Jentezen Franklin - The Number One Ingredient For A Miracle
I'm reading today from Genesis 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being". I wanna preach this morning on the number one ingredient necessary to receive a miracle from God. The number one ingredient is found in that text when it said that God formed man out of the dirt, or the dust, of the ground. Recently there is a telescope that NASA has, and it offers a kaleidoscope of colors that have never been seen. It is the most amazing technology and they have discovered clusters of galaxies and clusters of stars that they did not know even existed. And the amazing thing about it is, this is what the article said.
It said, "This amazing telescope highlights where dust is," and they have now determined that the major ingredient for star formation and galaxies is dust floating around. And then they went on to say, "And the major ingredient for star formation," I'm quoting, "and for life itself" they believe it all came out dust. Without dust... see I don't believe science and the word of God oppose one another, I believe they actually confirm the truth that in beginning God, the Big Bang was when God said, "Let there be". Genesis 2:7: "The Lord God formed man out of dust from the ground and then He breathed breath into the nostrils of man". When God saw dirt He said, "I see life". When God saw dirt and dust He said, "I see potential".
In the beginning God created man from the dust of the earth and regardless of your status, regardless of your education, regardless of whether you're rich or poor, regardless of your nationality, regardless of the color of your skin just look around you, look all around you. Turn to somebody and look at them and I'mma tell you something, they're just dirt. We all came from dirt. When you get to thinking you're so much better than somebody else just remember you were nothing but a dirt ball when God found you and He breathed breath into you and gave you enormous potential and purpose in your life. Every one of us came from dirt. I don't understand how we can become so arrogant, so uppity, look down on people who are in dirty situations in their life when we came from dirt ourselves.
When God made you, He didn't make you out of heavenly ingredients. When God made you, you did not have royal pedigree, when God made you, you were nothing of value. You were undignified, you were dirty, you were of no value, you were dusty, you were worthless, everything about you had no use. You were just a dirt ball that God breathed upon by the almighty God and you better not ever forget it. Genesis 3:19 says, "From dust you came and to dust you shall return". When you understand that the God of heaven became dirt like us so that we could become holy like Him when we understand that God said, "I'll put Myself in dirt and fill that dirt with life so that I'll become like them so they can become like me".
I was dirty, I was, I don't have to preach to you, I was dirty, I was filthy, I was unclean, I was lost and undone all my righteousness Isaiah said, "Was as filthy rags". But God said, "I take dirty things and I breathe the breath of life upon it and I put my hand upon it and I can raise you up out of the ashes and I can do great things". And I don't know who I'm preaching to today but I need a witness in this room and in all of our campuses. Wait a minute, here's what I want. I want anybody glad that your dirt didn't scare God and you know it. I want you to take a moment and clap your hands and give Him the praise. Are there any dirt balls in here that have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ? It's really amazing. God puts his hands on dirt, God shapes dirt, God molds dirt, God breathes on it and that which was useless and that which was dirty and that which had no future He says, "I'll use it".
They may back off and they may not want to have anything to do with it but I'll cleanse it and I'll anoint it and I'll make it a trophy of grace. What I'm trying to say to somebody is if you brought some dirt in here, this is no time to quit. This is not a church that's here to kick you when you're down. We're here to tell you Jesus loves you, Jesus can help you, Jesus can lift you and Jesus can save you. Take a praise break right where you are and give the Lord the praise. I want to say to you, "Keep coming. Keep coming if you've got a dirty habit. Keep coming if you've got a dirty marriage. Keep coming if there's dirt all over your family and there's all kinds of stuff and disgrace and pain in your life, just keep coming. Just keep coming 'cause God loves dirt, God says, 'I can use dirt. I'll actually anoint that dirt and I will use what you've gone through, what the enemy meant for your evil, I'll turn it around and I'll use it to bring glory to the cross'." Hallelujah.
So they in John the 6th chapter bring the woman taken and they had seen the Pharisees, taken in the very act of adultery and they throw her down at the feet of Jesus and they said, "She's so dirty," I'm gonna paraphrase it, "She's so dirty and we don't wanna associate with this dirty immoral woman". Jesus did something strange. The same Jesus, God in skin, in the book of Genesis that saw dust and formed a man, He reaches down. He doesn't say, "Come up here where I am and maybe I'll help you," but He stooped down the text said. He stooped down and began to write in dirt. It's not important what He wrote, the message is in where He wrote it. He touches dirt, He's not afraid, He's not scared of dirty situations and ugly situations but He said, "The only person who has permission to judge her sin is the one who is without sin. Throw the rock".
And every one of them from the oldest to the youngest dropped their rock and walked away and the only one who could have thrown the stone was Jesus but instead He's touching dirt instead of throwing rocks because He says, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more". He begins to write in that dust, in Numbers 5 there's a strange Old Testament law that they went by. It's called the law of jealousy and listen to me carefully. If a person was suspected of committing a sin and they denied doing it, they would bring that person before the high priest and the high priest would then take that person and say to them, "Did you do it? Yes or no". And they would say, "No," if they felt they didn't do it. And I don't understand all of this except it's types and shadows but here it is. "He would then take, the high priest, holy water, in an earthen vessel and take some of the," notice this, "dust off the floor of the tabernacle and put into the water".
God doesn't just need holy in the temple, he needs dust in the temple and when the holy and the dust get mixed together, it brings revelation. If you only got a bunch of church people in the building and they don't ever mix with the dirty that ought to be in the building too then you never get a revelation of what the truth is and here's what would happen. The priest would mix the dirty dust off the floor of the temple with the holy water and when he mixed the holy water with the dirt he would say to that woman or that man, "Drink it". And before he would do it he would say, "Now I curse you", and if you don't believe those Old Testament priests could put a curse on something, read the story of Balaam, they could curse. I'm not, I didn't say cuss, they could curse. And it was real. It was real. And if they would drunk that water and they lied in the temple, in the presence of the ark of the covenant their belly would begin to swell and be poisoned and they would get very, very ill and sick but if they drunk the water, the dirt and the water mingled together would bring the revelation of whether they were guilty or innocent.
Isn't it amazing that the dust got mixed with the holy and it brought a revelation. God used the holy in the temple and the dirty dust in the temple to bring a revelation. The Bible said in 2 Timothy 2:20, "In a great house", or a great church, there are not only vessels of gold that's mature saints and vessels of silver 'cause they've been through the fire and they've learnt how to pray and they've learnt how to stand, they've learnt how to love God no matter the sunshine or rain but there's also in that same great house, it's a great house and it's only a great house if it has gold and silver, yeah, praise God the holy, the righteous, but we also have to have wood and clay. Clay is dirt. Some for honor and dishonor but they're all part of a great house. Somehow we've gotta be more open to those who are lost. We need people who are on the journey, we need people who are searching.
I want to have a church that everybody comes. If a transvestite comes let them come, are you so holy you can't say, "I love you in the love of the Lord and I can pray for you". We want any and every one to come and find Jesus. I don't want anybody to be lost, why? Because God doesn't want, He doesn't want any to perish. The Bible said that John the 9th chapter that a man named blind Bartimaeus was sitting by the road begging. Never allow your handicap to name you. Why didn't they just call him, "Bartimaeus," because the enemy wants to label you the rest of your life with your handicap. And he had been born blind, never seen. One day Jesus passed by and he screamed, "Have mercy," and the religious bunch entourage said, "Shut up you unimportant, dirty piece of begging blind man, He's too important for you, He's too holy, the holy doesn't mix with the dirty, leave Him alone". And the Bible said, "He cried louder," "Jesus thou son of David, have mercy upon me".
I feel the Lord in this place this morning. The word of God is alive right now. I'm preaching to somebody watching me on television. You may have a revolver up to your head but God doesn't see dirt when He sees you. You hate yourself 'cause you can't quit it and you made a mess of your life and your children are gone and your life is messed up but Jesus says, "I'll take it. I'll restore it. I'll mold it. I'll shape it. I'll anoint it. I'll bless it. I'll use it. I'll stop for you". And in that moment Jesus did the strangest thing. He said, "Lord, I wanna see," and your Bible said, "He reached down and grabbed some dirt and He spit in the dirt".
Now if I spit on you it's just my spit but if Jesus spits, that's called holy water. If Jesus spits, what he was doing is he was mixing his DNA, y'know that's how they get your DNA. The DNA of deity mixed with dirt and then He slapped mud cakes on the blind mans eyes and He said, "Go to the pool and wash," that's called water baptism. So he's going back to the original material in the book of Genesis that in the beginning God saw dirt and He said, "I'mma make it, I'mma make it come alive. I see value, I see life there," and now Jesus is about to have a man who was born blind the first time, he's about to get, "I once was blind but now I see, I was lost but now I'm found". And Jesus says, "In order to do that, I gotta mix the DNA of deity, My spit with his mud," his dirt.
And he's gonna go wash in the pool, that's called water baptism. Go down wet, go down lost, go down on your way to hell, first time you were born, your name was in the book of death, the second time when you get born again your name goes down in the book of life. First time you were born you were born a sinner. The next time you were born again in an altar like this, this morning. Guess what? You get the DNA of deity and Jesus says, "Your blood is royal, and I see more than dirt, I see a child of the most high God". I need somebody to praise Him one more time, I'm almost done. 2 Corinthians 4:7, "We have this treasure in earthen, dirt vessels, that the excellence and the praise would be of Him and not of us".
What I'm saying to you is this, "If you'll bring in your dirt this morning. If you'll quit playing God games and religious churchy religiousity, you'll get real before God and say, 'Here's this dirt in my life. I really want you to breathe on it. I really want you to take it 'cause I can't cleanse it and I can't get rid of it. Somehow someway I believe you're the God of dirt and I believe that you can take the dirtiest things that have happened in my past and in my life and turn it for Your good'." I'm gonna ask you to stand all over this room and at every campus, wherever you're watching me. Please no one leaving and moving for the next few moments.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're in this room today, wherever you're viewing this. You would say, "Pastor, I feel an urgency. I feel a pulling, I feel a nudging from the Holy Spirit. This service is for me, this message is for me, this altar call is for me". I don't want you to become afraid, I don't want you to become hesitant, I don't want you to begin negotiating your mind a way that you cannot do this that God surely brought you to this church this morning to let you know that there's nothing in your life that He can't touch, and He can't redeem, and He can't cleanse. He's able, He's the mighty savior and He's in the room this morning and He's standing down here saying, "Come, come onto me all who are weary and heavy laden and if you need help, I've got your help. I can take the dirty things and turn it into my glory. Earthen vessels that carry glory, flawed people who carry glory. Struggling people who carry the glory of God".
If you know that's you and you would say, "Pastor, I need to get right with God this morning. I'm not right with God and I wanna get right with God this morning". If that's you raise your hand as high as you can at every campus and in this room, do it right now, hands, hands, hands, do it right now. Now if the Lord had you do that, I'm gonna ask you to step out of your seat and come stand right down here and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer and it's gonna change your life. Come now, come now, come now, come now, come now, everybody sing! Amazing Sing it church! "Amazing Grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see". Everyone one of you who've come forward this morning, this is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Pray this prayer, everybody, under the sound of my voice, pray it bold, pray it big.
Lord Jesus you are the Savior, there's no salvation but in your name and today I humbly, just as I am, without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me. Wash me, cleanse me, take me in the potter's hands. Mold me into your image. I give You my dirt, it's all I have to offer You. I give it to You. Please get glory out of this earthen vessel. From this day forward I am deity because I have DNA from my King, Jesus. I am forgiven. I am a child of God.