The Springs Church - Jacksonville
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The Springs Church - Jacksonville
Where Did The Miracles Go? | Pastor Eoin O'Sullivan
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If God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever, where did all the miracles go?
In this powerful message from Judges 6, Gideon's question becomes our question. As he hid in fear, God called him a mighty man of valor and revealed that miracles are still possible when His people turn back to Him.
No matter how unqualified, fearful, or broken you feel, God can use what you surrender to Him. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is still at work today, bringing freedom, healing, and victory to those who trust Him.
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Welcome to the Springs Church Podcast. We are so glad you joined us. Our mission is to reach the lost by raising up fully trained disciples that are empowered by God to impact their world. We pray that you are challenged and encouraged as you listen to this week's message.
SPEAKER_03A couple of just reinforcements behind those is with the back to school outreach on Saturday, one of the things that they particularly are in need of right now is the school supplies. And so I'm asking you, church, to consider if you're just out and about your Walmart, Dollar Tree, just want to get something in Amazon. Wednesday, they're going to be packing those backpacks. So just put that thought in your mind. If you can help out, just to get some of those back to school supplies, notepads, uh crayons, whatever it is, just any of that stuff matters and it has a big impact. You can bring that in by this Wednesday. That will really help them as they get ready for that back to school outreach. Also, just a little praise report. We've been praying behind the scenes for Zephaniah to be able to get a visa that would allow him to come back, to be able to report back here to the church, to be able to go and visit some of the churches that he's connected with. Not an easy thing to be able to get, but thank God this week God answered that prayer. He was able to get that visa. So Zephaniah, who's our missionary to Pakistan, it's gonna be so exciting to see him later this month or in August, and he's gonna be able to share in person just some of the things that God uh has been doing. Well, I'm gonna invite you to stand your feet across this place for the reading of God's word this morning. I don't want you to get lazy in those comfortable chairs. Come on, just gonna stand up for a moment for the reading of God's word, and then you'll be able to sit back down in just a moment. Judges chapter 6, verse 11 to 14 says, Now the angel of the Lord he came and he sat under the terabit tree, which was in Ophra, which belonged to Joash the Abizarite, while his son Gideon trashed whees in the wine press in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor. Gideon said to him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Has anybody ever felt like that before? And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us, he's delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Then the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the land of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? God, this word, Lord, has convicted me. Saying, God, Lord, forgive me of my trespasses, God, as I forgive those who trespass against me. God, bring us to that place, Lord, where we do not think that we are greater than our fathers, we do not think we're greater than our brothers or sisters. But God, Lord, lead us in that way, Lord, of repentance, lead us in that way of humility, lead us in that place, oh God. Where God, we lay down, Lord, the things of this world, Lord, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Oh Lord, that we would lay aside everything that would entangle us. God, Lord, setting our face towards you. Our hope is in you. What an awesome God, how great thou art. We sang it this morning. You are great, God, and worthy to be praised, God. I believe you're a miracle working, God. I believe, God, you can heal the sick in this room. I believe, Lord, you can deliver the oppressed. I believe you can break the chains of those who have been addicted. I believe you can restore marriages and restore homes. I believe, oh God, you can tear down things that the enemy has allowed or has inserted himself in, thoughts and imaginations. God, I believe you can tear it all down. But God, we want your will, Lord. Can you just say that this morning? God, I want your will. God, I want your plan. Speak to me this morning. In Jesus' mighty name. And everyone said, Amen. Praise the Lord. Just turn to three or four people, high-five them, and let them know we should do this more often. Come on, five, high-five, four, five people, and just tell them we should do this more often. And then you can get back in those comfortable seats. Sit down right there. Judges 6, 11 to 14, we've seen the encounter of Gideon. The title of this morning's message is Where Did All the Miracles Go? Where did all the Miracles Go? But this was what Gideon asked the angel of the Lord, oh God, if the Lord is for us, then why is all these things happened to us? Where are all the miracles that have been told to us about how the Lord brought us up out of Egypt? He had a fair question. You know, last week we heard from uh Pastor Ross Kibodeau an incredible word to our church, and at the end of that message, he spoke of the miraculous healing that his wife Sarah received after three and a half years of being bound in a wheelchair. No doctors were able to solve it. They'd gone to every expert that they knew to go to. They were in a place of just being in total despair about the situation in a human way of just a physical condition. But yet within them they continued to trust God, believe God, pray for pray. And one day a date came. Um, there was a specific date that Sarah was at home. Ross was out working, and God told her to get up out of that wheelchair. And miraculously, uh God healed her. He she walked around that kitchen and there was there was healing. Now I believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Can you say amen to that this morning? I am not somebody that believed the miracles ceased 2,000 years ago. I still believe that miracles happen. I still God's still pouring out his Holy Spirit on his people. We're still tabernacles of the Holy Spirit through the work of Christ that he has given us, uh, has afforded to us. Miracles still take place, as miracles still happen. So then you may ask the question in your life, where are all the miracles? Where is the miracles in my life? Why am I going through what I'm going through if the Lord is for me? I've heard about the miracles, I've heard about Egypt, I've heard about Moses, I've heard it one too many times. God, I want to experience the Red Sea in my life, I want to experience the manna in my life, I want to experience the things, Lord, that I've read about and heard about. And I thank God for Sarah's testimony of healing. But what about the testimony that I need in my life for healing? Now, I'm gonna just set this up. Where did miracles go and talk about a few things that God has impressed upon me through the reading of the scripture that not just are for you, but I believe for me and for us as a church family? Where how miracles follow certain things? Number one, miracles follow repentance. Number one, miracles follow repentance. So often in a charismatic world, we often allude to miracles as being the right atmosphere, the uh people who come in with expectation or the right song, the right tune, the right, you know, style. Uh maybe it's the right conference, the right speaker. But what I loved even about Sarah's testimony last week, there was no preacher putting anointing oil on her, there was no song in the background, it was just her and God, and God did the miracle, God did the healing. And miracles follow repentance. Repentance. It's something that's not often talked about in our culture today because we don't really want to talk about sin, and we certainly don't want to be confronted with the reality of sin in our own lives, or that there's the possibility that in our in our churchiness or in our Christianese language or in our uh uh uh Bible belt society that we live in, that there could be something in our lives that God actually wants to deal with and move in us, that God wants to put his whole the Holy Spirit finger and convict us of things that are not right before a holy God. Did you know God can do that? Do you know that you're not immune from God calling out attitudes, actions, idols that we can have that we put in front of God? Now look at the context behind the story. It's Gideon. Gideon was self-professed, and he was the weakest in his in his father's household, and they were the weakest tribe, and he was belittling his situation. And when we find Gideon here, he's at the wine press, and he's is he he's at and he's is um he's at the trashing floor where he's treading wheat, trashing wheat at the wine press. Now, this is something that was not normal conditions for threshing wheat. In fact, to trash wheat meant not that you're in the wine press, which meant that you were in a valley and that you were in a low place, to thresh wheat, you would have taken the harvest and you would have brought it to the top of the mountain, and you would have taken that wheat and you would have gone to the highest point where the winds were the strongest, and you would have thrown that wheat up into the air, and the wheat would fall, but the chaff would have been blown away. Now I believe this is a picture of what God has called the church to. We're not called to hide from the or from the enemies of God, we're called to stand as a testimony. You don't take a light, the Bible says, and put it under a basket. No, you stand out, you know, as one preacher put it, I want to be on the devil's most wanted list because I want to stand. I want every day that my life is a threat to the kingdom of darkness, that there is a light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not comprehend it. God's not wanting us to cower in light of enemies that accuse and enemies that want to steal, kill, and destroy. But this is where Gideon finds himself, in the wine press, in the valley, hiding, not wanting the enemy to see him and what he's doing. Why? Because for seven years the Midianites would come in and would would would, every time that the Israelites would plant in the ground and they would bring forth a harvest, no sooner had they brought forth the harvest, they brought forth the fruit of their labor, but the enemy would come in and steal what belonged to the people of God. Now catch this. They're in the promised land, they're in the very place that God promised to them, but now they've been overrun by these enemies, the Midianites. They've got fruit, but they can't hold on to their fruit. And I believe that this is something that we need to take inventory today, not just for our personalized, but I believe, if I dare be so bold to say that for much of the church world today, we can find ourselves in a place where we feel like we just keep going back and sowing and bringing in a harvest, and the enemy comes in and robs it. We'll sow again, bring in another harvest, the enemy robs, sow, bring in a harvest, the enemy robs again, and we go through this perpetual cycle of doing our very best. Now, Gideon is in the wine, but he's he's working with all of his might. He's he's throwing up this this weed in the air, but there's not enough wind, there's not enough power, there's not enough to actually do so. There's little produce produce, there's little work, there's little value in it. Now, for all the effort, for all of the toiling, for all of the effort that's being put in, there's there's nothing coming of the fruit that would have wanted to come from from a normal setting. And this is the environment, the the angel of the Lord comes in and says, Gideon, you mighty man of valor. Gideon's like, You talking to me? Is that you, Lord? I may have shared a story before, but I I remember being in a young adults minister, and we were going on a, we were taking the young adults on a road trip. And as we're on this road trip, we had filled our car with young adults, some we knew, some we didn't know. And as we're on the way on this trip, one of the other young adult leaders had stayed behind for anybody that might come late. And as we're on the trip, I get a phone call on the way, and I answer the phone, and the person there says, This is officer, we're just gonna call him Jameson. This is Officer Jameson, and I think to myself, when I hear that voice, that it's the other young adult leader that's back waiting for the people who are coming late. And so I think he's he's joking with me. So I start joking back. Hey, Officer Jameson, how's the how is it going? How's the donuts today? How's the cop? How's it going? I'm like, I'm just like cracking up. And every time I'm joking, the guy is getting more serious. Just as Officer Jamison, I am, I am, there is a missing person, a person of concern that could cause harm to the community. And I believe that he is in your vehicle, and I still don't get it. I still don't get it. I'm still cracking the jokes, and eventually I realize this officer ain't joking, and the person is in the car next to me, and he's looking at me, and I'm on the phone, and thinking, you're talking to me. And so, anyway, I put that on the phone, pull over to the side of the road, and and anyway, eventually I had to. There was no more joking about it. I couldn't hide it. He knew, I knew him. Anyway, it ended good. Can I just put it that way? It ended all good. But I didn't realize the authority that was on the other side of the phone. And sometimes when God comes, he says, Are you talking to me? And here, God comes and begins to speak to Gideon. And he said, Gideon's like, No, but God, you've forsaken us. In other words, God, God, you're the problem. You've forsaken us. But no, Judges chapter 6, verse 1, if you go to the very top of Judges chapter 6, you'll see it says, Then the children of Israel, it says, did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. In other words, God had not forsaken Israel, but Israel had forsaken the Lord. Can I remind you today that he is the God who shall never leave you, or he shall never forsake you? It wasn't that Israel had been forsaken by the Lord. No, Israel had turned their backs on the Lord. Actually, in Judges chapter 2, it said that there was another generation that rose up that did not know the Lord and did not know the works of God. And here is that generation which instead of trusting in God and believing in God, they had turned to evil activity, putting idols into their into their midst. Miracles follow repentance. So there's a prophet that's sent to Israel, Judges chapter 6, verse 7 to 10. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, brought you out of the house of bondage, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, I am the Lord your God, do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But here it is, church, but you have not obeyed my voice. Do you hear it? God saying, I'm God who brought you out of Egypt. I'm the God that delivered you out of slavery. I'm the God who delivered you out of the grasp of your enemy. I'm the God who fed you for 40 years in the wilderness when you had nothing. I'm the one who did not even allow your clothes to wear out when you were in the window. I fed you, I gave you water from the rock, I delivered you. And more than that, not only have I delivered you, but I am the Lord your God. I delivered you and I am the Lord your God, but you have not obeyed my voice. It wasn't that God had forsaken them, but that they had turned their back on God and was not obeying his voice. Can I remind you today, in 2026, today's the day the Lord has made, but can I tell you sin is still the same today as it was back in the Old Testament? Can I tell you sin is still an offense before God today as it ever has been? That sin is still sin. And when the apostle Paul is writing his letters to the early church, whether it's Romans chapter 1, Galatians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 4, Colossians chapter 3, or 2 Timothy chapter 3, he was not like a modern-day preacher that just wants to tell you all the goodies of the scripture. The apostle Paul would take out the word. When he would write to them, he would remind, he would list out the sins, he would remind them that adultery is still sin, that idolatry is still sin, that fornication is still sin, that homosexuality is still sin, that uh um stealing is still sin, that covetousness is still sin, that drunkenness is still sin, that revilers are still sin, that extortioners that they will not inherit the kingdom of God. Charles Spurgeon, the great minister, he said God does not allow his children to sin successfully. You cannot sin successfully, you cannot be like Gideon in the treasure, thinking that you can hide the work of your own hands from the enemy. Listen, if you turn your back on God, why should you come into the house of God and expect that God's gonna lavish out all these miracles? Like we think that God's a genie in the bottle. We go in and we just rub, we rub the genie and just say, Oh, God, give me my true wishes. God, just do for me what I need. I need this now, I need that now, as if God was your some sort of person on a leash that you carried him around. Can I just break that in the name of Jesus? He's a holy God, he's a mighty God, he's an awesome God, he's a God to be feared, he's a God to be revered, he's an awesome God, he's an awesome God, and idolatry is still sin before God. Listen, it doesn't matter what era you live in, era you live in, or time you live in, sin is still sin. Why would God bless you if you id, listen, why do you think that God would bless you financially if you idolize the dollar? If your idol is the dollar, why do you think God is going to bless you financially with the very thing that's an idol in your life? Why would God heal our nation if we put this nation as an idol before God? Why would God bless your church if you idolize ministry over intimacy with Him? Why would God give you direction if you idolize other people's direction more than God's word's direction for your life? You want miracles? Where are the miracles? Why would God give you his spirit to lead you and guideline and guide you if you idolize your own flesh more than the power of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christ and His flesh upon the cross? There is something that we have got to remember. It's this word repentance. It's not a dirty word, it's a holy word. It's a gift to me and to you. Let me just say that again. Repentance is a gift to the body of Christ. No, no, you gotta understand this. When God gave us the prayer he said to disciples, he said, give in the Lord's prayer, in the Lord's prayer, he said, when you pray, you can pray like this. And in that prayer, he said, forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Just the fact that God gave us permission to pray. God, forgive me. Forgive me. God. Every once in a while, can I tell you? I've got that old sink in my house where you put the trash into it or the the leftovers into it, and then you press the switch and it grinds it all up, and then you got fresh flowing water that flows through those pipes, and everything's good. But every once in a while we throw something in there and it just gets clogged up. You know what I'm talking about? Anyone got that? And you gotta get your wrench and you gotta get down there, and you gotta open up that grinder, and you gotta find that that piece that's in there that's clogging up that pipe, and you gotta throw it in there, and then you try and fight who's the culprit who threw the chicken bone down the grinder that got it stuck in here, and then you throw it in the trash. Every once in a while, we need to clear out that vent. We need to come before we don't you know what pride comes before the fall. We can be in church all the days of my life. Oh, that's for such and such a person today. What a great message! Oh, yes, I thank God that you're preaching to my husband this morning. Thank you, Lord. He needs to repent. Let me tell you, it's a gift to each one of us. It's a gift to each one of us. Before God, we all love the story of Gideon. Oh, Gideon, he went in with his mighty army. He Marched down, and God said, No, no, it's too much. I'm gonna have to take away, I'm gonna have to take those away, and then I'm gonna have to take more away, and I'm gonna leave you with 300 people, and these 300 uh uh uh uh uh uh soldiers are gonna come down into the valley, and the Gideonites are gonna be more numerous than locusts, but God's gonna bring that miracle, and we love the story of the miracle. We give thanks for the God of miracle, but you know, the first miracle was not Gideon going and delivering the uh uh uh the Midianites deliverance from these enemies that were oppressing them. No, the first miracle is that if you read it, you can go down chapter six, verse and chapter seven. What does Gideon do? Gideon goes into listen closely. He goes into his father's house, not down to the Midianite army, he goes into his father's house because in his father's house there had been an idol set up to Baal. And the first thing is he does is he tears down that idol. In other words, before the miracle is gonna come, there's something that has to be tear out from within the father's house. A judgment begins in the house of God. Uh listen, that's why David says, Search my heart, find any wicked way in within me, and lead me in the way of the everlasting. I don't want anything to clog this anointing of the Holy Spirit. I don't want anything to come in the way between my intimacy and God, noting, not even my own pride that says, Oh, I've been born again, I've been washed in blood, I've entered into the promised land, I'm good until I pass in from this life into the next life. No, I tell you, I need I need Jesus every single day. I need his power, I need his authority, I need his word, I need the power of the Holy Spirit, I need God, and what a gift it is that I can repent and turn towards God, not a God who's gonna pour out his wrath on me, but a God of mercy who would invite the prodigal son to come and meet him on the way and lavish and kill the fatal lamb. That's whom Jesus is. Forgive me, Father, forgive me. I think maybe there's some people this morning, and you need to get rid of that thing that's been clogging up. You know the power that there's a power in God, you know that there's miracles, you know that God's got a plan and he's leading you and he's calling you out. Repentance. Paul would say in his second book to the Corinthian church, in chapter 7, verse 8, 10, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it. Now, can I tell you this was a tough message to prepare for? But if maybe somebody gets it today, if somebody repents, if somebody turns to God for forgiveness. Paul said, For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. You know what good would a doctor be if you came into the doctor and he just said, Oh, you're good, you just keep eating more cheesecake and you just keep on eating more deluxe pizzas for the rest of your life. And he didn't come and say, No, there's some things that you gotta cut out of your diet. That if you keep on eating this, this will eventually kill you. Can I tell you, when we study this word of God, this word reminds us, it puts things into perspective that not there's some things in my life that needs to change. It's it's a it's a mirror that's revealing things within me. Why would I get angry with the mirror? It would be like waking up in the morning and going looking at the mirror and going, there's some gray hair starting to kick in there. I think I must get a new mirror for myself because this mirror is not telling me the truth. It's the mirror's fault. Or you look in the mirror and you go, ooh, I'm getting a bit chubby here on the side. Love handles are starting to kick in. Oh, I need a new mirror. No, the mirror is not the issue. Sometimes we need the word of God to point out that we it's time to turn back towards the Lord, that there's forgiveness with him. Oh God, help us. Miracles follow repentance. The next two I'm gonna go through a little quicker. Number two, miracles follow faith. Then the Lord turned to me and he said, This all this blew my my me away. Go in this might of yours. Go in this might of yours. Now I've you've all heard Deuteronomy 6.5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might or strength. It's repeated in Mark, it's repeated in the Gospel of Matthew. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. That word strength is interchangeable with that word might, heart, soul, mind, strength, or might. You know, I think there's a lot of people, and we can walk in and we can say, Oh, I love the Lord with all my heart and with all my soul. But don't you see how I worship the Lord with all my heart? Hallelujah. It's like a touchdown on on Super Bowl Sunday, hallelujah, Lord, all my heart, all my soul. You know, I just think of my wife Sarah, that's here. If I just were if I just loved her with all my heart and with all my soul, and just every day I just Sarah, I love you with all my heart. And I just flicked my eyebrows at her, I love you with all my heart. And I you have my soul, you are my soulmate. What if I said that when she came home and all the dishes are piled up because it's been a hard week of with the three kids and things, we've had a busy schedule and the grass, I haven't cut the grass in three weeks, and there's an infestation happening out in the Florida grass, and and Sarah comes home and says, Hey, oh would you mind cutting the grass? Hey, would you mind just going out there and cutting the grass? And I said, Babe, you know you don't need me to do that. I love you with all my heart, and I love you with all of my soul. Every once in a while, it's good to demonstrate that love through action. Every once in a while it's good to use that strength. And when I read through scripture, that might, that word might, it means with all that you got. Now, Gideon's like, I'm the least, I got nothing to offer. Here I am in the wine press, I got nothing to offer. I've got nothing, and God's like, That's exactly what I need. Give me everything that you've got, give me the little that you have, because the scripture, we can go through it. Just a little bit of oil is enough for me to do a miracle, and just a few loaves of bread and a few fish in the in the hands of a little boy given over to Jesus can be multiplied to feed and to leave more to left over. Just Moses with a stammering tongue that feels like he's unqualified and does not have the right to go before Pharaoh. Just give me what you got. If you give me what you got, you're gonna see that I'll give you what all that you that that I've got, and I've got so much to offer than what your little bit of might can offer. You see, we're waiting for the miracle. Oh, God, bring the physical healing, praise God for physical healing. Oh, God, bring the financial blessing, thank God for financial blessings. Oh, God, bring the deliverance and thank God for for deliverance. But sometimes there's a might that we do have that we can recognize there is idols all around us, and they're in the father's house, and we're not going to allow them to have preeminence in my house. No, it's time sometimes just to turn off the TV and stop allowing certain things into the house. It's time to stop. They're just scrolling on on Instagram looking for some sort of hope at the other end of a screen. Oh, why would we think we could search Chat GPT more than we search the scriptures and think that God's gonna pour out a blessing upon us? Sometimes we've got to come with this little bit of might that we have. And you think to yourself, my might compared to what might happen if I truly trust God. If I give him my might, maybe he might call me to go tell the good news to my neighbor across the street. He might do that. And that neighbor might ask you questions that you do not know the answer to. But the Bible also says that when you do not know what to say, that the Holy Spirit will give you words to say, He'll give you utterance. There'll be things that will happen. No, sometimes you just gotta, oh, he's wondering where the miracles is, and God is saying, Will you give me your availability? Will you go? Just go. Where am I going? I'll it'll be revealed to you as you go, but you go and watch, mighty man of valor. See, there was a generation that rose up that did not know the Lord or did not know the works of God, but I'm believing here in our nation in Clay County that God is raising up a generation again, that there is young men, that there is young women that just came back from youth camp, and I'm believing with all my heart that God's gonna meet them in the wine press, they're doing all the assault of the enemy, all the thoughts of the enemy, all the attacks of the enemy, that God's gonna come and speak over them. You are a mighty man of valor, you are called of God. There is a plan of God that I have over your life. You may not see it now, but I'm gonna send you and I'm gonna be with you, and I'm gonna go before you, and there will be uh seeds that will part before you. Oh, it's the same ingredients, Gideon. Oh, uh as Moses. Moses, who am I? I'm unqualified. Gideon had the same. Oh, if, where, why, and God just responds to him, Go in this might. In verse 15 and 16, it says, as the worship band begins to come out. So he said to him, Oh, my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest of Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. You're gonna go out in your might. Can I tell you, our might doesn't go very far? But the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it. Paul would say to Ephesians, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Deuteronomy so the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and great terror with signs and wonders. 2 Corinthians 10:4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. When people begin to turn to God in repentance and begin to believe by faith and step out like Peter stepped out of that boat, I believe that miracles are to be expected. Miracles will follow. My presence will go with you. If God could bring miracles in Noah's life, in Abraham's life, in Moses' life, in David's life, through the prophets' lives, if the miracles could come through Jesus and then on the day of Pentecost through the disciples, can I tell you in 2026, miracles will still follow those who put their trust in the Lord? Hallelujah! Hallelujah. I believe God will bring forth the miracles. Leonard Ravenhill said, the greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world and make him holy. Then put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy in it. What a miracle! What's happened? The miracles. I believe there's miracles sitting right in front of me this morning. Oh mighty, mighty man of valor, mighty woman of valor. I believe there's miracles in this room. How do I know that? Because you're fearfully and wonderfully made. I believe you're a miracle in this room.
SPEAKER_02Just the fact that you took breath, just the fact that you're here and you've got eyesight to be able to see what's in front of you. Just the fact that you woke up this morning and came into the house of the Lord, you're a walking miracle. Oh, you're a walking miracle. You're a miracle, you're a miracle. Oh, and if you've been washed in the blood of Jesus, and if the Holy Spirit's living inside of you, the same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives inside of you.
SPEAKER_03Whom shall we fear? Why are you in the wine press? Why are you worried about the enemies? Why are you worried? You're not called to be in the wine press. You're called to be up on top of the mountain. You're called to be throwing the weed up in the air that it separates the chaff from the wheeze. You're supposed to be about the fodder's business. You're supposed to be up where the wind is the strongest. You're supposed to be up exactly where God would have any. Oh, listen, man, woman, God doesn't, we're not looking for new heroes. We're not looking for another Billy Graham or David Wilkerson. No, we're looking for, we're looking for the Pastor Roberts. We're looking for the Dan Cerseys. We're looking, we're looking for the Miss Barbara's. I could go through this room and go one by one. I'm looking for the moms and dads that have been hanging on, saying, I don't know if my kids are gonna make it. Can I tell you? I believe in the name of Jesus as you stand, as you turn towards God, as you believe by faith, that God will give you the utterance, God will give you the wisdom. No, no, the enemy has no right to our fruit, the enemy has no right to our land, the enemy has no right to our thoughts, the enemy has no right. Come on, somebody, amen. This morning, the enemy's got no right, he's got no right to our prodigal sons or prodigal daughters, the enemy's got no right to the call of God upon my life or your life. Oh, it's time to shut out the accusation of the enemy that says, listen, the accusation of the enemy is you're unqualified. That's what Kidney says, I'm unqualified. Oh, but if you go in all your might, the little bit that I have. Oh God. You know how many times have I prayed that God I'm just a I'm a nobody from nowhere. Who am I? Let me tell you. 400, 500 years ago. No, let me bring that down. 70 years from here, there's a good probability nobody will remember Ono Sullivan. Nobody will remember Sarah or Sullivan, maybe a few people. But history, life will go on if God should tarry. But can I tell you? 70, 80 years from now, when I'm not on this earth, I'm gonna be in glory. I'm gonna be singing how great thou art. I'll be looking at God face to face. I'll have intimacy, God, like never before. Why do we think so prideful of ourselves? Looking for heroes. When God would call people just like me and you to stand out. Let me just share this one last thought with you. You know, you feel like maybe you're uh abandoned or unqualified. I was just thinking of this moment when I was coming into service this morning. How before I moved over here and became a pastor here at the Springs Church, I was part-time at a church back in Ireland, and uh I was also working in retail at a suits company. I used to sell suits, shirts, and ties. I remember one time we used to have a two-week refund policy, and so I had sold a suit to this gentleman, a gray suit, picked out the shirt and tie. It was a great combination. And he had gone out to the wedding that he was going to, and two weeks later, right at the last moment to avail of the refund policy, at five minutes to six o'clock, as I'm shutting down the doors, this man comes walking in with the suit. He pulls it up on the desk. He says, I want, I want my refund. I want to exchange. He actually says, I want to exchange this for a new suit. He said, There's there's some treads in this that are not as they should be. As I began to walk towards the suit to examine it, I could smell the body perspiration from the suit from like across the room. I knew that this man had danced all night at the wedding. He this was not, he had he'd used the suit well. I mean, there was there was there was marks on the knees from sliding across the floor, like with his tie wrapped around his head. I could smell, I could smell it, I could see it. Threads going all over the place. And he's like, I want a refund. I was like, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure that you do not get another suit for this thing, because this thing, this thing has been dragged through the mud. So I went out to my manager and said, I came in with a suit, he wants it to be exchanged. He's appealing to the refund policy that we have. The manager says, We have to honor the refund policy. So even though I didn't like it, even though I didn't improve of it, even though I thought, who's this guy to come in and think he can get a new suit? I had to take that old suit smell, raggedy, tossed it aside, and I put it on the rack, and I had to get this brand new, beautiful, shiny suit and put it down, and he walked away with a new suit. Now, do I think that guy deserved a new suit? No. Do I think that you deserve a second chance before the Lord? No. A third chance, a fourth chance, a fifth chance? No. Do you think I do I think I deserve it? I just certainly don't. But I thank God. I thank God for his mercy. That I'm not getting what I deserve, I'm getting grace, I'm getting what I do not deserve, I'm getting the blessing of Almighty God, I'm getting the abundance of who he is, I get intimacy with him. Oh, the old is gone, the new is coming, and I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah! Come on, hallelujah to the love of God, hallelujah for a new life, hallelujah for the salvation. Oh, the miracles would come. Come on, set your feet across this place. Hallelujah, Jesus. Can we just take a moment? Can we just begin to worship the Lord in this house? Can we just begin to thank him? Can we just begin to thank him for salvation? Can we begin to thank him for his blood that washes away our sins as far as the east is from the west? Can we begin to thank God that he's given us might, that he's given us strength, that he has given us breath in our lungs this morning. Oh, thank you, God.
SPEAKER_01Oh, thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, Jesus. Come on, right across the state. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah, Jesus, hallelujah, Jesus, hallelujah, Jesus. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to the Springs Church podcast. We pray that you were encouraged, uplifted, and challenged by the message today. If you need prayer or want to learn more about the church, we would love to connect with you. Visit the New Year page on tfcjacks.com. We pray you have a great week walking in all that God has for you.