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God Does Amazing Stuff Through Yielded People · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Tract Echoes on Michael McCurray, your host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grab your bowels if you would and go to the book of St. Corinthians chapter 8.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: St. Corinthians chapter 8, that's where we begin this week and we will continue today.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: St. Corinthians chapter 8 and verse number 1.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: St. Corinthians 8 and verse 1.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about the fact that the God that we serve.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: God, Jehovah.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is so good to us in so many ways and one of those ways is that He allows us to do things through His power that are beyond our power.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about health, wealth, and prosperity.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not talking about so in a small seat of just a few dollars and it will come back to you, I'll sell you a prayer shawl or some water from the river Jordanian Israel.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about any of that.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about the fact that the God we serve does amazing things through weak people, through people with problems, people like me,
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you are human, like I am, people like you.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: St. Corinthians chapter 8, verses 1 through 4, the Bible says this.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: More over brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God was stowed on the churches of Macedonia.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the Apostle Paul on the auspices of the Holy Spirit, writing this letter, second letter to the church at Corinth,
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: says this how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, for to their power.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I bear record yay, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: praying us with much in treaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: that God enables us to give, serve, and love beyond what we think is possible.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yesterday, on the broadcast, we spoke about just by way of an Old Testament illustration.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah and how that prevailing wind helped him beyond his human ability.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: His emotions could not stand to see the wicked Ninevites come to a saving knowledge of God to come to repentance.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: but God helped him.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we want to talk about that just a little bit today, applying it to you and to me.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what you noticed first of all, that God does strong things through weak people.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: How that synchronyens eight to how that integrate trial of a flexion.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Master's Onions, they were suffering.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: This was not a rich church.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't ritzy.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were suffering yet.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: They still gave generously.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: God, often, does His greatest works through our weakest moments.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of Adinaram Judson, I've had the privilege of going to what we used to be called of Burma, now called Me and Mop, got a stand inside of a church that
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: God allowed Judson to plant there.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: He, imprisoned for many years, translated the Bible into Burmese.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I held in my hand what they called a Judson Bible.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: A Bible that he translated, his suffering, long suffering,
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: bore eternal fruit.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think of St. Corinthians 4-7, we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You see, if you and I were perfect, if you and I were just sparkling representations of what Christians are supposed to be, if we had no sin, if we had no fault, if we had no shortcomings,
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then how does God get the glory through the marvelous works that He allows us to do?
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's only amazing if He uses crooked sticks to draw straight line.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: God does strong things through weak people.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: God does rich things through poor people.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sanctrine 182, how then a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Macedonians may have been financially poor, but they gave beyond their ability because God enabled them to.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, world emissions, the word of God to all the world that's kind of our calling card, our motto, our mantra here, at Bible Tracks Incorporated, it thrives on believers, giving beyond their comfort zone.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't have time to turn there, but Luke, actually, you know what?
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's do it.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Luke 21, turn over.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to see this with me.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then Luke 21, can look at verse number 1, Luke 21, and verse 1.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he, this is Jesus, looked up and saw the rich man casting their gifts into the treasury.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in there two nights.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, of a truth, I say unto you, that this poor widow has cast in more than they all.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her peniary.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: She of her peniary, what does that word mean?
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Extreme poverty, what destitution?
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look at that there.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But she of her peniary had cast in all the living that she had.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're in a friend of mine.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go to Israel, not that long ago, and he was looking for some widows' mites.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was looking for those little coins.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they can cost hundreds of dollars now, probably because the Bible mentions them tourists from the world over one them, but he was able to find some for a reasonable cost of $20.40.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thereabouts and got to believe two of them if I recall correctly.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they are impressive because of the history tied to them, but they are singularly unimpressive as currency.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, history, historical vintage value may have lent them some,
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some worth today, but back in that day, you know what they were, almost nothing.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: But to that, widow women, they were worth something.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were just about the last thing between her and being penniless.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or should I say, mightless?
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: and yet she gave.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: She gave all that.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: She had and she got God's attention.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: God does rich things through poor people.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But God does incredible things through surrendered people.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look if you want back at St. Corinthians 8.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: how that, in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, for to their power.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I bear record yay and beyond their power they were, get this now, they were willing of themselves.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They weren't forced to give.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: They begged to give.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Verse four, praying us with much intrigue that we would receive the gift.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: See the heart of missions.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You may say, but you don't understand by the mic.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I live in Tim Buck II relative to the rest of the world.
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody lives where, no, no is where I live.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm no one's special.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm someone in the middle of America.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend, the heart of missions is not about geography.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: The matter of missions is not about ability.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's about availability.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Deal movies famous quote and actually this quote was part of the reason that I finally yielded to the call to preach.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was sitting there under the preaching of a good man of God.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was, I believe, Thursday night, I won't go to all the story.
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Thursday night of a camp, I can't recall if it was my last year of junior camp or my first year of teen camp.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was somewhere around there.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I wasn't first singing a year of teen camp.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I was young, 12, 13, 14, somewhere in there, and the preacher preached powerfully.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: God used him, though he's a great preacher beyond his power.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he used this quote by De La Moody.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: By God's help, Mr. Moody said, I aim to be that man.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, friend, I have not lived up to that standard.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have not been fully consecrated to God.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know that, but I've striven to be more consecrated today
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be more surrendered, more yielded today, willing of themselves, those Macedonians were.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: God first, disstrong things to weak people.
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: God does rich things to poor people.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: God does amazing things to yielded people.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder, are you willing to go beyond your power?
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Jonah's story, we mentioned yesterday in Monday, it's often read as one of failure, reluctant, profit, rebellious man, man who fled from God's own call.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you look a little closer, Jonah's story is one of grace, grace to a city that didn't serve it, grace to a preacher that didn't deserve it, grace that allowed him beyond his power to reach the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, change, change an entire city.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: God's grace, yes, reach Nineveh.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: wicked violence city.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: God's grace pursued Jonah even when he ran in the opposite direction.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: God's grace enabled the Macedonians who were weak, poor, penniless, yet they gave joyfully and sacrificially.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And God's grace is reaching you today.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: No matter who you are, where you are, what you've done.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: The grace that reached Nuneva is the same grace that can reach you.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nuneva wasn't looking for God yet he sent a prophet to warn them.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: They repented and God forgave them completely.
• 11:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord is not slack and certainly is prolly as some man counts like this, but as long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: You might feel too sinful, too broken, or too far gone, but if God's grace was enough for Nineveh, it's enough for you.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: the same grace that was offered to Jonah for transformation can transform you.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: God had a Jonah resisted God's call because of his own pride.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You had God never gave up on him.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even in Jonah's rebellion, he was given a second of third of fourth chance.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah didn't deserve any of those chances, but God gave him one anyway.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you've been running from God's call.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you think you failed too many times.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: If God could still use Jonah, he can use you.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the grace that empowered the Macedonians can empower you.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not asking for God's not asking for your ability.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's asking that you trust in His ability.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: St. Corinthians 9 8 will end with this, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye always, having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fred, I encourage you, yield to him today.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank you for listening into Bible-tracked echoes, I'm Michael McCurray, your host and welcome you.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I invite you to tune in again tomorrow.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: My prayer as always is that you have a great day for his glory, we'll plan on talking you soon.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.