Salvation Army
Trumpet Lessons…..I was a complete and total failure. catch them first
Last time at IC Convocation
Taking myself too seriously.. Chillocothe.. probably dead.
I want to speak to you tonight about miracles…
Small and large… every day and once in a lifetime.
Let me tell you about Apryl. Jr at Triopia. Standing in front of bathroom mirror last Monday morning, combing her hair. Friend who was pregnant. Her words: “At 7:05 a.m. something knocked me to my knees. I figured maybe I was supposed to pray for that baby.” Came to school to find out that the baby had born and was taken into surgery with heart problems the moment Apryl prayed. The baby’s fine.
Let me talk to you about Miracles I know a saint… Helen Dickens… “don’t worry, the angels are surrounding you.” Calling me just as I get an idea for a play.
This weekend, I’ll be with Fidel Cashero.
Daniel: Zebco 22
Chicken Soup, Priest
Craig, Lucerne Switzerland.. Hank, Richard.
Tough teaching year. Dylan stops to pray.
I sat in this very room several years ago.. Lutheran minister… how he and his wife had become addicted to Ouija boards and automatic writing… tape recorder. I believe in miracles.
7th-grader today.. Hero speech.. “My hero is God because He’s the one who made all your heroes possible.”
Rick… man’s house.
Billy Graham.. was asked the “secret” behind his miracles…two ladies.
In teaching, I expect miracles. Over 50% of the Jr High age students in our nation claim to have used drugs. I expect miracles. Chances of divorce are nearing fifty percent. I expect miracles. Nearly half of some of my classes live in one-parent homes and divorced families… I expect miracles. Last week… teacher gathered us together…Hottest hard rock star: Marilyn Manson. Wears women’s underwear onstage… “Screw your parents. Screw the church. Screw God. I am the Anti-Christ!” ….. I expect miracles. I arrive at school at 7 a.m. every morning and pray at the door of every classroom. I walk the halls, praying for every locker.. I expect miracles. This is not a magic formula, just what God has called me to do. Because I expect miracles. I have no choice. I couldn’t exist without them.
More miracle stories in the audience tonight than I could ever tell.
The only thing these miracles have in common is the faith & prayers of a believer.
This Present Darkness… “One lady on her knees.
I urge you to keep up your work for the Lord. Don’t ever let your time or energy be a worry. God has promised to supply both. And if you truly want to be an auxiliary to the Jacksonville Salvation Army, pray. The Salvation army needs food, it needs clothing, it needs volunteers… but more than anything else, it needs prayer.
Corrie Ten Boom. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Turn your worry into prayer. He wants your faith. He wants to do miracles. Jacksonville is torn in places by prejudice.. by economic problems.. but mainly by fear. … PRAY THAT THE FEAR BE EASED. and EXPECT MIRACLES. We live in an area of immense wealth and abject poverty. PRAY THAT THOSE WHO CAN HELP, WILL. and EXPECT A MIRACLE.
We have in one camp, those in Jacksonville who badly need help. We have in another camp, those who’s faith depends upon their helping others. .. who would be so blessed if the were only given the will and opportunity to be Christ’s hands and feet……PRAY TO BRING THESE GROUPS TOGETHER.
A guarantee you this The only mistake you will ever make in praying for a miracle is not praying big enough.
End: But there is no miracle in the world which compares to when you reach out to help another in the name of Jesus Christ. Nothing compares. It is the little miracles that we perform day by day which will truly change the world. You may think that sounds trite… The big miracles, you say, are performed by big people.. like Mother Teresa, world fame, millions in donations.. Who prayed for her as a child? You may think of Billy Graham bringing millions to Christ… Who first prayed for him?
I was without doubt the biggest pain in Aunt Bertha’s Presbyterian Sunday School Class. She would make me sit by the pump organ where I couldn’t climb over the choir rail and escape.
My testimony. Baptist Camp. IC. first real prayer. I believe in the power of miracles. A grandmother who prayed for me every day of her life.
Camp exercise… 2 lines in heaven Who will be in your lines?
Bottom line, my friends. Our job is not to feed the hungry and clothe the naked of the world, and to use God to accomplish our purpose. Our job is to bring people to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, and seeing to their needs along the way. Our job is to pray, and pray and pray.
General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, was an evangelist first, and everything else second. Christ was very clear on this. Seek Ye first…… Go Ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations…
Last summer I sat on my front porch… Ashley.. crying.. no money for volleyball and church camp… She went to both. She is so naïve that she now believes in miracles. How can we, who have seen many more miracles than Ashley, do less?
Let us become a true auxiliary arm of the Salvation Army. Let us pray and believe that miracles will happen.