Making Room For A Miracle

I just want to mention to you what's going to happen here. Today, 3 o'clock, the dedication service, and tomorrow we have our luncheon. We're approaching about 90 people for tomorrow's luncheon, so be praying. This is a very exciting time. We're having folks in from all around the community, mainly non-church people coming to be with us. And then tomorrow night at 7.15, all five partner churches are joining right here tomorrow night for a time of waiting on the Lord. I'm going to talk about it in the message for just a few moments. Hey, look at this. Hey, huh? If you think the preaching is going to get better, forget it, all right? This is a gift from someone in the congregation, a family. And we just thought today was the day to break it out. Then just right on through the week, Nancy, please. Then Tuesday morning, ladies, just the ladies of Kevin Lehman, great outreach event. Invite friends. Kevin is just wonderful in communicating to make people comfortable. You've got to sign up, though, because there's food involved. You've got to sign up today. Where, hon, can I sign up? In the gym? Or the information desk? Or just, you know, anyway, you can just sign up and throw it. You can put it in the offering basket later, too, right? Okay, and then the evening, again, all the partner churches. Not just one of them, but all of them. We have 1,600 in. How many chairs, Jack? Forty chairs in here today. And they're going to all be full. He's nuts, all right? And then Wednesday, the men's breakfast, 6.30 with Kevin Lehman. That's an early one. Again, you've got to sign up, though, because food's involved. But, you know, you can then reach out and bring a neighbor, a dad, that would like some encouragement in his parenting. And then that night, Kevin's special service. And I've got to underscore this. Now, this is not going to be like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Wednesday night's going to be unique. There's going to be North Way's music ministry and then Kevin, and he's going to help parents and teens and adolescents communicate on the subject of how to talk about sex. By the way, if you're a grandparent, you've got to come, because Kevin is, almost. And he's got the greatest way of communicating, and he's going to help us all just to have a good time and yet really touch some very important issues. Then Thursday, just the evening time, all the churches again together. And see, each night, different ones will be leading, and it'll just be really much more spontaneous. Then Friday, the camp concert. And I know we're going to be packed that night, so come early. It says 7.30 in the stuff, but if you come at 7.30, you may be way back in the cheaper seats. And then Sunday, Palm Sunday, the journey from success to significance. And then in the evening, the donut man rolls out, and I don't know how many hundreds of kids pass the desk expecting, but you're welcome as a family then at 6 o'clock. Now, the two things that aren't on there, I just don't need to turn there, but then Easter week, Wednesday night, we have a dramatic presentation called Eyewitnesses. It's an original thing with actors and special music and lights and everything. All right, Wednesday night. That's definitely a bring-to event with your neighbors and friends. And then Easter, oh, Good Friday, do we have that? Yeah. We have our fasting time, and then Good Friday morning, communion service at 7, not 6, but 7. We think it's going to serve you better to have it at 7 o'clock. And if you're new to us and you've never been to one of our Good Friday morning services, it's a very special time, very special time. And then Easter Sunday, 7, 9, and 11, 15. And we're hoping that the Lord will bless us with wonderful services that day. Okay? I know that's quick, but you know what? If you look in the inside flap of your notes, it's all in a calendar there, and you can take that home and put it on your refrigerator and still be confused. Turn to the book of Luke, please. And I want you to start in Luke 5, but also mark Luke chapter 8 or put something there. Luke 5 and Luke 8 today. Now, if this thing starts to slide down, I know there's a move of God. It's really stable. Now, we'll read the text in just a moment, but I wanted to just begin by sharing with you how much anticipation I have about the week ahead, and weeks ahead, actually. And I can't begin to predict what God's going to do as we come from all around the city to be before him, but I do know that God in these days is stirring. I do know that around the nation and around the world, the Lord is doing some very exciting and wonderful things. It's like the scripture that says in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 13, the Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior. He will stir up his zeal, and he will shout a battle cry and triumph over his enemies. God is moving. I know that some of us are aware of it, and I'm also sensitive to the fact that many of us don't really hear very much. And, you know, it doesn't surprise me, and it shouldn't surprise you, because the media, by and large, doesn't really care all that much about what's happening in the church. And so, therefore, it's difficult to find accurate, up-to-the-minute reports. You know, kind of like, wouldn't it be great someday if CNN, after Moneyline, you know, their big daily report about what's happening in all the markets, had Prayerline, you know, up-to-the-minute answers to prayer around the world. Well, you know, you're probably not going to see that anytime soon. Hard copy, you know, then like soft truth, the work of God around the world. Well, no. But there are seven signs I want to share with you that have been well verified around the nation. Jack Hayford has listed these, and I believe he's absolutely right on target. Indications that the Spirit of God is at work, and that the grace of God that we have sensed here in this place and this year is being poured out in a very special way. That this is a season of the Lord moving. You know, when you walk out of here today, provided the snow is melted, look back behind the church and you'll see all these huge trees with little red tips at the end of the branches. What is that? That's the bud of the leaves that are about to break forth. And much the same way, the signs that I'm going to share with you are the buds, the tips that say that something is going to be springing forth in the coming months. And I believe if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will be impacted by them. So, just seven things very quickly. First of all, I'm seeing a unification, a bringing together of pastors. You know, in my 20 years of being a pastor, I've never seen shepherds as willing to be together, you know, to lay down things as they are right now. You may think this is a natural. Well, sure, pastors would get along, but it's very unusual. In fact, Jesus once said to a group of pastors, if I see two or three of you agreeing on earth as touching anything, call me and I'll come myself to see if it's true. You know, I mean, that's kind of the way it is. Pastors are uniting, and the Bible says when people come together, when the pastors come, the congregations will come, and where there's unity, God commands the blessing. The second thing we see is an awakening of intercessory prayer. You know, just the last five years, there's been a remarkable increase in people's sensitivity to intercessory prayer and the power that's just available to us as we get before God in prayer. Non-fanatical, spirit-empowered, you know, things like prayer concerts and prayer walks and meetings, prayer summits, it's happening. Third thing I'm seeing is a, and many of us are aware of this, a great movement among men. I mean, this, folks, this wasn't the case ten years ago. Even five years ago, you know, here and there are different things, but now most clearly seen in the Promise Keepers movement, men are being awakened. A half a million men are expected at the 15 or so conferences this year for the Promise Keepers, and, you know, it's got to be a movement of God because men, unlike the women, usually don't respond to the gentle nudge of the Spirit. They need the boot of the Spirit, and they're getting it. Number four, a broadening of renewed worship. You know, much like we experienced here today, churches everywhere are opening to the Spirit of God in worship. Sometimes they have a special service for that occasion. Sometimes it's on Sunday morning. Many of you know of other congregations that are introducing choruses and a time of real worship in their services that's happening. And number five, this one is not as evident to us right now, but I have on good authority that there is a stirring in Israel. The Jews who have been so resistant to the Gospel for so long are beginning to turn to the Lord. Just a little quote from an authority who lives over there. The spiritual atmosphere in Israel is beginning to change. Leaders of Israel's growing Messianic Jewish movement say they believe years of prayer and hard work are about to be rewarded with a spiritual harvest. They expect the Holy Spirit to draw hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews to faith in Yeshua. It's starting to happen. Number six, and by the way, Israel is God's timepiece. Folks, when you see Israel begin to come to God in great numbers, pack your bags if you're a believer, or sell them, one or the other. You're not going to need them. Number six, an openness towards sincere reconciliation. Billy Graham has called racial tension the world's number one problem, and it's encouraging to see sincere efforts being made among all the races within the church to build bridges of communication and understanding in levels that I've never seen before. It's a sign, a sign pointing to grace. And number seven, unusual things, unusual manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Now, some of you may have heard or maybe even experienced a release in the Spirit. Maybe you've read about a particular congregation up in Toronto, Canada that's had over 110,000 people visit their church in a year. How would that be, Pastor Scott? You need a few new greeters or something like that, all right? Recent ABC News special, In the Name of God, kind of pointing at some of the different ways that the Spirit of God is moving and manifesting Himself. I read, just picked up, I try to be in touch with what's going on, and the thing called National and International Religion Report, talked about on a college campus. How many college students are here today? All right, everybody? A spontaneous spiritual revival began on a college campus in Texas when one of the students at a church service confessed his own spiritual condition, and, quote, people just started streaming down the aisles to pray, confess, and restore seemingly doomed relationships. And then that same Spirit moved over to the campus itself. God's doing so many things. Now, all of this would be really exciting just to hear about it, wouldn't it? I mean, how would you like to have Dan Rather go through those seven things for you? I mean, great. But here's the thing that really amazes me and actually humbles me. God is doing many of these things right here. And because we're not all that great in communicating, we're working at it, you may not be aware of the things that the Lord is doing. But just to kind of go through that same list again, Nancy, 20-some pastors, at least today, 20 of them, will be here for our dedication service, coming to share with us. And every other week, about 40 pastors and leaders are meeting to pray here in our facility for our city. Pastors coming together. No agenda, just coming together to seek the Lord. In terms of the prayer awakening, how many of you were part of the Pittsburgh Prayer Evangelism Conference on March the 18th? There was 250 people in this sanctuary. That was the seed for what they believe will be 15,000 people at the Civic Arena in about a year, just to pray for God to pour out His Spirit and to touch our city. The men's ministry at North Way is growing in momentum. We have 140 reservations for the Promise Keepers Conference in Washington, D.C. next month. We're going to take two buses and a whole bunch of cars. Small groups of men are joining together, and it's on the move, and it's picking up momentum. The worship, the worship in our church is alive, and God inhabits the praises of His people. Wednesday nights have been marvelous. Sunday mornings are a great time. Let's jump down to number six, reconciliation. One of the pastors that will be speaking at 3 o'clock today is going to challenge us, a black pastor, with our vision for reconciliation and how we can help be at the point guard of bringing together people of color, of congregations such as ours that are largely white, that we can be God's people together. And I'm excited about the things. I'm meeting with different ones in our congregation to help sensitize us and open us to what the Lord would want to do. And finally, the Spirit is moving in our church. Can somebody say amen? He is. The women of our church have been having some great times with prayer and seeking the Lord. The men have been reporting things. Even our young people, even our young people have been meeting and seeing God do some special things. I thought just to put some flesh and blood on this, I wanted to introduce you to a couple who are new to our church, but they have received in their lives a new release, a new touch of God's Spirit. So Rick and Karen, and they're real nervous, because you know what? I mean, it's tough to stand up here and speak to you people sometimes. So you better smile. And first of all, give them a hand for coming up and being brave. All right? Well, I've got wires everywhere. I hope I can do this. Good morning. Rick and Karen, Avon, are you going to hold it for them? Oh, great. Your hands are still shaking. Now, you live where? Where's your home? In Westview. In Westview. And you're an architect? Yes. And you're a mom of a cute little guy named Jared. Right. Great. Tell us a little bit about what's been happening in your life the last few months. Well, to start off, Rick and I first came to the Lord at the last Billy Graham crusade that was in Pittsburgh, and at that time we were practicing Catholics, but we just felt that we weren't being taught and challenged enough to continue to grow in our walk with the Lord at that time. So we were looking for guidance, and it was important for us to find that guidance because we were expecting our first child, and we wanted him to grow up with the truth. So Rick and I prayed real hard about it, and one day when we were going to Brewster's for ice cream, we decided to go a different way that we normally don't go, and we saw a big sign for an open house here at North Way. Right on the way to Brewster's. You know, that's where we are. With Rick being an architect and being interested in buildings, we said, oh, let's go check that church out. So we did, and that was the beginning to a whole new experience for us, and that was in November. So then what happened? What steps did you take? Well, actually, when we started North Way, we decided that we wanted to dive in. We started the classes, and the first class went well. We got to ask a lot of questions and see where the church stood on a lot of items. I was cautious, so we went to the second class, and that was with Pastor Bill Cook. When we were sitting in class, he brought out a point that he said, he talked about how you gave your life to Jesus, but did you invite the Holy Spirit into your life? And I realized that I didn't do that. So what I decided to do was, when we got into prayer groups, and Pastor Bill Cook led us through a worship where we first cleansed ourselves silently, and I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit. At this time, we were standing. I felt unusual. And then something came inside of me that was twice my frame. I literally thought my back was going to explode. And at this time, the poor woman that was standing next to me, I must have broke her hand. I started wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. And I was using everything I had not to, because that's not normal to me. So once we were finished, Pastor Bill Cook asked if anybody had an experience, and there was no way I was going to say anything. So afterwards, we waited, and we went up, and I told Pastor Cook what had happened. And he asked if me and Karen would stay and be prayed for. At this time, we started praying. Karen was seated in front of me, and Pastor Bill Cook asked if she felt anything. She said that her hands felt tingly. So she turned around, and he said, Lay them on your husband. At the time she did this, my arms were up. I couldn't move them. Tears just soaked me. At this time, she started speaking in a spiritual language. She moved her hands up to my mouth, and I couldn't speak any more than I can now. After that day, I knew. I had an inner peace, and I had the strength to be able to come up here today. That's great. That's it all for that. Thank you. One more thing. Since that experience, what's been happening now? Sticking with you? Oh, yeah. I just feel I have so much more security in my life and comfort, and I just feel so much more at peace with myself. Our relationship as a couple has just grown tremendously. I just encourage... There's a lot of resources here at North Way. I mean, through the classes, through getting involved in the home group. And for us being new since November, those really helped us to grow along with the Holy Spirit, and I just encourage everybody to get involved. The Sunday services, Wednesday services, the classes and the home group, they just really helped us. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. Just give me a hand, please. You see, this couple really embodies what this is about. It's not about weird things. It's about our lives being in the hands of God. And I want to talk for just a few moments here this morning about what is the potential of the grace of God being available in your life. What does it mean to you? I mean, most of the things we're talking about, it could be just so much news for the religion page of your heart, or it can be something that really begins to impact your life and touch you. And I want you to know one thing. When it comes to the grace of God and my role as your pastor, I honestly don't worry about money. I pray about it, the needs that we have for our building, all that stuff. I honestly don't worry about details, but I do many times find myself praying and asking God to give me grace that not one of you missed the calling of God in your life, that not one of you missed the full potential that God has invested in you by His presence, if you know Him, that not one of you potentially is here and just play religious games and fool everybody but God in yourself, and that by the grace of God, not one of you come here for weeks or months or years and then end up leaving the church and not knowing Christ. That is my burden. And I pray today that you'll take seriously what the Lord is saying. He's saying that He's in the wings. He's beginning to pass by, and that if you have faith to reach out and touch Him, you can experience a release of grace in your life. And, you know, what's about to happen here in the coming weeks, I really don't know, but you all know how it came about, didn't you? Did I tell you this a couple of weeks ago? These other churches and meeting together and all that. For almost ten years, Carol and I have been meeting with several pastors and their wives just to fellowship and support each other, just to be together, and it's been a meaningful thing. Every four to six weeks, we travel to part of the city and have dinner together and fellowship together. Well, about three weeks ago, it was the day John Ray took our young people to El Salvador, and my son Jonathan went, and we were really tired, and another big day coming up, so we couldn't go. Well, that night, I guess at the pastor's meeting, the Lord met this group of five other couples in a powerful way. Has that ever happened to you? You know, you go to something every time for four years, and the time you miss, something good happens. But it was so powerful to them that they called me and said, We want to meet with you to pray about what to do about this, because we know the Lord is moving. And so I met with them a few days later for prayer, and that's when I walked into that room where they were gathered, and here were my friends just kind of before the Lord, I mean, some of them even weeping. And I said, God, this is unusual, see? In ten years of being with these men and women, I'd never seen them do that. So I knew they weren't making it up. I knew this wasn't some way to hype up a program so that everyone would come. Folks, I knew that. And so as we prayed, one of the men turned and said, You know, you can call me weird or whatever, but I sort of have this picture in my mind of your church, Jay. Your roof, he said. And all these people streaming in. I said, Yay, God, that's great. He said, Yeah, but there are people. Oh, what does that mean? And we talked about it, and that's when it kind of became clear that what we were to do was to bring our congregations together. Now, if all those churches brought all the people, folks, we'd be standing in the parking lots. I mean, we couldn't possibly do it. But we determined. And see, the difficult part was that these pastors, just as we had already made plans, and I turned to them and said, Well, we have plans for Renaissance and Renewal Week. We've already printed the brochures. And they all were just quiet, looked at me like, Okay, you just go ahead and argue with God for a while. And as soon as you understand what he's saying. And I had to concede that it really seemed to be God. And so I came back, and I sat down with our staff and some of our elders, and they all had the same reaction. It can't be God. It's just no, no. But it was God. And so along with what we had already planned, God said, I have also planned Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. And so that's what we're going to do. And we don't know where it's going to go after that. All I know is that we're going to be together to seek the Lord. And so I wanted more definition, you know. Well, I want to be sure that there's all kinds of precautions made. Well, we're going to do our best. We're going to have trained people, and we're going to be ready. I don't know what the Lord may want to do. You say, well, it sure sounds disorganized to me. I don't know. You know, it sounds a little bit to me like the Book of Acts maybe. Where the Bible says that they gathered all together in a particular place to seek the Lord, and that's all they did. And maybe nothing, you know, maybe nothing dramatic will happen. We'll just please God by being together. Maybe so, I don't know. We don't have a preconception. Nobody thinks this is what it's going to look like. We're just going to be together. But I do want to say, please don't just discount this as an ordinary meeting. I think it will be extraordinary. And if I might just lift this out of the context of these next days, what about your long-term walk with God? What about just you and the Lord? If you're a believer today, what might be happening in your life that you know that you know that you're touching the Lord, much like Rick and Karen described here? That you know that He's with you, that He's touching you, that He's leading you. I mean, isn't that really what we all want to know, that we're walking with God? Isn't that true? Hello? Isn't it? We want to know that we're with God and He's with us and we're not off on our own. We want God to be the God of our daily experience. I had a time day before yesterday, early in the morning, I got up from my quiet time, and I was reading a scripture, Deuteronomy 28, maybe you read it this week, and the Lord just broke in on me about something about healing that I had not really seen before, hadn't seen in my own life. And I want to share with you something, not today, but it was such a word in my life that it energized me with expectation. You see, God wants every one of us to be walking in that daily sort of encounter with Him. But let's look here sort of in conclusion today at three people who had the courage to step out and touch Jesus as He passed by. Let me quickly touch these for you. And as you look at these three people, you're going to see three basic little principles. You're going to see people who faced their need and then fell at His feet and focused their faith. Or, for us, it means that we would face our need, that we would fall at His feet, and we would focus our faith on Him. The first one is the leprous man. Now you're in Luke chapter 5. I didn't forget about it. Here it is. Luke 5, verse 12. Are you there? Luke 5, verse 12. While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. One translation says, full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged Him, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. And Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. I am willing, He said. Be clean. And immediately, the leprosy left him. In case you aren't familiar with leprosy, because it has basically vanished, at least from our culture, it was the scourge of the first century. It's a disease that literally, the body begins to decay and eat itself right in front of your eyes, losing all sense of feeling. It's not really painful, but it literally begins to just mangle the limbs and eventually all over the body, and you die. I mean, the only thing we even have that comes close, really, in this generation, is AIDS or maybe a very serious case of terminal cancer. And this leprous man was being eaten alive by this disease. What's more discouraging than that kind of situation? Have any of you ever had the situation where a loved one, maybe that you knew, had some kind of exploratory surgery, and they went in, the doctors opened them up, and then they came out and the report was, you know, we just had to sew them up, they were just full of cancer? You've heard that before. It's terrible news. That's what this man's condition was. I want you to see that he was a desperate man. But he's also a picture of some of us today who are being eaten up with something on the inside. We use that as sort of a term, don't we? You know, what's eating you? Referring to something that's kind of gnawing on us on the inside. Maybe it's fear. You know, fear has a relentless way of chewing at us. Maybe it's sin. Some of you today have not been able to enjoy this gathering because there's this sin that maybe only you and God know about, but it's got you in its grip and keeps pulling you. Maybe today you're here and you've been hurt by someone, and it's eating you up and there's unforgiveness in your life, and it's like a cancer on the inside of you. Just like that leper, you're being eaten up on the inside. And what you really need to do is to face the truth about where you are, fall at his feet, and then trust him. Focus your faith to touch your life. This week. Now, what was the obstacle? What was the obstacle to this leprous man being healed? What was it? Pretty plain to me. Look what he said. It's the same obstacle that plagues many of us. He wasn't sure if it was the Lord's will. Look at it. He says, verse 13, verse 12, if you are willing, if you are willing, have you ever wondered when you've prayed if it was God's will? Have you ever prayed a prayer, Lord, please, if it be thy will, heal so and so? How many of you have ever prayed that prayer? Okay. Almost all of us. Why do we pray, if it be thy will? Best I can tell it's because we've had a lot of prayers that weren't answered, and we can't figure out why God didn't answer, so the only explanation that helps us to save faith is, it must not have been God's will. Or, we quote Jesus when he was in the garden about to be crucified, and he said, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. But that's not in the context of healing. It's in the context of Jesus' surrender of his life. Listen to the words of Jesus when the lepers speak to him. Look right at him. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, I am willing. Would you say it with me? I am willing. And dear one, may I just say today, although I cannot explain to you why God chooses sometimes to instantaneously heal, sometimes to heal over time, and sometimes to not heal the way that we would have him to heal, I do believe that it is the will of God to heal. Why? I am willing, Jesus said. Clean up your act, leper, and maybe I will. You know, your brother is such a loser. If he confessed his sin, he just said, I am willing. And then the leper came and fell at Jesus' feet, and the Lord healed him. The second person we see is over in Luke 8, the desperate father. Luke chapter 8, look at this with me. Verse 40, Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. And then a man named Jairus, and say this next phrase with me, a ruler of the synagogue, say that, a ruler of the synagogue, very important, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house, because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. Here we find a father who is caring and compassionate, but is also desperate, a father who doesn't have any other answers. His daughter is dying. It reminds me of a friend that I have had the acquaintance of in the last couple of years, a very, very successful businessman who owns a TV cable network in hundreds of communities around the country. And in his book called Half Time, an excellent book, he says this, having just discovered that his only son had drowned in a swimming accident in the Rio Grande River. He said, I remember walking along a limestone bluff, perhaps 200 feet above the muddy and treacherous river, as frightened as I've ever felt, a 25-year-old son. Here's something you can't dream your way out of, I told myself. Here's something you can't think your way out of, buy your way out of, or work your way out of. It was all too clear in the maddening solitude on that river bluff. This is, I thought to myself, something you can only trust. And that's where Jairus was. He was desperate. But he faced a dilemma that many of us face because Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue, and he was looking at the only hope that he had, this man Jesus, who was an outcast from the synagogue, one that the Pharisees said, stay away from him. He's a blasphemer and a liar. And so Jairus realized that if he were to go to this Jesus, his only hope, that all of his friends, his livelihood, all of his bodies in the synagogue would also throw him out. And he faced a dilemma that many of us face because when Jesus comes walking by, all of these voices in us say, yeah, but I don't want to go too far with this Jesus thing. I mean, I know that he's the Son of God and all that, and I know that he has power to do things in my life, but I don't want to get carried away. I can't risk the social stigma that might be attached to coming close to this Jesus. I can almost hear Jairus saying, I know he has the power to heal, but what if it gets noisy or someone shrieks or falls down? It's going to be weird. God, I want a nice, neat, clean, no-nonsense, Lord, I want a designer healing. But you know something in every one of us, and I want to comfort those of you who are already uncomfortable when you heard this couple talk about their experience. Can I encourage you that you are among friends? I know very few people in this congregation who is totally comfortable with the stirring of God. Why? Because it is always working against our spirit. You see, our human spirit wants to be in control. Our human spirit wants to be adequate and sufficient. So when we discover that we're not, we have to yield to a higher power, to God. And we resist that with everything in us. That which we don't understand and that which we have no category for, we resist. And when things get a little unpredictable, we become very nervous, and we prefer peace and order and tranquility to something that we cannot control. But dear ones, when it comes to God moving in, it isn't always peaceful and orderly. Back in Mark chapter 5, when Jesus showed up on a scene where a man was possessed by demons, and you can read about it. The Bible said he had a legion of demons. Jesus walked up to him, and this m