Dear friends in Christ, those of you who were at Epiphany's first service a year ago probably won't recall my first sermon.  The topic was a bit radical for our Lutheran ears.  It was titled, "Expect a Miracle," and was a recounting of the way Epiphany got its start through a series of unexpected events.  And in the course of the past year we have rejoiced time and again at the grace and power of God Who brought this congregation into existence.

          We have seen many miracles this past year, and we can credit them all to the Lord.  He's the one who made them happen.  No, we're not pushing five hundred people a Sunday, but we are pushing one hundred.  And no, we don't have our own building yet, but we still have this lovely place and we're making headway towards our own land.  Most of all, we're learning that Epiphany is Christ's church, not our own, and that He's building it miraculously, in His way with His people, according to His schedule.

          Perhaps you've seen today's bulletin and noticed that last Sunday Epiphany received a gift for the Building Fund in the amount of $50,000.  I told this to some pastor friends this past week and their jaws dropped just as much as ours.  This gift is but another miracle of God, and it reminded me of Acts 4:36 where Barnabas sold a field and brought the money to the disciples.  God's Word moves people, and His grace is shown in the ways He moves people to act.  Thanks be to God!

          God works miracles, and He allows us to participate in them.  St. Paul in our text says confidently, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  He wasn't bragging, just telling us how God does His work.  And I'm sure believers of all ages have read those words and thought, "I wish I had that kind of faith!"  Well, you can!  You can have that kind of faith!  You can do all things through Christ, maybe not all your things, but all His things.  Paul was just an ordinary man, but to have such faith, he had to empty himself of his own ambition, put aside his pride and throw out many of his own plans.  Doing all things through Christ means some changes in life.

          If Paul seems a bit over-confident, it's probably because he'd come to learn his limitations.  Though he was a man of great gifts and exceptionally bright, he'd learned not to put his confidence in himself, but in the Lord.  God enables people, even you and me, to do great and miraculous things when we take the step of faith and trust Him.  It means placing our lives in His hands.

          But life doesn't always go according to our plans, does it?  We see an open door and go through it, believing this where we should go, then we find it's the door to unemployment or bankruptcy.  We marry the one we love, have children and then wonder how they can turn out like they did.  Or else we wonder who is this stranger we're now married to.  We use our intellect to get ourself through college, secure a promising position, attend self-improvement seminars, work long hours and then one day find ourselves "outsized" (a.k.a. "fired").  Or we have a good life with the kids doing well;  we've put a nice sum away for retirement and then get back the medical report, "It's malignant."  No, life doesn't always go according to our plans.

          But the Christian life will always go according to His plans.  He can see the end of the tunnel and He knows what it will take for us to make it through.  And the greatest tool He gives us for the trip is faith, faith to move mountains, faith that He loves and forgives us, faith He will stay with us on the tunnel trips we all must take.  St. Paul says, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."  He didn't learn those lessons easily, but he did learn them, because He listened when God spoke.  He paid attention when God got active in his life.  Whatever you can say about Paul, he did learn from his mistakes.

          It's easy to feel picked on.  It's human to think our problems are unique and sometimes insurmountable.  It's tempting to think God doesn't care.  It's very easy to pity ourselves when things don't go according to plan.  But self-pity won't help us.  Blaming someone else is a waste of time.  Being a victim solves nothing.  To do anything, we need God's power.

          A young man in Louisiana wanted to learn fishing.  He asked around and found the best fisherman was an elderly gent who took him in a boat to a place far out on the lake.  They stopped the boat and the young man watched intently to see this master fisherman do his work.  He was aghast as the old man pulled out a stick of dynamite, lighted it and tossed it overboard.  The explosion stunned dozens of fish that floated to the surface.  In a flash the young man whipped out his Game Warden badge.  "You can't do it that way, it's against the law, and I'm placing you under arrest."  The old man calmly lit another stick of dynamite, handed it to him, and said, "You gonna just sit there talking or are you gonna fish?"

          Sometimes I think God gets tired of our complaints and excuses and hands us a lighted stick of dynamite in the form of some crisis.  When that happens, we have some choices.  We can scream and run for our life.  At least that gets us away but the problem still remains.  Or we can yank the fuse and try our own plan, even if we have no clue what it is.  Or we can gripe and complain that God is not fair and we waste a lot of time and energy and just get blown up.  Or we can use the power He gives us - His Word and faith, given by the Holy Spirit.  His power will get things done for us.

          The Greek word for power is "dumanis" (dunamis), dynamite, the dynamic power the Holy Spirit brings in the Gospel to change people's lives.  We people are lost sinners.  If you don't believe that, it's time to start.  Columbine wasn't a fluke, it was the result of sinful people.  That young man who took his own life last Thursday wasn't a victim, he was a fallen human being who needed rescuing, a young man who'd lost hope.  We all need hope.  We all need to be rescued from the pits we fall into.  And that's why God sent Jesus.  A Lutheran humorist once summed up the Gospel:  "God loves you, but you're no good;  that's why He sent Jesus - praise the Lord!"

          That humorist got a few laughs, but he also got it mostly right.  God does love us.  He created us for good and wonderful things, but we have messed up our life with sin.  Our sin separates us from God and from each other, so He sent His only Son to bridge the gap and straighten out the mess we got into.  Jesus did all that was necessary, and when we trust Him by faith, we're forgiven and have a new life.  And the only thing we can do is thank and praise Him by how we live, and love each other.  "God loves you, but you're no good;  that's why He sent Jesus - praise the Lord!"

          There's power in that simple sentence, power that changes lives.  Paul once said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." (Rom. 1:16)   The Gospel is power, dunamis, the dynamite of God to blow up our pride and break apart our rock-hardened ways so He can re-make broken people into forgiven and loving people, people willing to trust Him, people willing to forgive others.  The Gospel gives life to the drowning, and hope to the hopeless.  It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.  And it moves people like Paul and - and us - to say,  "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

          A small congregation in the Smoky Mountains built a new church on a tiny piece of land willed to them by a church member.  Ten days before the new church was to open, the county building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building.  Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they wouldn't be able to use their new church.

          Unfortunately, the church with its tiny lot had used every inch of land except for the hill against which it had been built.  In order to have more parking, they'd have to move that hill.  Undaunted, the pastor announced the problem the next Sunday morning and said he'd meet that evening with all members who had "mountain-moving faith."  Twenty-four of the congregation's three hundred members came and prayed that God would somehow remove that hill and provide the funds to pave their parking lot before next Sunday's dedication.  At ten o'clock the pastor said, "Amen!  We'll open next Sunday as scheduled.  God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too."

          The next morning there came a knock at the door of his home.  A rough looking construction foreman came in, "Excuse me, Reverend.  I'm from Acme Construction Company over in the next county.  We're building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt.  Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that hill behind your church?  We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, but we need it right away.  We can't do anything else until we get the fill dirt.  What do you say?"  Well, that little congregation held its first service the next Sunday as planned.  And there were a lot more members with "mountain moving faith" than there had been the previous week!  I'm told that's a true story, and I believe it, because that's how God so often works.

          But I am wondering, would you have shown up for that prayer meeting?  And if you did, would you have believed the pastor?  Some of us have problems as big as a mountain, and we've prayed and prayed, but it hasn't moved yet.  And some of us are finding out that buying property in Douglas County is like moving a mountain.  But God can move mountains.  He can do all kinds of great things through us.  We just have to trust Him.  And we all need to pray to God to move our mountain, whatever it is.  Then we'll say with Paul, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  Amen!

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.