"GOD'S HELP IS REAL AND PRESENT" by Rich Zimmerman

Is our church in existence because of God's supernatural provision and help? I know the “right” answer is to that question is, “Yes!” But I would like for you to think with me about that question in more detail.

First of all, even if there are no direct and obvious miracles in a church's history, every church has come into existence because of God's active intervention in the world. God entered history in the person of Jesus Christ and rescued humanity from futility and sin. So every church comes into existence and is continually being born in the ripple of that miraculous intervention. When we preach about forgiveness or celebrate the Lord's Supper together we are remembering awesome events in a way that makes them real in our lives just as they were real in history in times past.

And the effect of God's intervention in history has led to wonderful changes in the lives of people that can only be described as the direct work of God. So all of the wonderful people who founded our church and who nourished it over the years did so as a response to the work of God in their lives. They themselves were miracles of God.

But in a more direct way I believe our church exists and looks toward tomorrow in the reality of miracles that guide, support and sustain our life as a group of people. Do you know of any “coincidences” that came along to support our church and its people at just the right time? Do you remember moments of supernatural guidance that brought us to where we are today? Do you remember a time when just the thing that was needed appeared unexpectedly to save the day? I hope you will tell me and others about those experiences. We can grow so dependent on our own activity that we forget that we have the power of God at work in our midst. We can forget that no matter how much we love the church, God loves it more and has plans to prosper our church.

Telling those stories could easily become “hype” and we could become enamored with miracles at the expense of the down to earth practicalities of being faithful. But I'm not afraid of that because the people of this congregation are genuine and humble, and I don't think we are likely to get caught up in dramatics.

In Christ,