Sermon
God of the Impossible
September 12, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

For you that join with us today for this occasion, during the summer months I had the joy of talking about thirteen Old Testament characters. And we analyzed their life and we learned so many lessons from their lives, and we found such great interest in the Old Testament; at least I did, I felt that maybe we should spend a little more time there. And so our series for the fall, which we began last Sunday, is entitled 'From Bondage to Freedom'. It's the study of the children of Israel as they leave the land of Egypt and head for the Promised Land. And the reason for this setting for the next number of weeks is because I've come to the conclusion that much of the New Testament theology and the doctrines that we hold as evangelical Christians have their roots and their foundation in Old Testament settings.

Example -- last Lord's day we came to the story where Moses instructs the children of Israel that they are to prepare a lamb, to kill a lamb, and to take that blood and apply it to the lintel and to the doorposts of their home because the death angel was going to be passing over. And when they were obedient to that, when the angel saw the blood he passed over that home. So we took the concept of blood from the Old Testament for the Scripture says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. We went to the New Testament to find out the importance of the great truth of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ, and we concluded our service by realizing that it's by his precious blood we are cleansed and made prepared for heaven.

Now today I want to take another theological or doctrinal position and I want to talk about miracles. And we're going to take the story from the Old Testament, here again, as we follow the journeys of the children of Israel. And I'd like for you to take your Bible and turn to Exodus chapter 12 and we're going to begin reading at verse 29. And I'd like for all of you have a Bible because we read much of the story right directly from the Scriptures.

Now also along with your notes today I prepared a map. Would you like to take that out of your notes? I pray that you have it. I took this from the Thompson Chain Bible, and because during the next number of weeks we're going to be following along with the children of Israel as they make their journey through the Sinai Peninsula, I thought it would be well for us to have a map before us so we could have some kind of the picture in our minds as to what takes place.

Now in our map, over here on the left hand side right up near the corner, you'll notice a darkened area around the Nile River and that's known as the Delta. It was here in the Delta of the Nile that the children of Israel lived. That's where Joseph placed them when he brought them there over 400 years previously.

Now in this particular map you'll notice that last week we talked about the fact that during the years of slavery the Israelites built two cities. One was called Rameses and the other was Pithom, and over on the left side of the map you'll notice those two cities that were built during the days of slavery. Now we're going to follow this map and we're going to come down to Succoth, that's point 2 today, and then we're going to journey even further down to 3, which of course we're going to read of the crossing of the Red Sea.

I had a lovely moment this morning at the 8:00 service. I had this little girl about eight years of age and her name was Blanca. And Blanca came up with the map in her hand, and it's about three or four minutes before service, and she said, Pastor, would you answer me a question? I said, sure. She said, why didn't those children of Israel just follow the sea coast if they're going up there to Canaan? Why didn't they just take the short route and go that way?

Well I said, Blanca, I'll answer that question for you when we get to the Scripture reading, and we'll find that verse here in just a moment of time. But you'll notice here is a journey that because of stubbornness and rebellion, these people journeyed for 40 years, and there's their pathway.

So today we go to chapter 12 verse 29 in our lesson. Let's all turn there in our Bible. I'd like for you to have a Bible in your hand. Just follow along and read many, many of the Scripture passages.

And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The last plague that God sends to the Egyptians, to the Pharaoh, and with this last plague it's too much; he's got death in his own home and he decides to let the children of Israel go on their journey.

Verse 31: Now he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also."

And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, "We shall all be dead." So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.

It's night. The Pharaoh says get out of here. If you stay any longer we're all going to be dead, and take your herds and your flocks and your family -- Go! And so they start and they're ready, but they'd prepared the bread dough and it was still in the pan and they hadn't baked it yet, and so the ladies picked up their baking pans and they've got the bread dough in it, and they wrap it up in their clothes and they are on their way.

Verse 35: Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Now that's an interesting scene. Before they leave, the Egyptians are so glad to see them go, they just emptied all of the treasures; their gold and their silver and their closets of clothes and said, it's yours, be gone. And it says they plundered the Egyptians.

Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.

Now, in that a Jewish gentleman always was required for marriage, you can only assume that there were six hundred thousand men, six hundred thousand wives, plus the children, and historians suggest that at least 2 million people were on the march that night. And it says a mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds--a great deal of livestock. What is that mixed multitude?

Well most likely during those times as the plagues are coming over Egypt there were Egyptian families, probably who lived nearby, and they realized that the God of the Israelites was far greater than their gods. And most likely at this very decisive moment they decide we're going to go with the Israelites because we want to serve their God who's much stronger than our gods. And we can only assume that mixed multitude was made up of many Egyptian families who joined the children of Israel as they left the land of bondage.

And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

Pause - remember, it was Joseph over 400 years ago sold down into slavery, goes to Egypt, becomes the prime minister, there are seven years of plenty and seven years of drought, and during that seven years of drought his brothers come down from Canaan to buy grain. Joseph recognizes them and soon dad and all the family now are living in Egypt, and Joseph places them out there in that Delta and they've been there now as Israelites for 430 years.

Verse 41: And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

The Jewish people to this day still celebrate annually the Passover, the great event in their history when they left bondage and started for freedom.

Now let's go over to Exodus 13 verse 17. The verses in between are verses wherein God gives Moses some special instructions with regards to the Passover and its regulations and with regards to the firstborn. Now we are still journeying with them and we come to verse 17, and here's the answer to the little girl's question.

Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in ordinary ranks out of the land of Egypt.

These were people who did not have weaponry. They had been in slavery for 400 years. And as a result, God knew that if they started along that coastal range and ran into those warlike Philistines, remember they, for hundreds of years, gave the children of Israel a lot of problems fighting constantly. And it was only King David that defeated them totally hundreds of years later. And God said if they go up there and they've got to have a war with those Philistines surely they may just decide to turn around and go back home, and I don't want that. So God takes them on that long journey and they headed south, and they continue their trip southwards.

And it says: And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you."

Before Joseph passed away, about 400 years ago, he said the day will come when God will visit you; implying that God will deliver you from this land and you'll go back home. But remember, don't leave here...don't leave my bones here. I want you to take my bones and take them back home to Canaan, and so Moses fulfills that solemn oath that has been given to Joseph 400 years earlier.

So they took the journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

It wasn't until Moses' death and they're ready to enter the Promised Land that that cloud and that pillar of fire disappeared from the skies above them. Now many of you folks I'm sure have visited desert areas, and during the day it's extremely hot, and during the night it can get extremely cold. And what God did, he provided an air-conditioning system; he just set up a cloud over this vast number of people are traveling, and thus protecting them from the sun and making life comfortable for them.

Every time the fog comes in, I always tell the folks, don't complain, that's God's air-conditioning system. They are roasting down in Modesto. I mean they're hot down there, but God has given us the air-conditioning. So I never let anybody complain about the fog around here because God sends a cloud once in a while, quite frequently in fact, and he protects us from the heat.

He sets up the furnace at night with a pillar of fire. So they're comfortable. During the day, God provides comfort for them, and during the night. Now that's a miracle. Let's read on. Now we're in chapter 14 and I'm down at verse 5.

Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

Pause - all of a sudden Pharaoh wakes up. He's let all these people go, but it comes Monday morning and there's nobody to go to the field, nobody to punch the clock...he's lost his total labor force. The whole economic structure of the Pharaoh is in disarray. He has nobody to work for him. Why did we do this? We eliminated the labor force.

So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."

I think those are two terrible verses. I mean, think of it folks, all these folks have just recently, just in the last few hours, God has protected them from the death angel and their families are complete and they are all traveling together. They don't have to go to work today. Slavery has ended, and they've got their pockets full of the treasury of all of the Egyptians. They've got their family around them; they've got God above them, because here is a cloud, and they look behind them and they've got a little problem - the Egyptian army. And somehow in that moment they forgot all about what God had done and they started complaining, I wish we were back home. I mean...we would have been better to be buried in Egypt than out here along the Red Sea.

How soon, how soon we forget. It's so much like us. In life God blesses us, but we come to a moment where pressure seems to be coming in on every side and there's no way to turn, and the first thing we start doing is complaining.

Now I've learned something that's really been a help to me and I'm going to share it with you. Quite frequently in our ministry we come to those moments where we think we see things all around us where it looks like we've got a Red Sea ahead of us and we've got the Pharaoh behind us, and my natural reaction as a human being is to start fretting and say, 'God why did you let this happen?' I've learned, what I do is I go to my office, I sit down, and a start writing. And I start counting all the blessings for the last few months and the last few years, and find out that I've been here before. This same situation and God undertook in a very wonderful way...and you know the old hymn writer was right when he wrote the hymn: Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Someone revised that and said, Count your blessings and weigh them ton by ton, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Well, they are complaining and what does old Moses do? Look at what he says. Verse 13: And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

Now that's hard when you've got pressure on every side. We as human beings try to find every way we can to get out...and then the last thing we remember, we've got to pray, or we should pray. And in this particular setting old Moses said, folks, let's just stand here...let's stand still. Now he's got the cloud above them and God is in the cloud, and God's leading them, so they are in the center of God's will, because they are right underneath the cloud. They are not out of God's will. They are in God's will, so they are where he wanted them, and Moses just simply says let's just stand still because God is going to fight for us today.

But notice the next verse. God has to say something to Moses. And the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me?" I guess Moses got caught up in some of this whining. God said, Moses, cut it out. You know if I had been in Moses' shoes I would have put in my resignation already. I can understand. I mean here he's got all these people, they are complaining, they're forgetting all the goodness of God. I would have quit. Moses didn't. He said let's just stand here and see what God is going to do - he's going to fight for us. And Moses, you tell the children of Israel to go forward. I like that.

But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

Here are the Egyptians...here are the Israelites...there's the sea. What does God do? He drops down this curtain of darkness. It was darkness on this side and the Egyptians couldn't go. It was pitch dark so they had to stop their pursuit. On the other side, it's all light and the Israelites can see their way to make preparation for crossing the Red Sea. Another marvelous miracle of God's protection.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels -- God with a wrench in his hand. I mean can you catch that one folks? All of a sudden these chariots are trying to go across and God just goes down there and twists off wheels and they drop off. Have you ever tried to drive a car with new tires or wheels?

Look at what the Bible says. I mean they tried to drive those chariots and it says, and they drove them with difficulty. I can understand that. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians." They knew they had a force much stronger than themselves

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen." And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. Got the picture? They are out of bondage. They've got the cloud over them by day. They've got their pockets full of all the treasures of Egypt, and now they don't even have a Pharaoh to chase them anymore, and all the armies of Egypt are dead. And they don't have to go to work. They are free. They've escaped the land of bondage. Miracles -- miracles.

Now let's take our notes. In our notes on page 3, I ask the question, what is a miracle? Because that's what we're talking about today, all these miracles. What's the definition of a miracle?

Down about two-thirds of the page: What is a miracle? A miracle has been defined as a work wrought by a divine power for a divine purpose by means beyond the reach of man. The general idea is that it is something wonderful or unusual-an event, experience, or discovery so singular and strange as to awaken in one the feeling of awe. Phenomena in nature and events in history are labeled miracles.

Now Webster's definition of a miracle is clear and concise, he says, it's "An event or effect in the physical world deviating from the known laws of nature, or transcending our knowledge of these laws; an extra-ordinary, anomalous, or abnormal event brought about by super-human agency."

But the Biblical conception of a miracle is that of some extraordinary work of deity transcending the ordinary powers of nature and wrought in connection with the ends of revelation. In other words, when God wants to reveal His nature, His character, His plan, frequently He does that through a marvelous miracle. Now Bible miracles often display the reversal of nature's course. They form an effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things. Many of the miracles are a sensible deviation from the known laws of nature, proving that God is not only the Maker of all these laws, but also their Sovereign, and consequently He is able to deal with them as He deems fit.

But not everybody believes in miracles. I make the observation: One of the difficulties voiced by modernism as to the possibility of miracles is that the laws of nature are self-existent and uncaused and that there cannot be any deviation from them. In other words, a modernist or a liberal will use that kind of logic -- the laws of nature are self-existent and uncaused and cannot be changed.

But I respond and say: But if these laws were designed by a Sovereign will, surely this will has the power to introduce or interpose a new agency in them or to them. In Bible miracles, original laws are not suspended, violated, or modified in any way, but a supernatural power outside of nature intervenes with a new effect.

Dropping down a few lines: But although God is beyond and above nature, He never violates any of its laws. Neither is nature, as Spinoza expresses it, "the strait jacket from which God cannot escape." If we deny Him the power to perform miracles, then He is no longer a God of freedom, a living God, above nature and independent of nature.

I'm suggesting that those who reject the possibility of miracles really hand tie God, and they limit the opportunity for Him to work in their own lives.

Go with me now to page 7. You can read the rest of the notes when you have additional time. I'm on page 7 and down about three or four lines, and it says: Those who reject the miraculous in Scripture either dismiss the miracle of the Rea Sea as the product of "mythological fancy or of legendary accretion," or explain it as a natural occurrence.

I had somebody walked up to me after one of the services and they said they had heard a preacher who is trying to dismiss the possibility of a miracle at the Red Sea. And he said, you know really folks, the Red Sea was only about two inches deep where they crossed. And the guy responded and said, boy you really are making a miracle. Can you imagine Pharaoh and all of his horsemen drowning in two inches of water?

I picked up a commentary that's quite commonly used by many ministers, and that commentary is The Interpreter's Bible Commentary, and it's printed by Abingdon Press. It has the following explanation for the miracle of the Red Sea. Now listen to this: "To childish minds miracles seem necessary lest man should ascribe his escape to his own ingenuity. As we grow more mature we begin to see that God's love and power are manifested in a still greater degree when He inspires people to think up for themselves some ingenious way of outwitting their Pharaoh and getting across their Red Sea."

Now he dismisses it has a historical event and spiritualizes it. Do you see what I mean? Let's see what else he's going to do.

"Perhaps there will always be the two schools of thought, for the story of God causing the sea to divide to save His people and drown His enemies appeals to the childish hope for an easy, wondrous way out of our difficulties, a story crooned at the cradle of all religious faith."

And he got paid for writing that folks. Ladies and gentlemen! The above statement is nonsense. It is not childish to believe in the God of the impossible. It is foolish and childish to try to explain away the mighty power of God Almighty.

So I picked up another book by Habershon. It's entitled STUDY OF THE MIRACLES and he opens with this preface: "The subject of this book is so vast that it seems almost presumptuous to attempt to write upon it. For when we gather together all the testimony to the miraculous throughout the Scripture, the accumulated evidence is overwhelming." Speaking of his book - "It is not written with any thought of defending the miracles or of proving their truth-this would be unnecessary; nor is it an attempt to explain them-this would be impossible; nor does it even aim at describing them, for this has already often been done. Its object..." He's talking about writing his book. "Its object is rather to collect from Scripture the innumerable proofs of God's all-mighty power and of the Divine element in the Bible itself, thus proving incidentally that to get rid of the miraculous from Scripture would be an utterly impossible task."

And I said now here is a man who approaches the subject of miracles with awe and respect and a belief in God Almighty who in His sovereign power and wisdom can do anything He so desires to do to fulfill His eternal plan.

Let's go to the last page. Hurrying to a conclusion. Now in the Old Testament, miracles seemed to be done or occur primarily in connection with one prominent leader, such as Moses or Elijah or Elisha. But in the New Testament, there is sudden and unprecedented increase in the miracles when Jesus begins His ministry. However, contrary to the pattern of the Old Testament, the authority to work miracles and to cast out demons was not confined to Jesus Himself, nor did miracles die out when Jesus returned to heaven. Even during His ministry, Jesus gave authority to heal the sick and to cast out demons not only to the Twelve, but also to seventy of His disciples.

Other passages of Scripture indicate that performing miracles was not confined to the seventy disciples, but was characteristic of the churches of Galatia and the New Testament churches generally. So this suggests that the occurrence of miracles is a characteristic of the New Testament Church and may be seen as an indication of the powerful new work of the Holy Spirit that began with Pentecost and may be expected to continue through the church age.

Now here we are at a crucial point. Because in Christendom today, and in many of our churches, they say, no, there is no possibility of miracles. They ceased with the apostles. I give to you the reference here by Mr. Warfield, who taught in Princeton back in the 1920s. He takes the position and he talks about the church being a New Testament Church, but then he says but in that the apostles have died we can no longer expect the miraculous.

It's what we call in theology as the cessationist theory, miracles ceased with the death of the apostles, and thus they close off the possibility of any miracles today. And sadly enough, a lot of Christendom believe that God doesn't perform miracles today.

Well, I choose to disagree. When I read Mr. Warfield's work, he doesn't give a scriptural reason for his cessationist point. They use one in 1 Corinthians, but it doesn't refer to a cessation as they refer to it.

You know every time I walk into this building folks, I walk into a miracle. Do you know why? Back in 1970 this was a deserted shopping mall. Everybody had gone bankrupt trying to do business here. And so I get the idea that we need a new building, and so I go see Mr. Hanson who is the vice president of Alcoa down in his Redwood City office. And I say, Mr. Hanson, I'd like to buy your building. He said, let me see your financial statement. It didn't take him very long to read it because we didn't have two nickels to rub together. He said, you can't afford this building Mr. Sheley.

I said, well we sure would like to have it. He said, I'm sorry. He dismissed me. I went back the next week. He said, oh you're back again. I said, yeah. I said, I'd really like the building.

I went back every week for seven months. Finally I walk in one day and Mr. Hanson said to me, Sheley, the building is yours. He said we've crossed off -- it was on the market for $1,400,000 -- he said we've crossed off a million dollars. It's a gift to your church and you go down to the Bank of America and pick up the note. He said, it's your building. So every time I open the keys of that front door, I walk into a miracle.

Somebody to tell me that God doesn't do miracles -- we've got a guy sitting here he had a miracle happen in his life and one of these days he's going to tell you about it. But I had a lady walk up to me after last night service. She said, Pastor, I want to tell you something. I want to tell you about a miracle. She said, we moved out from the East Coast, we went to Gilroy, I had some checks, and she said, I needed to cash them. I needed a job, she said, I didn't have a job. We were desperate, and so when I walked into the bank on the counter is this little sign that says 'Tellers Wanted'.

She thought to herself, maybe I can do that. She said, if that sign is still there when I come back next week I'm going to go ask for an application form. So she walked in the next week. The sign is still there. She goes to the supervisor and says, Can I have an application form? I want a job. So she filled it out and in a few days she's working. The supervisor that night said, Why did you apply for this job? Well, she said, because you've got that sign on the counter. The supervisor says, What sign?

Well she said, come here and I'll show you, so she walked around the corner, and she said... And the supervisor said I told you, we don't put signs out to employ people for tellers. She thought to herself and she walked out the door, God, thank you for that sign.

I mean it -- if your theology is such that you don't have a God that can do miracles, you're never going to be disappointed because He isn't going to do anything for you. But if your God is the God of the impossible, He can do anything.

Another man walked up last night with tears in his eyes and he said, Pastor, I want to tell you about another miracle. He said, my father and I were estranged for years, and years, and years we had never seen each other; never talked to each other. And he said, a friend of mine said would you go visit my dad got the Kaiser Hospital? He said, I walked into a hospital room and the nurse says, is your name Bob? He said, yes, my name is Bob.

She was thinking that it was that man's son. She said, if you'll step out into the hallway I'll get him all prepared and you can walk your father around the corridor. So he stepped out into the hallway and he looks next-door, and who's in the bed next-door but his real father. He said I walked in and said, hi daddy. And he said I spent the next four days before daddy died healing a relationship that God miraculously brought us together in a hospital room.

Ladies and gentlemen, if your God isn't big enough for miracles, you ought to read the Bible. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's why we sing these great hymns -- Our God is an awesome God -- and we believe that with all of our hearts. Amen?

Father, thank you for being our wonderful God, our mighty God, the God who does the impossible. We're not childish; we're childlike. We believe what You say with all of our hearts. We're just trusting You for glorious times in our own lives in the months and years to come where You demonstrate Your power and reveal Your glory to us in profound and glorious ways. Thank you for being our God, and everybody said, amen. God bless you.