Christian Sermons | Living in the Middle of Your Miracle | Matthew 9:20-22

You're not alone in going through dark times, and it's okay to feel desperate.

Sometimes we have to go through the dark place to see the miracle.

Determination and faith are key to receiving blessings and miracles.

God may not always choose to heal us instantly, but we must exercise faith and believe in His timing.

Today I just want to share this with you. Maybe today you're going through something and it seems really, really dark. It seems like a darkness, a dark place. Maybe something physical, financial, spiritual, whatever the case may be. and you're going through something very, very dark. You feel like you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. You're not alone. There have been many, many Christians, and there still are many, many Christians that are still going through this, even in this day and age. But I want to share with you one statement, and it is simply this, if you get nothing else today, and it is simply this. Don't get discouraged. you're living in the middle of your miracle. Because sometimes we're going through things and it seems so dark and sometimes when you're going through something and the storm is raging and you're right in the middle of the eye of the storm you can't see the end of the storm. And when things are dark and things are raging you're in the middle of seeing a miracle. But sometimes we've got to go through the dark place to see the miracle. There's a beautiful account of a dear lady that was going through something. And this is where we're at today. Matthew 9, starting with verse 20. It says, And behold a woman. A woman. I want you to understand with this. This woman was nothing special about her. She wasn't a diplomat. She wasn't a queen or a princess. She wasn't anything. She was just an ordinary person like all of us. But this ordinary person had a need. And we all have needs. We all have things that we need. But why don't we get the needs met? Well, she had tried everything. See, the Bible says here that when she was diseased with an issue of blood for 12 years, the issue of blood many people believe was some sort of cancerous tumor. Can you imagine suffering with a cancerous type of tumor for 12 years? Unbelievable. She had went to faith healers. She had went to doctors. She had done everything she possibly could and nobody could help her. nobody could help them she was in the middle because sometimes when we're going through the dark places we try everything else we go to doctors, we go to faith healers it's amazing because so many people put their trust in doctors and faith healers and what I mean by faith healers, I'm talking about people There was an amazing comedian back in the day named Andy Kaufman. Many of you may know Andy Kaufman from the show Taxi, played latke, the cabbie mechanic. But latke, or Andy Kaufman, got cancer. Never smoked a day in his life, but he got lung cancer. Went to doctors, they couldn't help him. So he went clear across the world to faith healers. And he put his trust in them. You know what happened to Andy Kaufman? Andy Kaufman died with cancer. We put our trust in everything else, but this little lady had done that, and she said, I have no other recourse. I don't know what else to do. I tried everything else, and she heard that Jesus was coming to her town. Hallelujah. Jesus is coming into town and she said well maybe this one will help me she was desperate have you ever been so sick that you felt desperate have you ever been through something so bad that you just felt desperate and you didn't know what else to do and you began to cry out to God and you began to say God I don't know what else to do I tried everything else I went to doctors I tried everything and nothing is working. I need help. And that's what this little lady did. She came behind him. Other accounts say she got on her knees and crawled through the crowd to get to Jesus. That's determination. She was determined to get a blessing. She was determined to get what she needed. Determination is going to equal blessings. You can't just expect to just maybe get it the first time. Sometimes it takes that determination. Pushing forward with a little bit of faith. You know, sometimes we see that, right? When we're going through something and we don't see the miracle, just like that, what happens? We get discouraged. We pray and we say, Lord, I need this blessing. Heal me now. Where's that? Sometimes God does choose to just that fast. But sometimes God chooses to take His time. Now, why does God do that? Well, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not God I don't know why God chooses God knows best I don't know God does Amen But the point is What do you do when you don't see the faith Or the miracle Immediately What do you do You exercise what Faith That's what you gotta do So this little lady had tried everything She heard Jesus coming through town And she said you know what I've got to go to him. She gets to the crowd. The crowd is so huge. She doesn't know what to do. What did she do? She could have went home. She'd been suffering with cancer for 12 years. No doubt she was sick. Very sick. Very depleted. Her strength was probably gone, mostly at this point. She could have just said, you know what? I can't fight the crowd. I'll go home. But she didn't. She didn't do that. She got on her hateful knees and she began to crawl through the crowd. Why did she crawl through the crowd? Because she believed that if she touched the hem of his garment, if she could just get close enough to him to just grab a little bit of the tassels that are around the hem of the garment, She couldn't do that. The instantaneous miracle would be on the way She felt that way And what is that people That is faith That faith that wow I don know that any of us have in this generation That's amazing faith. I pray, Lord, give me that kind of faith. Give me that kind of faith that I believe that if I can just reach out and touch God once, He's going to heal me. He's going to touch me. I'm going to be instantaneously made whole if I can just reach out and touch him. I want that kind of faith. I don't want to be one that sits there and says, Lord, I need a blessing. Help me. Oh, please, I hope this works. I don't want to be that way. I don't want to be that way. Because once I say those words, what has it done? It has destroyed my faith, and it has destroyed my miracle. I can't do it. I can't live that way. I've got to believe. This little lady began to believe. She heard the miracles that had happened through Jesus, and she believed. She believed that Jesus was all she needed. He's all I need. He's all I need. Jesus is all I need. You know? That's all I need. I just need him. I just need to reach out and touch him. I just need to touch the new star hand of Jesus. And let his hand touch me. And once his hand touches me, I'm going to be made whole. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. She believes she can just touch the hand of this garment. She said that in verse 21. For she said within herself, if I may but touch the garment, I shall be made whole. And I love that word whole. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. My pronouncement. Hallelujah. I love that word whole. It doesn't mean that she was going to have to go have therapy or recoveries or anything like that. She was going to be made whole. The cancer was going to be gone eradicated once and for all. There was not going to be need for chemotherapy treatments or any sort of pills. Because when God does the doom, the doom gets done. Hallelujah. Amen. I'm about to run. I'm about to run. She had that kind of faith. And this is the kind of faith we need. Because John spoke and wrote in his book in John 7 and verse 38. It says this. He that believeth on me. These are the words of Jesus. He that believeth on me, as the scripture said, I said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And it all comes through faith. If we believe in Jesus and we believe in the words of God, we will see the living water spring up. living waters of healing of blessing in our lives if we will just believe in him and that's what she did she believed that if she could just get to him oh hallelujah hallelujah oh if I could just get to him you wonder why I love coming to church because I feel like I'm getting to come to him Amen. Hallelujah. When I get to come to church, it's like crawling to it. Getting on my knees and saying, Lord, I just need you. Lord, I just need you. God I'm going through things and I don't know what to do but if I know if I can just get where you are if I can just get to where you are I know I'm going to be made whole I know I'm going to be healed I know I'm going to be blessed if I can just get there if I can just get there that's why church is so vital for me that's why church is such a blessing for me because I always always come away feeling better than I can. Always. God never disappoints. Hallelujah. God never disappoints. I love this whole account of this little lady because she reached out and she touched the hymn of Jesus' glory. And instantaneously, as we know in other versions of this story written, he immediately felt virtue, the power of God. he didn't leave his body. He looked around to his disciples and he said, who touched me? Kind of a weird statement, Lord. Who touched you? Looking around, the crowd is all there yet. Who ain't touching you? They're all grabbing you. Who touched you? He said, no, no, no, no. There's a difference. There's a difference. It's a difference from these ones wanted to just touch me. And it's a difference from a need that was reached out and touched me because they had a need. Who touched me? At this point, this little lady was on the ground and no doubt she was scared to death because she knows she didn't have no right to touch the master. I have no right to touch the master. I have no right to go to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive me. Lord, heal me. Lord, help me. I have no right to do that. but he laid himself on a cross so that I could come. She was scared at this point. But she said, it was me, Lord. I touched you. I'm sorry, Lord. I touched you. I didn't mean to. I just didn't know what else to do. And Jesus turned about and saw her and he said, Daughter, I love that. It's beautiful. At that point, he welcomed her to the family. Hallelujah. He welcomed her to the family. It's okay, daughter. It's okay. You're part of the family. You've been redeemed. You've been healed. You're accepted. You can come in. You're not on the outside looking. You're on the inside, not looking out because it's too good on the inside. You're on the inside now, daughter. Be of good comfort. Don't you worry. Don't you stress. I've got this. That's the point. We don't need to stress out. We don't need to worry. We don't need to fret. We don't need to be concerned because God's got it figured out. God's got it under control. God's got it under wraps. Hallelujah. There's no need to worry. There's no need to stress. God is supplying your needs. Hallelujah. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5 6 and 7 he wrote these words Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Hallelujah. And he does, he cares. He's concerned. I love what he says here. He says, Thy faith has made thee whole. Note the point there If she didn't have faith If she would have touched him in his garment Would she have been made old? No No Because there was nothing in the hem of Jesus garment It was just the garment It was her faith They said if I could just touch him in his garment I'll be made old And I love what it says and the woman suffered another five years before she got healed. No. That's not what it says. It says, and the woman was made whole that very hour. That moment, instantaneously, it happened. It didn't take a long time of recovery. It was instantaneous. She was living in the middle of a miracle. Her miracle process was 12 years. It's a long time. That's a long storm. But note the outcome. Sometimes we go through storms and it takes maybe two, three months, maybe three, four months, five months. And we sit there and we go, wow, I struggled so long. 12 years. I want you to think about it. 12 years she struggled before seeing the miracle. And it took faith to get her there. Amen. Faith. Faith is the key. Now we're living in the middle of a miracle. And I want to share with you just a couple of examples of some ones that went through dark places and were living in the middle of a miracle. And I'm going to spend a long time, but I want to share with you some that I've found. Number one is the typical one, Job. Job lost it all, and it seemed to be the darkest point of Job's life. But Job's life was destroyed. But it wasn't long before God showed up and showed off. And showed that Satan did not have power. Probably one of my favorite Bible characters. Joseph lost his entire family. Entire family. his brother sold him out sold him into slavery he sat in slavery for years and years and years before he saw the miracle what does it come down to? sometimes we look and we say wow what a horrible situation I'm in but God what meant it for good? See, God was seeing what Joseph wasn't seeing Sometimes the hard place is for our betterment You just never know Noah was called crazy A psycho Rain had never fallen on earth before And yet Noah was saying, hey, water's going to fall from the sky And everybody said, wow, Noah has lost his mind. I don't know if there were psycho wards or mental institutions back in those days, but if there were, they would have thrown Noah in. Because rain had never fallen. And yet he was saying rain is going to fall, water is going to fall. That's why I'm building this boat. Because God told me to. everybody in the entire world thought Noah was nuts until water began to fall when that first drum of water began to fall they went wait a minute and they ran to the boat no let us in let us in no no we were wrong no please let us in please no let us in the door was shut no was going through the storm being called everything nuts, crazy but he was living in the middle of a miracle and he and his family were about to get off the boat and be saved beautiful lady named Esther Esther was saw a holocaust coming the Holocaust was one of the worst things that ever happened probably in the history of the world but there was going to be the Holocaust before that it was going to eliminate every Jew off the face of the earth and if it wouldn't have been for Esther rising up in the middle of this storm and standing for God this Holocaust would have wiped out the Jewish race completely. She stood up and was in the middle of a miracle. And she saw the miracle. And then there's the one final one I want to share with you today. And it's probably the most poignant character in the Bible, in my opinion. A bigot. A person that hated people. Jonah. Jonah hated the Ninevite people. Hated them with a passion. When God said to Jonah, I want you to go down to Ninevite. I want you to preach to those people the love of God. He said, I will not go down to those people and preach to them because they don't deserve you. And you do, John. Does anybody deserve God? No. John had a vignette on his shoulders. He felt he deserved God Jonah ran from God because he didn want to do what God wanted him to do He ran down and found himself in the belly of a whale down in the depths of the sea. And he sat in that whale's belly for three days. Solking over the fact that he didn't get what he wanted. But that's his heart. sometimes that's what happens when we see something come upon us and we pray God I need help and then we don't get it immediately then we begin to solve we begin to go well I need to give up well then why should I go to church well why should I go and pray to the Lord why should I read my Bible God you didn't do nothing free so why should I do anything to you that's where Jonah was George sat in the belly of the whale, just sat out there saying, We'll see who gives up first. We saw what happened, didn't we? We know what happened. George sat in the belly of the whale, until he got so tired of sitting there, and he knew he was going to die there because God wasn't going to quit. God was going to show him the error of his ways one way or the other. And what happened? Jonah eventually came to God and he said, Alright God, okay, you're right, I'm on. I'll do what you want me to do. The sad part was, he wasn't wholeheartedly involved in it. But God was going to get what he wanted. He wanted Jonah to preach to the people. that whale came up out that water after Jonah prayed to him. Spit Jonah up on the shores. Jonah ran down to Nineveh and began to preach. You can imagine the prayer meeting in that place. You can imagine people smelling him miles away coming. Well, I tell you, sitting there going, they didn't seem to mind, they listened. There was a joke, and we used it yesterday, and I'll share it again, but it's the hit we used on our show yesterday on the radio, but it was cute. it says Jonah when he came out of the belly of the whale he went home to his family and he told his account to his family they said something smells fishy I love it you know but it's true I mean can you imagine the smell what was coming off of him you know but they listened Jonah went through a dark place and was living in the middle of a miracle. He was going through a tough time when he was living through the middle of a miracle. He was about to see the miracle of God. Just like when you're in the middle of a storm, we can't see the end. When you're in the middle of a miracle, you can't see the miracle. The miracle is at the end. Not in the middle. We just got to have the faith to continue on, to keep believing, to keep praying, to keep believing that God's going to bring that miracle. Maybe it'll be three days, like Jonah. Maybe it'll be years and years and years and years, like it was for Joseph. Maybe it'll be 12 years, like the little lady with the issue of blood. Maybe it would be an unknown account of time like it was for Job. We don't know, but the point is this. God will bring the miracle into this time. We've just got to stand true and keep believing. And when we do that, we're going to see the miracle. It may not come the next day. It may take a while. but God has never been defeated. And he won't. And he won't. And he won't. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Maybe you're going through something today. You're living in the middle of a miracle. Just keep holding on. Don't quit. Keep on believing. The answer is on the way. Hallelujah. Let's bow our heads before the Lord this morning. This morning, if you've listened to this message, maybe you're going through something today. Maybe it's a storm that's raging and you just don't know what you're going to do. Maybe you feel like you have all you can handle. And you don't know if you can handle anymore. I say, just hold on a little longer. this is someone that would be honest to God this morning not to me but to God and would say you know what Father I need you to help me to hold on through this storm that I'm going through would you be honest to God and say God help me God to hold on would you raise your hand hands going up hands going up everywhere today hallelujah that's beautiful that's beautiful love it honesty maybe you're watching a video this morning or this afternoon or this evening whenever you're watching it and you're saying, I want to learn to hold on. I want you to raise your hand where you're watching. I don't care if you're sitting amongst the family or whatever, or if you're all by yourself, it doesn't matter. Raise your hand to God and say, God, I need you to help me. Father God, you saw hands going up today saying, people saying, I need you, God. Father God, I pray right now that you will open up the windows of heaven and you will pour down upon these people that raised up their hands. The strength to hold on as they are in the middle of a miracle. Father God, may they hold on. May they not quit. May they not give up. May they not stop believing until they see the blessing. And then, Father God, when they see the blessing, may they be able to share it with someone. I lived in the middle of a miracle. I lived in the middle. Of the storm and I saw the miracle. Father God, I pray that right now for your people today. I pray that they will be blessed. Father God, strengthen them. Help them. Heal them. In Jesus' name. Thank you.

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