August 2, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Psalm 77:10-15
Subject: Step Seven in Receiving God’s Miracles
Title: Standing Firm – Remembering Who Has Promised
Today we bring the Seven Steps to Receiving God’s Miracles series to a close. I really believe that the Lord has taken us to a new level of faith and commitment during these last couple of months. And even though it is the end of the series I believe that it is just the beginning of what God is preparing for this church.
You have heard me preach for nearly eight years that the same God who healed the sick in the bible is still willing to do the same today. You’ve heard me tell you that God still provides for needs now as much as He did from the beginning of time. You know that I have repeatedly reminded you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And now we are seeing the results of your perseverance and expectancy.
Could it be that for so long God has been waiting for you more than you have been waiting for Him? He was waiting for you to:
1. Consecrate yourself and be set apart for His purpose…
2. Stand in the river to receive power from on high…
3. Follow God’s presence by seeking His face and His will for your life…
4. Trust His word and believe every promise that He has given you…
5. Step out in faith in order to receive what He has already done…
6. Cross over into the supernatural to walk in the spirit…
Finally, we know that God is calling us to one last step to receive the miracle you have been waiting for. That step is to stand firm in all the other steps until God moves in your life.
Psalm 5:1-3,
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD,
consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. REMEMBER (10-11) 10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. The best way for you to be sure of what God wants to do in your life is to remember what He has done in the past. Verse 10 is a response to the six questions asked in 7-9. 1) “Will the Lord reject forever? 2) Will he never show his favor again? 3) 8Has his unfailing love vanished forever? 4) Has his promise failed for all time? 5) 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? 6) Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” As David remembered those things, suddenly the little light comes on, 10 Then I thought… The answer to the doubt that is gathering in his mind is to remember the things the Lord has done. Are you wondering where God is in your time of financial need? Deuteronomy 8:18, But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant… Are you still waiting for your healing? Malachi 4:2, But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall… The key to receiving is to remember 1) what God has done in the past for you… “To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. These words are given for your encouragement just like a testimony given by someone who has received a miracle… 2) what He says in His word about the past… Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8-9, This is my gospel, 9for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. God’s word will be accomplished for those who believe… 3) what He confirms in your spirit about the past and the present. According to 1 Corinthians 2:10 God is still revealing Himself to us by His Spirit. When you sense that confirmation in your spirit as to what God wants to do you can be assured that something good is about to happen. But, your enemy the devil will come against you to tell you that miracles don’t happen, what has happened in the past really wasn’t a miracle, and that you are foolish to think that God cares enough about you to do anything in your life. 1 Peter 5:8-9, 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in the faith… Obviously, according to what David has written thus far, the key is remembering. He made a conscious decision to remember the mighty works of God and then to stand firm in them.
II. REFLECT 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. The word meditate in the original language means to murmur or mutter words to yourself. Meditation involves talking things over with yourself to understand what those things mean to you. Meditation means weighing your options. We can look at what God has said in His Word and the miracles we have experienced in the past and then consider what implications those things have on our lives today. What happens inside you when you meditate on God’s words and His promises? Joshua 1:8 says, Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night… As most of you know, I am a big sports fan. Cardinals, Missouri Tigers and especially the Rams football team. I think I like football so much because it is a team sport. Yes, there are a lot of individual stars on each team, but in reality the teams that win are the teams that rely upon each individual to do his job. Every team has a head coach who has instituted a plan into the system. Each player has a playbook. Each playbook gives the details of every offensive or defensive play that each team will run. Some playbooks are faulty – the plan just isn’t good enough to win. Some players are not diligent enough to study the playbook and therefore they become the reason the team doesn’t win. But we have a playbook that not only gives us the game plan for our lives, it show us how well the game plan has worked in the past. You can notice by studying your playbook that the problem has never been with the head coach and His book but always with the players who forgot to study. 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. What do God’s previous works have to do with your life now? That is something that you need to stop and consider. How does the fact that God healed throughout the bible affect us today? What does it mean to us that God made the sun go backward, the sun stand still, the rain cease for three and a half years and then begin again when Elijah prayed? What relationship to your life does His word have when it says, “in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” or, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues… they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Or, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Are these just idle words from the past that have no meaning today? These are the words of the Great I AM not the Great I WAS or the Great I MIGHT BE. I AM forever in the past and the future. I AM the Alpha and the Omega. I AM the beginning and the end. I Am what I have been in the past and will always be in the future. Hebrews 1:10-12, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” If God worked miracles in the past He is still willing to do it today. Reflect on God’s word and you will see His nature.
III. Respond 13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Joshua says we are to meditate on the “Book of the Law” day and night. Study it until you know it well. But he doesn’t stop there. Once you have studied it put it into practice. …meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Why do we remember God’s miracles?? Why do we reflect or meditate on God’s word? It is not so we can glory in the past, but so we can live in expectation of the future. Look at the things that David associates with God’s actions among His people. 1) He is holy. If our God were not a holy God then what need would we have for salvation? We could then be good enough by our own efforts to attain heaven. What response should we have to that? 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy because I am holy.” 2) He performs miracles. Hebrews 2:3-4, This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Jesus has told us that we would do the same things that He had done and even greater things. Not everything that Jesus did was recorded. John 21:25, 25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. And we are supposed to do even greater things than that. 3) He displays His power. Romans 15:18-19, 18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—19by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7, 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 4) He redeems His people. It is fitting that we finish up with the idea of redemption. The redemption of mankind, the payment for our sin, is easy for us to accept. We understand our need for a Savior. We repent of our sin and ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. If you have the faith to be saved then you also have the faith to receive God’s miracle in your life.
So here we are at the end of a sermon series. What has it done for you? Many of you have responded to an altar call to receive your miracle. Some of you still have doubt. And others are still trying to figure it all out.
For the last eight weeks I have been trying to take you, step-by-step, through the same process that Joshua and the nation of Israel went through in order to receive the promise God had given. The last step is to stand firm in your faith in God and His word. Do not let the enemy of your soul dissuade you. He cannot take your promise from you but he will try to get you to hand it over to him. So it is up to you. What are you going to do? The answer is to stand firm in the word of God, in the power of God, to receive the miracles of God.
In closing I want to take you to a scripture that isn’t an end but is a both a beginning and an end. Ephesians 6:10-14, 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then…
Your miracle is here today.
