Make My Life A Miracle

I want to remind you today that a billion starts with the number one, and that's where you and I come in. I have a word today from God, and I don't hesitate to say that. I'm too old to worry about looking good anymore. When I come to speak somewhere, especially here, I just say, God, what do you want to say? These are your people. What do you want to say? Because we have to get this now. We've got to be a people of truth. We've got to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because the days are short. Number one, you're going to need the knowledge of Christ for stability in these times. If you don't really know who you are in Christ, not only will you not make a difference, but you won't be able to stand. There's a coming storm into this world, folks, that is going to be beyond anything we've ever seen in our lifetime. The promise of God is that if we hear the words of God, as you're going to hear today, and we do them, that when the rains come and the floods come and the wind beats on your house, it won't fall. It will stand. It can't be taken down, because Christ is the cornerstone of your heart and of your life. Thank God. Thank God for that. You and I are destined to be miracles in the hands of God, and I'm not saying that lightly. Every life, Christ died and rose again from the dead, took captivity captive, and gave gifts, not only salvation, but gifts to us that we might be, as the scripture says, that people wondered at. You and I might be a people that this world looks at, as they did on the day of Pentecost, and say, how do you get a relationship with God like that? And where did you get the ability to do the things that you're doing? Remember on the day of Pentecost, people were just kind of going about their kind of religious day as it was, and they suddenly encountered 120 people that God was speaking through, and they were given abilities and giftings to do things they didn't have the normal natural ability to do. They were speaking in languages they had never learned, and every one of them were speaking about the wonderful things that God is able to do. Amazing! They weren't speaking about themselves. They weren't babbling into the wind. They weren't behaving like fools. They were actually speaking about God, and about what God is able to do in hearts that are surrendered to Him. People passing by looked at this and said, whatever they've found of God, that's what I want in my life. And this is God's purpose for His church. Always has been His purpose for His church. You know, folks, we're not left on the earth to be an argument about His existence. We're led to be a demonstration of the reality that He is alive. He has been raised from the dead. He did take captivity captive. He does indwell a body on the earth called His church. And I'm not called, you're not called just to be an argument. Yes, we have to know doctrine. We have to know truth. But I fear for this generation, and perhaps one or two before, that we we've almost relegated to an argument. And if you'll notice, in this generation nobody's interested in our argument anymore. Ah, but that's where God comes in. That's where God begins to do something in us and through us that people can't deny. This is what happened with the Apostle Paul. I want to talk about that this afternoon from 1 Timothy chapter 1. That's where we're going to start. A message called, Make My Life a Miracle. Can you say that? Can you really say that? Can you mean that? That I want my life to be a miracle. You know God's willing to answer that prayer. And so Father, I do pray God for the anointing of your Holy Spirit that has been so evident throughout this entire service. The whole day actually. The worship has been amazing. Your presence has been here, Lord. You already came in advance just to confirm what you want to speak to every heart. And so Lord, would you give me the ability to speak this today, and would you give us the ears to hear? God, you yourself, Jesus, spoke to the churches in Revelation, and you would put a cornerstone on it by saying, whoever has ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches. God, there were warnings there, but there were great promises to each church, Father. So I do pray God, open our ears and open our hearts, Lord, to be able to hear. Don't let us just be a people who are always learning, but denying what you want to do in and through each of our lives. Give us the grace, my God, that we need to be able to hear. All of us, Lord. No exceptions. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Make my life a miracle. Paul the Apostle to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 1 beginning at verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me. Hallelujah. I could preach for an hour on that one line. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me. In other words, Paul's saying he didn't call me because I had certain skill sets. He didn't call me because I had a history of faithfulness, or certificates on my wall, or I had achieved things in the I'm now doing. To have the heart that I now have. Because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. In other words, Paul says the one thing I had is a heart for him. And God knew that when he began to reveal himself in me and through me that I would go with him. And he put me, because of it, into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer. In other words, I cursed his name. I used to do that when I was a cop. We'd play cards at lunchtime, and I had a habit of cursing the name of Jesus Christ to my shame. Paul said I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent or a violent man. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. I believed God, and I knew that he loved me. That's why he died for me. And his grace, his ability that he was willing to give me, the favor that he was willing to pour into my life was exceedingly abundant. It was more than I could even ask or think, beyond what I thought God would ever do in my life. He goes on in verse 15, he says, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. And Paul was saying, I was the worst of the worst as sinners. I was a blasphemer of God. I was an angry man. I persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, and I did violent things to the people of God, and others I'm sure in his life. But he called me, and his love was shed abroad in my heart, and that in me first he might show other people that he's willing to take us no matter where we come from. Doesn't matter your background. I don't care how many years you've been in jail. None of it matters, or the things that you've done in the past. But he's willing to take you, he's willing to take me, and he's willing to use our lives for his glory, even though it may take a while for him to get through to us, that that's really his intent and his purpose in each one of our lives. From being a blasphemer and a persecutor, Paul's life was made an undeniable testimony of the power of God, and it either had to be accepted or rejected, but never ignored. Never ignored. This is the desire of my heart. God, every room I walk into, every environment that you invite me into, let the testimony of your life in my life cause people to either bend the knee or pick up rocks to throw them at me, but never let it be ignored. Let there be a trembling in the hearts of even rulers to hear of who you are and what you're able to do. Many people knelt when they heard Paul's story. Others raged, and even rulers trembled, because here was a man fully surrendered and gripped by the presence and power of God. I remember the story of D.L. Moody, who was just a young man, I think he was about 15 years old, and he worked in a shoemaker's shop, and a Sunday school teacher had a burden to go talk to him, and they were sitting on a park bench, and the Sunday school teacher said to him, Dwight, he said, the world is yet to see what God could do through a vessel that was fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit. And he just got up, the Sunday school teacher, and he walked away, and as I read one of Moody's biographies, it says that he sat there, and he said these words, by the Holy Spirit of God within me, I shall be that man. And the rest is history. That man traveled with very little education, traveled all over the world. Revival broke out everywhere he went. People would tremble in the presence of God, because he just trusted God to make his life a miracle. He didn't have the skill set. If you ever read his writings, he couldn't spell. Even though it was a Bible college named after him, he himself couldn't spell. It was very difficult. Paul said these words in Galatians 2.20, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That's the key. The abandonment, in a sense, of ourselves, the giving over of our rights, the giving over of our plans and ambitions, and even our self-view, whether it's a grand one or whether it's a really bad one, whatever it is, we just simply put it all in the hands of God and say, here, this all belongs to you now, and you can do with it what you will. But now give me your self-view of me. Give me your view of my life. Give me the giftings that I'm going to need to do what I'm called to do in this world. Let it be no longer I that lives. Let it be Christ that lives in me. At some point in our lives, the reality of the fact that we have the third person of the Godhead living in these earthly bodies has to take hold of us. We don't just have a concept about God or arguments about God or knowledge about God or a fuzzy feeling about God. We actually have God in the third person living in these earthen vessels. The Bible does say that the Spirit of God within us intercedes for us with groanings. And I know what that is. That's the groaning of God to bring us in line with God's will for each one of our lives. He's thinking more about you than you could even imagine about yourself. He's got plans for your life that you've not even thought your life was going to amount to. The danger that we face as believers in Christ is at some point we set our judgment about ourselves above the judgment of God and above the Word of God, and we start determining the course of our own life. And how tragic it's going to be one day to get to heaven. Now, that's not tragic in itself. Thank God for that. You get to the throne of God, and maybe there's a video section. I don't know what it is, but you finally see what our lives could have been. Now, we're still in heaven, and heaven is still our home. I'm not talking about salvation now. I'm talking about what could have been done, what the will of God really wants for each one of our lives. Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17, this is the verse that won me to Christ. I want you to know this right now. You know, when the police officer that shared the gospel with me, I was a cop as well, and who shared the gospel with me, I wasn't really even concerned about my sin. I have to be honest with you. I wasn't concerned about a lot of things that he was talking to me about. The one thing that really, really was a hook in a sense in my heart is this one verse. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Behold, the old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. That's an amazing verse. I remember thinking, is that possible? Is that possible that God could change my life, that I could actually be a new person? I was fooling the crowd, just like many here are, or at least some anyway, but I knew what I was. I knew what I was becoming. I knew where I was going, and I was powerless to stop it. The selflessness of my own heart was starting to consume me. The anger was getting deeper and deeper in my life. The drinking was getting more and more a part of my life, to the point where some of my friends began to be concerned. Oh yeah, I could fake it at a party, and I could pull up my guitar and sing and look like I'm the life of the place, but I knew what I was when I would get home and sit on the edge of my bed. And I remember this verse. This police officer told me, he said, I used to be a womanizer, a drunk, and a gambler. And I'm looking at a guy that looks like he's been raised next to a piano, singing Amazing Grace. I remember thinking, how's that possible to change like that? And he would tell me, Carter, it wasn't me. It's Christ in me. And there's a promise that if you open your heart and Jesus Christ comes in and becomes part of your life, the old things that govern you lose their authority. They lose their power. They lose their right to dictate your future. It's gone. The wounds of the past begin to be healed, and all things become new. When I came to Christ, I remember in 1978, I pulled over on the side of the road, and my prayer was, the guy's name was Irv, by the way, the police officer, and my prayer was, Jesus Christ, if what Irv has said is the truth, then I open my heart to you. If it's possible, I can have a new life. If I can be forgiven, and if you can help me to be the person that you want me to be, then I give you the rights to my life. Peter the Apostle says in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verses 9 and 10, speaking of us today, he says, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. This is what we're called to do, where our whole being speaks about light, speaks about newness, speaks about the wondrous power of God to transform us into the people that he's making us into. Verse 10 says, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We're living in a generation that needs to see and hear from people whose lives have been miraculously changed by the power of God. Have you noticed that our arguments don't matter anymore? There needs to be a demonstration in this generation of the presence and power of God through his church, which brings everything back down to you now and to me. We are God's plan A. We're not plan B, C, D, E, F. We're God's plan A. There is no other plan for this generation except for you and except for me. In the book of Ephesians chapter 3 and verses 20 and 21, listen to these words of the apostle Paul. Now in the context of understanding what he considered his life to be, he says, now to him who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Did you realize that today that God is able to do more, exceedingly more above all that you're able to think? Now I want you to think about what you'd like to be. Think about the best plan that you think God could ever have for your life, and the Bible says he can do more than you can think. He can do more than you can ask according to his power that's at work within us, his ability, his desire, his heart, his heart to lift us in all of our infirmity, in all of our struggles, in all of our trials, in all of our weaknesses. Remember Paul said, I go first to show you how long-suffering God is. In spite of all the struggles that we have, it's his plan to bring glory to his name through us in all generations, through you. Remember a billion starts with one. Verse 7 of chapter 4 in Ephesians says, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. In other words, you have everything that you need to do what you're called to do. It's already there. Therefore he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. When he rose from the grave, he took the power of hell and destroyed it. He took everything that the devil would have to bring us into bondage and broke those chains, opened those doors, gave us life, gave us light, and he gave us the giftings that we need to do what we're called to do. You have everything in you right now to do what God's called you to do. Now you know why I said we're going to have to have the ears to hear this. I heard this. I was in my 20s when I heard this. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat in church and thinking, could that be true? Could God use my life for his glory? Could he make me more than I am? Is it true that with God all things are still possible? Does he still take the the nobodies and nothings? It says that in the book of first Corinthians. He takes the weak and he takes the lame and the nobodies, the nothings, the despised, the foolish. This is his plan to glorify his name in the earth. Is that possible? God could you take my life and could you use my life for your glory? Could you actually make my life a miracle as the scripture bears witness? All the gifts that he's given to us in order to receive them, number one they have to be desired. In first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 31 Paul says, but earnestly desire the best gifts. They have to be desired. Like if somebody gives you a gift and you look at it and it's all wrapped up and it's got a pretty bow on it and it's for you, there's a desire that comes into your heart. Isn't that right? At least I hope so anyway. I mean just it maybe it's your birthday, somebody brings you a present. I don't know it's Christmas. Somebody gives you something maybe it's unforeseen and somebody says here I bought you something and you look and it's wrapped up. You don't know what it is but you initially desire it. And it's the same in the kingdom of God. You have to desire what God has for your life. He's not going to impose it on you. He's not going to come in and force you or me to be the people he wants us to be. There has to be that that desire in the heart. Then we have to unwrap it. Second Timothy 2 15 Paul says be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. We've got to get into the word of God. We've got to study the word of God. We've got to find out who we are in Christ and what the giftings of God in each of our lives are actually for. And then once we have unwrapped it then we have to embrace it. There are no gifts receipts with God's gifts. You understand? There are no returns. There's no boxing day or whatever you call that day whatever the day after Christmas. There's no wrapping it up and taking it back and exchanging it. Gifts and callings of God are without repentance and we have to embrace it. Paul said that's why Paul said it's no longer I who live it's Christ who lives in me. And when you do your life becomes a miracle. The church of Jesus Christ is a supernatural body and don't ever settle for anything else. Don't let yourself become just a natural person. That means that you're governed by your own reasoning, by your own sight, by your own strength, by your own feelings. We are a supernatural body. We are governed by the Spirit of God. We are led by the word of God. We are gifted by the giftings of God. We are called to do what God has determined to do through us. None of us should ever be able to get to the end of the journey and say boy I did this all by myself. No. Our song ought to be only God could have done this. Only God could have done this. How merciful God has been. When we get to the end of our journey and all some of us lift our feet up into our beds we should be able to say to our friends or family whoever's there say follow me as I've followed Christ. This is a wondrous life. This is a supernatural life. This is an amazing life in God. God took me and out of the ashes of my life made a miracle. In Matthew 11 23 Jesus intimates in the scripture that if miracles which can only be attributed to the power of God had been present in or part of the fabric in Sodom it would have been spared. He said oh Capernaum if the things done in you the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom it would have remained to this day. If Sodom had had miracles I preached on that here a few a few weeks back and it tells us that no matter how decadent a society gets it can still be reached when the power of God is visible in it. We're living in a decadent day. We're living in a day of rampant and ever-increasing immorality. Confusion is abounding on every side. If ever there was a time for the church to rise it's now. If ever there was a time for the power of God to be displayed through ordinary people it's now. If ever there was a time for you and I to embrace the fullness of Christ and the fullness of his calling and take the risk and go off the cliff with God and I put it that way and say Lord I'm not willing to be ordinary. I'm not willing to be ignored any longer. God Almighty whether they kneel or whether they rage or whether they tremble let there be a reaction to your presence in my life. Give me the courage to speak if you've given me a word of knowledge. Give me the courage to speak it. A word of wisdom let me speak it. If you move on my heart to lay hands on somebody that's sick and believe that they're going to be healed give me the courage to lay hands and pray. Give me the power to take authority over the devil and all the works of darkness in my family my friends in society and my enemies. God I'm not sitting on the sidelines any longer. I'm going to walk with you from this day forward. There was a man in Sodom his name was Lot and he was living so far beneath his inheritance. He was the of he was related to Abraham through whom God said the whole world is going to be blessed through you and those that are part of your lineage and but he chose to live so far beneath his inheritance so mixed in with the city in which he was living in that his life and his voice made no difference. Even when he knew the judgment was coming he ran to try to get people to escape the city. They wouldn't listen they thought he was joking and I can hear people saying to him well if if this city's about to be destroyed why are you so intermixed in it? Why is it your whole value system? Why do you just talk about it non-stop? If you knew we were under judgment why are you just talking about it now? There's got to be a people in our generation that say today not so with me. I'm not going to live like Lot did in Sodom. I'm going to let God make my life a miracle because Jesus said if miracles had been there it could have been spared. That means this decade and generation can still be reached if the power of God is found in the people of God one more time. Oh hallelujah, oh hallelujah. Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God, glory to God. Let God arise in his church let the enemies of righteousness be scattered. Paul says in Philippians chapter three and I'm going to close with the scripture verses 13 and 14 he says brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul was saying I'm not everything yet that I feel that God wants me to be and I know I've still got a ways to go but I'm leaving behind everything that needs to be left behind now and I'm moving forward to this incredible calling of God that's on my life in Christ Jesus because he has shown me mercy he's shown me grace I understand his plan for my life and I believe that he can do more than I could even ask or think if I will surrender to him. I believe and Paul couldn't have known that his obedience his moving forward was going to pen the new testament do you understand all the doctrine I've shared with you today except for the book of Peter has come from the hand of this surrendered man he could not have known that his life was going to give guidance to hundreds of millions of people for 2,000 years to come he could not have known but he did know this one thing that if I press on in God there's something in through my life that's going to bring glory to his name and if you and I make that choice today I'm telling you there's something in each of our lives that will bring the name of Christ to reputation and to glory and don't get overwhelmed with the thought of what what will I do or what do I have to do just start with the first thing just start there the Holy Spirit will speak to you you start there and you begin to you begin to leave behind what needs to be left behind that's where sometimes that's where it starts in people's lives you need there's certain things that need to be put away and left behind then suddenly you're reading the word of God and it starts to unfold and you see what the future could have and you start moving towards that future as I said this morning I I'm familiar with this because I know what it's like to feel like your life is not going to amount to anything I know what it's like to feel that the the darkness is your life are getting deeper the selfishness is getting more pronounced the the anger and despair are getting worse and then suddenly this this whole new realm begins to open of God and you begin to hear words like I'm sharing with you today that with God all things are possible I remember I've I didn't share this this morning but I remember I was in a church and I heard a message I don't know if it was this like this one but it was something similar because my heart started to burn inside and the the pastor he basically said if you want to give your future into the hands of God and and live for him and he gave an altar call and it was about 700 people about the size of this downstairs here today and everybody stood up and nobody moved I couldn't believe it I mean they all looked so good in that church they all had nice clothes and big bibles the families looked to be together I'm in jeans and jean jackets most likely I'm on a day off I haven't shaved and I just I don't know the bible I don't even know there's such a thing as Ezekiel in the bible I don't know any of this stuff and I'm thinking oh God what's wrong with these people like they've got all they've got everything they've been raised in Christian homes I I wasn't they know the bible I don't and they look so good that they seem to be really into this world called Christianity I'm just kind of riding the edge of it wondering how deep I want to go and I I felt just to get out of my seat nobody else did and two reasons number one I felt bad for the preacher he's such a nice guy and he preached a good message and nobody responded and number two the holy spirit was drawing me I remember there was just two of us about 700 people I was on this side and another guy in a green suit I remember came down this side and both of us got on our knees and I just started to cry and I said here are my words I said Jesus I have nothing to give you the little boy in the story at least had some loaves and fish I don't even have that I remember my words I said if you need a bad temper I'm your man you need a lousy husband that's me if you need a guy doesn't know how to be a father I qualify and by the way I don't like people I'm on I'm riding the edge of hating people but if you think you can use this life I give it to you and you see God specializes in miracles he specializes in taking nothing and making something out of us for his namesake and for his glory so that's what I'd like to invite you into today remember I started by saying a billion starts with one and it starts with one heart that says here am I I don't feel worthy I don't I wouldn't if I were God I wouldn't use me but if you want my life I give it to you and he takes us in our nothingness and he becomes everything changes us you know somebody fortunately my house burned down years ago and we lost all of our pictures of what we used to be before we came to Christ there's always somebody out there that's willing to send you an old picture of yourself and somebody did I looked at that pastor Tim and it scared me of the man I used to be before I came to Christ that man's eyes were dark his countenance was dark his heart looked empty and I remember looking at the picture and I remember thinking thank God that man is dead thank God that another man was born because of Christ I wish I had a thousand lives to thank Jesus for what he has done the best way I know to thank him is to convince you that this journey is worth taking you know that one of the perils of the last days is there's going to be a people Paul said that are always learning but never able to be brought to the knowledge where that truth is taking them and they deny the power of God in a sense they just resist it they resist what God wants to do they they learn but deny his power I don't want to be among them I've been asking the Lord to increase the borders of my own tent to to help me so that I can help others so that I can help you today become the people that God wants you to be so father I have delivered your heart and I know it's your heart and I know you gave me this word all I can do is deliver it and holy spirit you have to make it real but I do ask God for every evangelist that's here and doesn't even know what they are every pastor that doesn't know they're called every every civic leader that's here every one that's going to make a difference in their their sphere of life whatever it is whether it's in the academic world whether it's pushing a broom it doesn't matter God you have something so much bigger for every life that's here would you give us the grace to yield would you give us the grace to believe that you can use us for your glory so I'm going to ask you to stand and I'm going to ask you to make the journey I made 40 years ago now imagine that 40 years ago and if the Lord's speaking to your heart and you believe that God can make your life a miracle I'm going to ask you to slip out of your seat and just join me here and we're just going to pray pastor Tim's going to come he's going to lead you come on up come on up just join these guys that are coming thank God just just move out of your seat wherever you are just move don't write yourself off don't sell yourself short of what God has for you I'm not looking to pack an altar I'm looking for you to become everything that God wants you to be it's not about packing an altar the day I responded there was only two I've lived to see a lot of people come into the kingdom of God just slide in move in close to give room just keep coming just keep coming it doesn't matter what you do for a living God will take you way beyond that give you an ability to do something you never believed that you'd ever do hallelujah hallelujah just keep coming father thank you God for thank you for the miracles coming down the aisle today on all sides miracles God lives that are going to be transformed lives that are going to be new things that are going to be done for your name's sake that will bring your name to glory pastors that are going to be helped leaders God that are going to be strengthened God make us a miracle we we don't want to settle for anything less make this church a miracle God almighty we ask you for transformed lives to be the hallmark of this church it started with Nikki Cruz a man a man who was diagnosed as unredeemable has preached to 30 million people God almighty you gave us a sign of what you wanted to do do it again do it again the young man coming down the young women God do it again do it again raise up voices evangelists pastors teachers people who have found churches people go to mission field people will run for political office people who will be stand in the education system people who will be the best janitor that's ever ever touched a broom in New York City God almighty God almighty the anointing makes the difference the power of the Holy Spirit makes the difference the presence of God makes the difference it's not what we do it's who's doing it through us thank you Lord father I pray God right now for the anointing of the Holy Spirit God the presence of your Holy Spirit for hearts to begin to burn for what they've heard today God what we've all heard because it's been your word it's not been anybody's opinion it's been your word that we've looked into and we've seen something about your heart towards us God the desire of your heart to make such a difference in this generation give us a testimony Lord that can't be ignored anymore the testimony that can't be denied a testimony that will put to shame the contrary arguments of darkness oh Jesus Christ I pray that not a single person at this altar in this sanctuary would say no this is not for me not a single person God you would lead us you would guide us you would change us and ask it in the precious name of Jesus