Joyce Meyer - Living Amazed (08/18/2019)
This sermon encourages believers to 'live amazed' by not taking God's presence and works for granted. Using the story of the Ark of the Covenant and personal journals, the speaker illustrates how familiarity breeds spiritual complacency and calls for a return to reverential awe, urging listeners to actively remember and celebrate God's daily miracles to fuel hope and joy.
The Danger of Getting Used to God
Tonight I want to talk to you about living amazed. I think that many times we let what should be extremely special to us become too commonplace. Several years ago, three, four, five, something like that, I was kind of prayer murmuring to the Lord. You know what I mean by that? It was like praying but kind of murmuring. And I said, Lord, why don't I have those exciting, special things happen in my life with me and you, like I used to when I first started to know you? And I'll never forget what the Lord spoke to my heart so clearly. He said, Joyce, I still do the same things all the time. It's just that you've gotten used to it.
I can remember when I would open my Bible and see a scripture that was just a word for me for that day. And I would just about go wild. You know, God speaks to me all the time now. Led by the Spirit. Hear His voice, have His presence. And yet I had the audacity to say to God, why aren't you doing anything in my life? And I feel like tonight is going to be very, very good for all of us. Of course, I've studied this and I'm really excited about it. Been waiting really for months to bring you this word. But I hope that this has an impact on your life tonight that will make some very permanent changes.
Because you see, I believe that if we will live amazed, that we'll never be without hope. And the more hope we have, the more hope we can give to other people. And I want to tell you that we live in a society where people are desperate for hope. And we're about the only light that they're seeing. The world is getting darker and darker. But the Bible teaches us that in the midst of that, we should get brighter and brighter. So we need to turn the lights on. We need to shake things up a little bit tonight. We need to realize what we have and learn to live amazed. I mean, jaw-dropping, wide-eyed. That was God. Come on, somebody give Him praise.
Drowning in Word, Starving for Awe
It sounds kind of ridiculous to say that we've gotten used to God. But we have so much available to us. Oh my gosh. You can have, I don't know, how many Bibles? I mean, I probably have 50, 75 Bibles. CDs, DVDs, stacks of every kind of music that you can imagine. You can sit and flip through preacher after preacher on TV, complain about all the ones you don't like and don't agree with. There's churches on every corner, radio, iPods, iPads, Facebook. I mean, we're just drowning in the Word. And yet our world is in deeper trouble than what it's ever been in before.
We spend more on entertainment than any generation ever. And yet, as a whole, and that's not all of us, but as a whole, people are more miserable than ever. So, kind of seems to me like something that people are doing out in the world isn't working. And I know that God is in the midst of all this just thinking if you'd just pay attention. Can I tell you something? God works in all of our lives a lot more than what we realize that He does. There's no telling us how many times when you're driving in traffic that God saves you from a disastrous accident.
There's no telling us how many times in a year God saves each one of our lives. We have His angels with us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us. How many times you just kind of know that thing that you need to know about your kids and they don't know how you know, but you know. And you don't know how you know, but you know. That's something special. And we need to be amazed. We need to live amazed. And the more amazed we are, the happier we are. The more hopeful we are. The more joyful we are. And the more we can start a pandemic of hope out in the world.
Starting a Pandemic of Hope
Somebody said to me, what is a pandemic? I said, it's a level up from an epidemic. In 1918, 50 million people died from the influenza. And they called it a pandemic. And we're finished here tonight. I hope to send you out with an attitude. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to start a pandemic of hope. And let me tell you something. If you can't handle a pandemic, then at least go home and start an epidemic. The more we're amazed about God, the more other people will be amazed. I want to start by talking to you about the Ark of the Covenant.
You know, the Ark was extremely important to the Israelites. It was designed by God, overlaid with gold, contained the Ten Commandments. The mercy seat was on the top of it where God's presence manifested. They revered the Ark. It was special. God's presence was special. It was holy. Nobody touched it. It could not be touched by human hands, so it had rings on the side of it. And poles had to be inserted through those rings. And only certain people were assigned to carry it. And it had to be carried on those poles, lest anyone touch it. Why? Because God is that holy.
You know that God is so holy that if anyone tried to touch God without coming through Jesus Christ, they couldn't stand it. We need to reverence God's presence more. And to be honest, we need to be more reverent in our church services, our gatherings. People think nothing of walking out during an altar call. I'll tell you the truth. I go to India and preach. And I don't know how they do it, but I have seen those people sit there. Sometimes we'll have like four sessions in one day. Teacher after teacher after teacher.
And I have seen those people sit there literally for five, six hours on the dirt floor and never even think about getting up and going to the bathroom. Americans couldn't do that. We'd have to have three drinks of water. Text 15 people. Go make a couple of phone calls. Run out and get a Starbucks. But see, that's what happens when you have such an abundance of something that you no longer know how to take it for... You begin to take it for granted. You don't know how to really appreciate it.
Lessons from the Ark: Let God Lead
The Israelites took the ark with them everywhere they went because to them it was the presence of God. And it always went before them. It never followed them. It always went before them. Well, what do you think the message is? God should always lead and we should always follow. It was carried into battle and went before them. And they followed it, indicating that they were following God. And when they did that and obeyed God, they won every single battle. And if we'll let God go before us, he will fight our battles.
When Joshua and the Israelites were ready to cross the Jordan to go into the Promised Land, the appointed priests went before them carrying the ark, the presence of God. And when they put their feet in the water, it parted and the Israelites crossed over. If you want God to part the water for you, just take his presence with you everywhere you go and let it lead. Let it lead. We're not as concerned about disobeying God as we should be. Well, I know God told me not to do that, but... Well, I know I shouldn't do this, but... As the Israelites took God for granted and became too familiar.
And the word familiar means common, no longer special, and ordinary. As the Israelites took God for granted and became too familiar with all of his blessings, and they were no longer amazed. Their enemies began defeating them. And the Philistines came against them and took the ark. When the priest Eli heard that the ark had been taken, he fell over dead. Now, just imagine that. He was so shocked that they were no longer going to have the presence of God, and so upset about it that it just killed him. He just fell over dead.
When his daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, heard the news about the ark, she bowed over in labor pains and gave birth, and she called her child Ichabod, meaning the glory is gone from Israel. You know, we don't have any time playing church. We need to have God's presence in our midst everywhere that we go. And if that takes a little shouting and a little acting crazy, so be it. I have seen my husband act like a total, complete nut over a football game. And my sons, why should we not act the same way about God? You hath He made alive when you were dead in your sins, not you hath He stiffened? We're born again, not born again. Let's not get too familiar with what should be extremely amazing to us.
Reverence and the Fear of the Lord
I told God a few years ago, I said, I want you to move in my life in such a way that I will literally live with my mouth hanging open in awe. And I would have to say when I stand here tonight, 27,000 people came to be here with us. And we started with 65. We have the football dome. I think we can safely say that a lot of the glory has been gone from the church for far too long. And by the church, I mean the church at large. But perhaps it's because we're no longer amazed at what God does. Perhaps we've lost too much of our reverential fear and awe.
And we need to start purposely getting it back and being more reverent and living amazed. I don't like to hear people telling jokes about the Holy Ghost. We just need to be careful. God is a holy God. And we need to... We don't need to be afraid of Him, but we do need to have a reverential fear. A reverential fear. You know, I could go on and on. I mean, this thing just gets really interesting. The ark was taken to Ashdod after the Philistines got it in place next to their God, Dagon. He was their idol. And the next morning, poor old Dagon had fallen over flat on his face.
Well, they set him back up. And you know, you can keep propping your other gods up all you want to. And I say that not for you here, but more for the people that maybe just flipped into the TV program. I said, you can prop your other gods up all you want to. But we have the God of gods, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Well, they set him back up. And the next morning, he not only had fallen over, but his head and hands had been broken off. And only his trunk was there. I think God was saying something. Well, they kept acting silly. So the whole place got full of mice. The people got tumors and boils. So they moved the ark to God. They panicked at the deaths that occurred there due to the plague. They got boils and tumors. So they sent the ark to Ekron. They had panic plague tumors and boils. So finally, after seven months, they sent it back to Israel. We don't know what to do with this God. You can have him back.
Familiarity Breeds Complacency
Well, they put him on a cart, pulled him by cows. The ark put it on a cart, pulled it by cows. Went toward Beth Shemesh. And when the people saw it, they rejoiced. They got so happy. But you know what? They disrespected the ark and they looked inside of it. They touched it. And many of them just fell over dead. The ark finally ended up in the house of Abinadab for nearly 100 years. Now what happened during those 100 years? People got used to it. Hey, hey, the ark. Probably when they first moved it into that house, I mean, the people were just thrilled. The ark of God is in my house.
It's kind of like in the beginning. All my sins are forgiven. God does not remember them anymore. I'm a new creature. I'm the righteousness of God. God's not mad at me. I'm going to heaven. I'm full of the Holy Ghost. And then a few weeks later, God, I don't understand why you're not doing anything in my life. If you don't do something, God, I just don't think I can hang in with this any longer. Can I tell you something? If not one thing changed in our lives from now until Jesus came back, we should be enraptured over the fact that we are not going to hell. Can somebody say amen?
Now, that ark's sitting there and the people got so used to it, I don't know, maybe they didn't even dust it anymore. Maybe they just had it back in a room and eventually shut the door of the room, didn't pay any attention to it. I'm going to use this as an example. This is a bottle of salad dressing. You say, what has salad dressing got to do with being amazed about God? Well, I think this is what happens in our life. We let God settle to the bottom. And that's kind of what the, you know, all the good stuff just settles to the bottom.
And you know what I want to do here tonight? I'm going to shake you up. So God is now once again mixed up in everything you do. All your thoughts, all your words, all your entertainment, all your attitudes, everything that you do. Amen? That's really what these things are about. You come, you get all stirred up again, you go home, it's not too long, your problems, the world and the devils suck it out of you. You got to go back and get another dose. Let's get to the point where we know how to give that to ourselves without having to go get it somewhere.
Stirring Ourselves Up by Remembering
I don't want you to ever stop coming, but you know what? I want you to be helping other people too. Now you know what will happen? It won't be long. And this will all separate again. And we're going to have to shake it up again. Stir it up again. You know, Paul told Timothy, stir yourself up. Timothy had gotten fearful and saw what was happening. All the persecution of the apostles. And he'd gotten fearful. Maybe he was wanting to quit the ministry. I don't know. And Paul said, stir up the gift that is within you by remembering, by remembering the gift that you have when hands were laid on you by the elders that was imparted to you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.
You know, we talk all the time about forgetting the past. But let me tell you something. There's some things in the past we need to remember. And you know what I think we do? I think we forget what we ought to remember and remember what we ought to forget. You know, I mean, I don't want to sit around and think about how my father sexually abused me. But I do want to remember what a mess I was and what God has delivered me from. Dave says all the time, if you've ever heard him speak, that that's the major problem that we have in America is we have forgotten the great and mighty things that God did and how he birthed this nation. He birthed it for a purpose. He birthed it for a purpose. It was birthed and settled on the word of God, the word of God alone. And it is wholly unfit for an immoral people. Oh, my. I'll behave.
Let's don't let the amazing presence of God settle to the bottom of our lives. Let's just don't let God be kind of settled down here somewhere and, boy, we know we're saved and thank God we can pull him out when we have an emergency. I get so tired of watching people come and tell me how their lives have fallen apart and how they got all these problems. And they were people at one time was walking in victory and invariably time after time after time. They quit spending time in the word. They quit spending time with God. They stopped going to church to be with other believers. Here comes problems again. Can I tell you something? Whatever you had to do to get what you got, you got to do the same thing to keep it and maintain it. Amen?
Following God's Instructions, Not Our Methods
Well, David finally had the ark taken from the house of Abinadab and he put it on a new cart. And they drove it into the city of David, but they didn't follow the original instructions that the ark had to be borne by the priest by inserting the poles through the rings and that nobody could touch it. You cannot put God on a cart and drive him around. And some of you could just do really well if you would just scoot over and put God in the driver's seat. And listen to me, learn how to follow the beautiful, simple leading of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are not going to work as long as we're trying to run them.
You know, Paul talked in several different places about how he stirred the people up, stirred their faith up, stirred them up by putting them in remembrance. By causing them to remember. And you know what I think we should do? I think it would be healthy if every day we took five minutes and had a think session. Where you just sat down and thought about something that God has done for you. And let's just be childish and just sit in our chair and go... God, I am amazed. Amazed. And there's so many places I could go but I just can't.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 is so amazing. God said, I led you all the way in this wilderness, these 40 years, to humble you, to prove you, to test you, to see if you would keep my commandments or not. And he said, your shoes didn't wear out and your clothes didn't get old and I brought you water out of a rock and I fed you manna. And I did all this, that I might bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. But when you get there, if you forget me... You must remember... You say, what's this bucket up here? This is something that's extremely precious to me. These are the journals that I have kept. My daily journals.
The Power of a Book of Remembrance
Of the dealings with God in my life and the things that God has done for me. The problems I've had. The tears I've cried. The joys. The breakthroughs. Over the last 30 years. I wasn't as diligent about it in the first maybe 10 years, but... There's rarely a day that goes by that I don't write in these journals. These are my books of remembrance. The Bible says in Malachi that God's got a book of remembrance. And that when people sit and talk about him, that he records it in his book. And I tell you what, I had quite a week going through these journals. September the 24th, 1983. We have a serious financial need. We need $200 by Tuesday to pay our charge bill. We have less money now than we've had in a long time. God is good. Great things are about to happen. The storm always comes before the calm. The clouds always hide the sun, but the sun is still there. Praise the Lord. I don't have any charges now. Because I'm able to pay my bills every month. But there was a day. And I want those of you to know who are in that day that I had that day. And many like it. But amazing! I'm still here! Hallelujah! Everybody say, amazing! Amazing!
Okay, now this one just about did me in. This was in August of 1979. Three years after I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I have a prayer list in the back of this. It says, Father, in Jesus' name, we ask you to provide the following things for us. And we receive them by faith, according to your word, and we thank you ahead of time for them. Mom, Sandy, and Laura. That's me and my two daughters. Here's what was on my list. God, I need 12 washcloths. New sheets. I need a new skillet. A can opener. Money for heater fans for both cars. Now, you don't know how excited I was. See, I recorded after these when I got what I had asked for.
God in the Details: Washcloths and Skillets
And so on 8-22, I asked God for 12 washcloths. And on 8-29, my doorbell rang. And somebody that I didn't know, she came to my meetings occasionally, but I didn't know her. Certainly, she didn't know what was on my prayer list. She said, I hope you don't think I'm stark raving mad, but I thought God told me to bring you 12 washcloths. Whoa! Amazing! Woo-hoo! Oh, Lord have mercy. And this box is full of that kind of stuff. You know, you shouldn't mind being needy, because when you're needy, it gives God an open door to do some of the most amazing things for you. When you get to the point where you can take care of yourself, then you don't need God to do that stuff for you.
But that's alright too, because then God can use you to be the one who takes somebody to 12 washcloths. I get to bless people all the time now. It's one of the greatest blessings in my life, to be able to be a giver. I believed God for that for a lot of years. Now, the thing that was interesting about this was I had quit my full-time, well-paying job to prepare for what I thought I saw in my heart that was this ministry that God was going to call me to where I was going to go all over the world and preach the gospel. And here I'm believing God for my washrags and a skillet. Amazing. Amazing.
November 30th, 1989. Two weeks ago a lump was found in my right breast through a mammogram and I had to have a biopsy. It turned out to be cancer. It was a type of cancer that invades your body quickly so I had to have my breast removed. Today I'm going to the hospital to have my right breast removed. It's been a really hard week. I've been attacked by demons from hell, fear, panic, loss of appetite, loss of strength. But I thank God for His Word. Jesus delivered me from all these negative feelings at 5 a.m. on 11-29-1989. And as I go to the hospital, I have peace and joy. I go in the name of Jesus.
Finding Completeness in Christ Amid Suffering
We're praying and believing that the cancer cells have not spread to the lymph nodes. I believe that I'll get a good report, no cancer cells anywhere, and need no further treatment. Well, I didn't have to have any other further treatment. That's been 22 years ago and I'm still here. But I remember how scared I was. And then I want to read this to you because I think this is important. Well, this is kind of funny. They said when I woke up, was coming out from under the anesthesia, I was preaching. Talking about Job. I prophesied to one lady. And I kept saying, this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad. I went home to the hospital in two days. I didn't record this, but I stopped and did some shopping on the way home. I've been very uncomfortable. Can't use my right arm. And I'm right-handed, so that's hard. Somebody has to do my hair, help me get dressed. I can't even pull my own underwear up when I go to the bathroom. But I love God so much. I loved him no less at Calvary than I do in the glorious times. Strongly enough, I believe that I sense more love from him during these hard days than I have at any other time in my life. I must be getting a little taste of what it's like to fellowship with him in his sufferings. Is this okay? I'm not boring you, am I? All right.
After the operation, I had two bags coming out of my side containing blood and water. The Holy Spirit reminded me that when Jesus went on the cross, blood and water came out of his side too. I just took it as a word from God that I was dying to self. Now listen to this, because this is going to help some people. I asked God if I would feel like less of a woman because of having one breast gone. And right up out of my spirit came, no, because you're complete in Christ. So I want to say to any woman here, any woman watching, if you've had something like this happen to you, you've lost a breast or two or other body parts to some filthy disease. That doesn't make you incomplete. Because if Christ is your savior, you're complete in him. If you're single, you're complete in Christ. If you don't have any children, you're complete in Christ. If your husband walked out on you, you're complete in Christ. We can have confidence in who we are in him. Amen?
From Strife to Ordination: Recording the Journey
This is my first message I ever put together on strife. Typed it up, sat down, typed it up on my little typewriter right there. That is so cute. My little message on strife. Oh my goodness. That was when I first got a revelation about how important it was to live in peace. Okay, we got to find this one. This one's good. This is the first fast that God ever called me on. And it was in the month of February, 1982. I began a fast. I fasted for 28 days. And during that time, I asked God to teach me how to love people. Because I sure wasn't very good at it. And when I broke the fast, I recorded this. This is for Rick and Donna. Rick called me today to say that they purchased me a desk. And that Steve and I would share an office in the new building. I didn't expect that. But it sure is a blessing.
But the really wonderful thing is, he also told me that God had laid it on his heart to ordain me. I know also this is God's will. God had placed this in my heart as a real desire. And I had been praying for it, but I had told no one. Remember that when you ordained me? You know, our ministry started at Life Christian Center. Well, I started teaching Bible studies at home in my home. And then I met them. I'd like them to stand up. And I just want you to give them a hand for them helping me get a beginning. Would you guys stand up? Let everybody see you. I don't know how many male pastors would have put up with me, I'll tell you. We were quite a pair. I was 36. He was 26. We both thought we knew everything. Neither one of us knew a thing. I'm going to be about done here. Let's see what else I got here. Oh, here you go. Here you go. Hand of Hope. That's our missions outreach. September the 28th, 1993. I had a dream last night that I was pregnant again. And I already had one baby. And I'm thinking, how am I going to feed two babies? And then when I woke up, God showed me I didn't have to worry about it. Because the one baby that I already had was the new TV ministry. And the second baby was going to be an outreach called Hand of Hope. And the first baby would feed the second baby.
The Miracle of Remembering and Sharing
And now every year we take a percentage of what comes into the ministry. I think we're able to put about $27 million a year into feeding the poor and helping the hungry and preaching the gospel and doing books. And we have 49 orphanages. And literally, you know, all I can say is I'm amazed. I don't even know how to tell you how amazed I am. I mean, we're able to help people all over the globe. You say, Joyce, this is nice. This is all about you. What about me? Can I tell you something? If you would have kept a record of your life, and every little skillet that God provided for you, and those wash rags, and the little breakthroughs, and the doors that He opened for you, and the favor that He gave you. When you have those bad days, you could get your box out, too, and get yourself amazed all over again.
We forget what God has done for us. We forget. And then we think, I need this, and I need that, and I don't know why God's not doing anything in my life, and God's not moving. And if you want to know the truth, I think, although God loves us unconditioned, He understands us. I bet that kind of stuff's a little bit heartbreaking to Him. Then I went on to say some other things about Hand of Hope, and talks about, man, we're trying to find out from God if we should go on TV. We don't know if we're supposed to go on TV or not. God, should we go on TV? Man, we had a great meeting today in West County, had 105 people show up and sold $337 worth of cassette tapes. Uh-oh! It's time to shake it up again. God's starting to settle to the bottom! Woo-hoo! Maybe you guys ought to set one of these in your house to remind you, every time you see it separated, I better shake it up again.
God's Restoration: Even After 50 Years
You know, I wish that I could tell you how blessed we are. This came to me in the mail a few weeks ago at the office. This is my high school class ring. You say, well, what's the big deal about that? Well, when I graduated from high school 50 years ago, my father wouldn't buy me a class ring. And it was just so heartbreaking to me and so embarrassing to me because all the kids are showing each other their class rings and I didn't get one. He wouldn't let me have school pictures. He wouldn't buy me a graduation dress. And here this ring comes, 50 years after I graduate. No name on it. Don't know how anybody even found out where I went to school. They had to know my first name, which is Pauline, and my maiden name. So they had somebody... God had to use somebody to do a whole lot of digging.
And somebody went through the trouble to have me a class ring made. But you know what? This ain't about somebody. You know what God said to me? After 50 years, I'm still bringing restoration in your life. Woo-hoo! Got me another memorial. I'm going to put it in my box. Chris Cain said to me at lunch today, she said, You don't know what I'd give to get a hold of that box? You know what? God is no respecter of persons. And what He does for one person, He will definitely do for another. And here's the thing that I want to get across to you tonight. There are so many little things in our life that we think are coincidence. That are God-ordained. And I want us to start seeing those things. And I want us to make a big deal out of them. Instead of making a big deal out of every little problem or every little inconvenience we have, let's make a big deal out of all the stuff that God does, even though it's little.
Seeing God in the "Coincidences"
I'm going to give you a couple of examples. These things happen to you all the time. We are so led by the Spirit, and we are so unaware of it. We think, oh, how odd that I thought of that. Wow. What a coincidence. Isn't that unusual? Hmm. Hmm. No. It's God right smack dab in the middle of your life. And you've got to have a little country in you to say smack dab in the middle of, but I've got a little in me. So it's God right smack dab, right full on, right up in the middle of your life doing miracles every day. And we could at least have the reverence to be amazed. Amen. I am amazed that I have friends. Look at me. I want to tell you something. There was a time when I was homeless. Me. I was pregnant with my first child. My husband had left me, was living with another woman. I couldn't go back home because my father was a sexual abuser. I didn't have any friends. Do you understand that? No friends. My hairdresser said, you can come and live with me and my mother till the baby's born. Because I had to quit work at nine months. I didn't have him for another four weeks. That's the oldest one sitting right over there. Was sick when I got done having the baby. He didn't take care of myself. I gained a half a pound the whole time I was pregnant. Everything had been depleted out of my body. I had nine cavities in my mouth after I gave birth to the baby. I got boils on my body because I had an infection.
From Homelessness to a Global Family
And when I came out of the hospital with him, I had no idea where I was going to go. And my first husband had come to see the baby that he kept saying wasn't his while he was living with this other woman. And I would drive by the house where they were living every morning on my way to work. I know what it's like to have pain. I know what it's like to feel like your insides are coming out. I know what it's like to be devastated and feel like your life has been destroyed. But I want to tell you something. I also know what it's like for God to work in your life. And for Him to give you double for your trouble. Can you believe that somebody I didn't even hardly know had to take me into their home? I didn't have enough money to even go to the doctor and find out what these boils were on my body. Well, I got some friends now. How many of you would take me in if I needed a place to go? Amazing! I didn't have a place to live. Me and you, David, I carried you out in your little red suit. I was so scared of him because I hadn't had any kind of training. I tried to give him a bath and I wouldn't even hardly touch him. We didn't have any books. We didn't, you know, I didn't... I went through a clinic. Didn't have any money to do it right. But now... He's running all over the world doing mission work. And God has used him to start all kinds of stuff all over the globe. We didn't have a great start, but we're having an okay finish. Amen? You say, well, if he's not Dave's natural born son, why is his name David? Because that's what God put it on my heart to call him. And I didn't even know Dave yet. Amazing! What do you think? Oh, come on. Somebody shout in here tonight. I'm telling you what, God is all over you. He's in you. He's around you. He's over you, under you. He's chasing you, following you. Well, I just don't know if I can make it one more day. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We should be amazed.
The Universe Declares His Amazement
Do you know that right now, Hebrews 1:3 says that God is upholding, maintaining, guiding, and propelling the universe by his mighty word of power. That means the sun stays there because God tells it to. The moon stays there because God tells it to. The stars aren't going to fall on our head tonight because God is holding them up with his word of power. The ocean doesn't go any further than the grains of sand because God commanded it to stay there. Amazing! And I've got more statistics and on and on. I mean, in the Andes Mountain, there's a bat that's the size of a raspberry. 10,000 species of birds. 900,000 different kinds of insects in the world, and we just step on them. 3,000 different kinds of snakes, and most of us don't even like them. I mean, our God is so amazing. It's just so amazing, amazing, amazing.