Now I was thinking of these divine moments in the Bible. Another divine moment is Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a little short guy, and Zacchaeus got a glimpse of Jesus, but he couldn’t really see Him because of his shortness of stature. And so he ran ahead, the Bible says, and he climbed a sycamore tree.
And Jesus recognized him and called him down and said, “I’m going to eat in your house.” Now this was a divine moment. It was a life-changing moment for Zacchaeus, for Zacchaeus was a hated tax official. Everyone hated him. He had cheated lots of people, and he admitted it. “People that I have cheated,” he said, “I will restore fourfold.”
Right in the middle of the circumstances that you’re in, you can face a divine moment. And Zacchaeus faced a divine moment, and God turned the tremendous table on him. And he came in to the kingdom of God.
Another example of a divine moment is the woman at the well. And after Jesus had said, “If you will give me a drink, I’ll have just this one sip. But if you drink of what I have, you’ll never thirst again.”
And of course they got into quite a discourse there. She was a hated Samaritan. She was a half-breed. And in those days, they hated the Samaritans. It was against the Jewish law for him even to go into the town, and yet He asked her for a drink of water.
And it’s an amazing situation. He said, “Where is your husband.” And she said, “Well, I don’t have a husband.” “Well, you’re right. You’ve had five, and the one you’re living with now isn’t your own.” And they had quite a moment there, and it was a divine moment for this woman.
Now why am I saying these stories about these divine moments? That woman became an evangelist. She went into town and told everybody about a man who had told her everything that she had done. That’s speaking the word of God.
Because tonight is a divine moment. Now you read the Bible and you say, “Wasn’t that great? Isn’t that wonderful? Look at all these things that you did with the Roman army captain. Look at what you did with the man’s daughter. Look at the woman at the well. Look at Zacchaeus. Look at Joseph. Look at David. Look at Daniel. Look at all these men and women in the Bible who had great miracles in their life. But what about me in 2008?”
Well, I’ve got news. The God of the Bible is the God of the now, right now. He said, “I am the Lord, I change not.” The same God who brought miracles in Bible days, the same God who brought defining, divine moments in people’s lives is the same God to deliver you tonight.