God's Miraculous Work: Trusting Beyond Our Limitations

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of Man. He will be the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered to her and said, The Holy Spirit. And I just believe in that today. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also, that the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. And then I'll jump down to verse 37. For with God, for with God, nothing will be impossible." [00:59:18] (61 seconds)


"Nothing is impossible with our God. And God works through us. And he does that using our hands. Now, when I was a kid, you've all heard the story. Last Sunday, Jared Howe used to wander down MacArthur. If I was at home by 10 o 'clock when I was a kid, I was not allowed in the house. So I would wander the streets. I used to ride my bike all over Oakland. I'd go from the hundreds all the way to West Oakland. I know Oakland. And I loved riding a bike. But the kids that were cool were kids that could ride bikes with no hands. And so I would do that. So one time, I had the genius idea of riding with no hands down Redwood Road. And so I came from Skyline all the way down. I was doing good. No hands meant no brakes, because in those days I had my brakes on my handlebar. And I'm coming around the curb right before you get the Chevron. And next thing you know, I slid. It was like ice, but it was asphalt. And I slid, and my knee and my face had chunks of flesh removed. And the part that hurt most, was my mother's care. As she took out pieces of asphalt from my face, she put a gauze over my knee. My skin then grew over the gauze. And she had to rip the gauze off again. And the whole process had to begin all over. So whenever you come down Redwood Road, right before Chevron, know there's a part of Pastor Javier on that road. My DNA is implanted in Oakland. And just like that, sometimes we think we can ride our lives, live our lives without hands on the handlebar." [01:00:49] (108 seconds)


"But I believe God gives us things. He gives us talents. He gives us our treasures. He gives us our times. But we've got to trust God that he can do things beyond human hands. And that is my title for today's sermon. Tell your neighbor, beyond human hands. We're not perfect. We'll fall. We'll skin our knee. We'll get shaky, have shaky starts. But that does not disqualify us. What matters is that we trust God and step forward knowing that he's gonna guide us and help us in everything we do in his name. And throughout scripture, we see God's desire to use human hands to accomplish great things. Actually, the first time you see hands in the Bible is in Genesis 48, where Jacob, whose name was about to change Israel, what he does is he goes to bless his children, his grandchildren, before he departs this life. Tell your neighbor, before you depart, you have to impart." [01:03:56] (71 seconds)


"meant the blessing of the firstborn he crossed his hands and put that blessing on the youngest not on the firstborn and it was a symbol a reflection of Jesus on the cross where God would take the firstborn of humanity the man child and he would put him on the cross and the death that was meant for us he would put on him and the righteousness of God he would put on us the favor of God he would put on us God' holiness he would put on us how many of you praise God for the amen for the firstborn blessing he's given each and every one of us he took our sin God took our sin and the righteousness of God he would put on us how many of you praise God for the firstborn placed it on his firstborn son Jesus and exchanged purity and holiness and righteousness for us Moses we see as he faced the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army behind him God instructed him to raise his hand and stretch out his staff and in obedience God did so and God parted the waters God used the hands of a man to bring deliverance to an entire nation and they left Egypt to never return and they took out Pharaoh's army and that battle was won because of a man who allowed his hands to be used by God in Exodus 17 as Israel battled in the valley that the battle was secured as long as Moses kept his hands up and whenever he got tired and they fell Aaron and others would raise his hands and the battle would be our his and that reminds us we need community we need each other's we need those that'll raise our hands and and speak life to us when times are difficult Jesus over and over and over again we see stretches out his hands the Bible said that was his ministry Jesus stretch out his hands hand. Elijah with the bitter waters of Marah. The Bible tells us that with his hand he took a branch, threw it into bitter waters, and those bitter waters became sweet. And it's the first time the Word of God reveals Jehovah Rapha. It reveals God as Jehovah Rapha, our healer. He didn't use cancer to reveal Jehovah Rapha. He didn't use leprosy to reveal Jehovah Rapha. He used a bitter situation. And I believe what God's showing us is that bitterness and hatred and unforgiveness is what brings disease into our lives. And if we would just use our hands to bless instead of cursing, to speak life to others, we would see our city, our families, our nation, our people. Our world changed because he wants you to use your hands to make bitter waters sweet again. Come on, put your hands up and say, hands of blessing." [01:04:02] (0 seconds)


"I believe we, the church, have been given a mandate. Actually, Hebrews 6 gives us a list of doctrines, of things we should follow that are foundational to the church. And one of those is the law. The law is the law of laying on of hands. It says to not neglect the doctrine of the laying on of hands. It's a God -ordained method for transforming his power. And as Jesus ascended to heaven in Mark 16, he said, in my name, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. God wants to use your hands to bring healing. God uses healing hands. Human hands. Can we just praise God for that?" [01:07:30] (47 seconds)


"And I believe the Lord's saying, church, be ready. Be postured for what's coming. What I'm about to accomplish in your lives, in your family's lives, in your neighborhoods, you've done all you can with your hand. And now God is saying, sit up, watch what I'm about to do beyond human hands. Because our God moves beyond our limitations to show us that he is the light in the middle of the darkness. That is the Christmas story. That at a time least expected, in a place that no one thought significant, and through a method that no one could have imagined, God moved. Tell your neighbor, God's about to move. That's our God. He's an awesome God. He's mighty to save. Our God knows that he can do what he wants to. He will do what he wants to, and he will move where he wants to. How many of you believe it, that God is at work? In your life." [01:12:57] (63 seconds)


"The prophet Zechariah wrote, it is not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. This church was not built only by human ability. Yes, many sacrificed. Yes, many worked hard. Yes, many gave of their time, talents, and treasure. But let's not forget that it was the unseen hand, the hand of God, that made it all possible. And for that, God deserves all of the glory. I thank God for what happens beyond human hands. Amen? Why? Because I know without him, I could do nothing. Without God, we can do nothing." [01:14:40] (44 seconds)


"We can only see all God has done. Actually, the Bible says that when you step into eternity, you have all understanding. I believe it's in that moment that you say, instead of hearing hallelujah, you hear a lot of people saying, oh, that's what it is. You have all understanding. You begin to understand what God has done, and God is declaring today, I will do it. I will do it in your family. I will open doors that no one can shut. I will bless you with my hand. I will make it happen what your hands cannot make happen. Watch what the Lord is going to do. Only God knows how to do it the way he does it, and when God's hand is moving, it'll move beyond human hands, and it doesn't matter what's in the way. There's no stopping God. Come on. There's no stopping God. That's Christmas. The hand of God doing what humanity could not do. Trust him. Tell your neighbor, trust him." [01:17:05] (61 seconds)


"We see it in the book of Judges, chapter 4, the story of Caesarea, this horrible general who had this army that would terrorize people, and he had 900. Iron chariots, and it's this power and terror, and Bible tells us when they rolled through the town, it would shake the Israelites' houses, and they would be captivated by fear in their hearts, but there was a woman named Deborah who refused to let her destiny be held by the hostage, by the spirit of fear, and she remembered the story back in Exodus that if God defeated chariots, then? He could do it now. Come on, say that with me. If God could do it then, he will do it now, and with faith, the Bible says, Deborah led Israel into battle, not with weapons or chariots, but trusting Jesus." [01:18:16] (58 seconds)