright whenever it’s dark and leave blessings wherever you have been.
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” (John 21: 25)
“I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart ….. Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.” (Psalm 40: 8 & 16)
“I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.” (Psalm 104: 33-34)
Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the Darkness, my God that is Who You Are!