Wednesday, September 10, 2014
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There was a stretch in the life of the Buffalo Bills football team where they had to live down three straight losses in the Super Bowl. Now, there were some memorable victories, but people tend to forget the victories. In fact, they did have this one amazing victory. It was January 3, 1993. It was one of the most amazing games I can remember! It was the wild card game against the team known then as the Houston Oilers. Now, the winner of that game would be in the playoffs, and as things turned out, ultimately in the Super Bowl.
For a while it looked as if the Bills should have stayed in bed that morning. By early in the third quarter, Houston was leading them 35 to 3. It's over, right? I mean, they don't have time to make it up. And their star quarterback was injured on top of everything else. They've got their backup quarterback in. Virtually every commentator and every viewer had given up any hope of the Bills winning. It was a done deal. There just wasn't enough time to come back from that far down. Wrong! Touchdown! Bills, touchdown! Bills, touchdown! And then a thrilling tie finish to the game. They went into overtime. Final score: 41 to 38 – a Bills victory!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not Enough Time to Win."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 5, and we're beginning at verse 24. "A large crowd followed Jesus and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors, had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. Because she thought, 'If I could just touch His clothes I will be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering."
This is Jesus, the Lord of the hopeless situation, and maybe that's exactly the kind of Christ you need right now. This lady has had 12 years. She's seen every doctor, exhausted every possibility. Spent every dollar and she's got nothing to show for all of that. But she recognized one fact, and she acted on it in faith. Jesus can do in a moment what man cannot do in 12 years, or 20 years or 50 years. It says here that "immediately her problem stopped" after she touched Jesus.
See, sometimes we look at the game clock and we look at how far down we are. And we think there just isn't enough time to win this one. It's over! Well that's what Mary and Martha thought when their brother, Lazarus, got sick and Jesus didn't come in time to heal him. And then he died, and they said, "It's over!" They had no idea Jesus purposely waited until things got worse so He could do an even greater miracle. He raised the dead.
Maybe you're tempted right now to panic or give up or take matters into your own hands. I mean, if God was going to do something, He would have done it by now, right? That's probably what the ancient Jews thought. They were supposed to be getting out of the centuries of slavery in Egypt, but there had been plagues and Pharaoh refused to let them go over and over again. And then he softened, and then he hardened his heart again and they thought, "We'll never win this one."
But the night God delivered the Jews from slavery He told them to sleep in their clothes and not to bother putting yeast in their bread. There wouldn't be time for it to rise. And in one night He took an entire nation out with the Egyptians basically chasing them saying, "Please, take my money, take my jewels. Get out of here!" Incredible!
The point? When God is ready to move, stand back. He pours it on in the last minute and scores more points in less time than we could ever imagine. He gets the solution ready for us. He gets us ready for the solution. And then He moves so fast you can hardly keep up with Him.
The score might look hopeless right now. You may not even want to show up for the fourth quarter. And God may wait until there's less than a minute left. But do not give up. You keep trusting this God who doesn't need much time at all to win a miraculous victory.