MIRACLE

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Gphank Y"ou

Study to show thyself approved unto God.

2 Tim. 2:15

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m	CREATION
HOUSE
BOOKS ABOUT SPIRIT-LED LIVING

Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-75648 International Standard Book Number: 0-88419-330-6

Creation House

Strang Communications Company 600 Rinehart Road Lake Mary, FL 32746 (407) 333-3132 Fax (407) 333-7100

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963,1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NEB are from the New English Bible. Copyright © 1961,1970 by the Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.

First printing, October 1993 Second printing, April 1994 Third printing, September 1994 Fourth printing, April 1995 Fifth printing, March 1996 Sixth printing, August 1997

I would like to dedicate this book to:

• my staff — people who were miracles in my own congregation and have come to play a very important role in church leadership;

• our deacons — they had more vision and daring than I did and stretched me to believe God and

trust Him to provide for our financial needs;

• the people in my house, my congregation — they

helped carry out the dream God gave us;

• the miracle in my own house, my wife, Marja, and our three children, Kristi, Matthew and Luke — Matthew and Luke are both powerful evangelists and preachers;

Kristi’s goal has always been to have a family and be a mother, and she’s given me three wonderful grandchildren;

• and my wonderful heavenly Father, who is the source of all miracles .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F OR THE writing of this book I am indebted in a tremendous way to the assistance of two men, Ron Hembree and Walter Walker.

Ron Hembree is an outstanding, award-winning author of many well-known books, including St. Mark of Calcutta ; a TV personality; and a dear friend of many years who knows me as few people do. He took time out of his busy schedule to use his talents on this project, and I thank him.

Walter Walker, former editorial director of Creation House, heard me speak on this subject at the Charismatic Bible Ministries conference in 1991 in Tulsa and challenged me to write this book. Without his encouragement it never would have been written. He hounded me persistently until the dream became a reality. I appreciate his patience with my busy schedule and his helpful insights and teaching.

I would also like to thank the staffs of Creation House and my church for their hard work and patience in seeing this book become a reality.

CONTENTS

Preface.7

1 ❖ Down and Out in Davenport.9

2 ❖ Tell Me — What Do You

Have in the House?.21

3 ❖ Being Led to Your Next Miracle.33

4 ❖ What’s That in Your Hand?.44

5 ❖ Finding the Miracle Within.55

6 ❖ How Many Loaves Do You Have?.66

7 ❖ Miracles on My Doorstep.76

8 ❖ Don’t Let Troubles Keep You From

the Making of a Miracle.92

9 ❖ Pass on to the Positive.109

10 ❖ The More You’re Spilled,

the More You’re Filled.116

11 ❖ The Miracle’s in the Bush.125

12 ❖ The Interval Between Promise

and Miracle.134

13 ❖ Whatever He Says to You, Do It.142

Questions for Discussion or Reflection

One . 152

Two . 154

Three . 156

Four . 158

Five . 160

Six . 162

Seven . 164

Eight . 166

Nine . 168

Ten . 170

Eleven . 172

Twelve . 174

Thirteen . 176

Notes.178

PREFACE

N OTHING BAD ever happens to you,” the radio talk show host blurted out during an on-the-air interview with Tommy Barnett. She was so overwhelmed by the popular preacher’s positive attitude she began to think he led some kind of charmed life immune from the petty problems plaguing the rest of us mere mortals.

Of course she was wrong, and Pastor Barnett quickly assured her he was very human and had faced his share of problems. “But,” he said, “nothing bad ever does happen to me because our great God takes even the bad and makes it good. So, ultimately, you are right, even though there might be momentary misery and misunderstanding.”

Ever since Tommy Barnett started storming through the country on his “special divine mission” over four decades ago, the world has had to sit up and take notice. His life and career have been such a series of miracles that many, like the radio host, wonder if he does lead a charmed existence. Like a perplexed physician seeks the cause of a mystery disease, many have probed and pondered the reasons for Tommy Barnett’s success. Both critics and admirers have offered their opinions, but that is all they are — opinions.

There’S a Miracle in Your House!

Perhaps the best way to discover the answer to this enigma is to meet the man himself and get to know what lies beneath the polished exterior of this remarkable pastor. In doing so we discover the same flower of faith will bloom for all if we but learn and put into practice the great principles that were forged in the furnace of his life. This ordinary man has become quite extraordinary and insists that we can all grow far beyond ourselves if we really want to. He says, “The miracle is in the house!”

Those of us who have known Tommy Barnett through the years recognize his uniqueness and, at the same time, his “commonness.” The thousands of pastors and leaders who attend his annual pastors’ school leave far different from when they arrived. For us to touch this man’s life is to touch the potential of greatness within ourselves.

This book seeks to capture the passions of this highly successful pastor-preacher. Tommy Barnett is consumed with advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ through reaching the helpless, homeless and hurting of our world. He believes in “vicarious” success. That is, he believes all those God permits him to touch can do greater things than he has accomplished. It thrills him to see their success because his single passion is not recognition but that all men might come to know Jesus Christ.

Most want “magical” answers rather than spiritual ones. Not this unique man. Tommy Barnett rejects “pop psychology” and the various fads in the church. Rather he insists there are age-old, available and viable principles in God’s Word giving us information and inspiration so we all can discover and unleash the miracle that is in the house. All those desiring to make the most of their potential would do well to hear and heed: The miracle you need right now is already within your grasp!

Ron Hembree Phoenix, Arizona

ONE

Down and Out in Davenport

T HERE’S A miracle in the house!

I’ve said that to myself countless times in the face of discouragement and opposition. As I persevered, the miracle inevitably appeared.

In the midst of impossible situations I have just kept saying, “There’s got to be a miracle in the house!” And God comes through — sometimes in ways I could never have imagined.

I’ve preached it to others in our church here in Phoenix

There’s a Miracle in Your House!

and to the ministers in training in the Master’s Commission. The staff and laypersons of our church have presented it to the six thousand Christian leaders who come to Phoenix each year to learn how we discovered that the miracle was in the house. And I’ve taught it to the more than a hundred businessmen I meet with every Thursday. As a result of this principle, lives, churches and businesses have exploded into a new dimension of fruitfulness and success. We’ve built a church with 180 successful outreach ministries to every group we can think of, from professional athletes to street people and bikers.

The same principles can work for you in your home, your job and your church or in any situation that calls for a miracle.

When we think of miracles, what comes to mind are the more spectacular brands of divine intervention such as the miracle of healing. Throughout this book I will use the term miracle in a broader sense to include God s protection, provision or direction.

When I say the miracle is “in the house,” I don’t necessarily mean in your phyical house. In chapter 2 you’ll understand why I use that terminology.

To say the miracle is in the house means that the answer to your need begins with something that is already there in your grasp, in your ability or in your possession.

If God were always to fix our problems in the way we wanted Him to, the skies would be crowded with the provisions that were floating down right out of heaven. Most of the time God’s miraculous provision for us in our need comes not so much like manna from heaven but in the multiplication of what we already have — fishes and loaves, for example.

When the challenges become overwhelming, God may say something to you like, How many fishes and loaves do you have?

Sometimes the key to miracles is in simply doing what

He says even though it goes against conventional wisdom — like casting the net on the other side of the boat.

When you doubt your own power and abilities to do what is required of you, He might ask you, as He did Moses, “What is that in your hand?”

The greatest miracle of your life might just begin with something that is already in the house or already in your hand.

You’ll see what I mean by that a little later, but first of all I need to explain how the principle started to work in me. Like most great lessons, the learning experience began in the midst of a difficult situation.

WHEN I ARRIVED IN the small Iowa city my self-confidence was low. My dad had wanted me to stay with him in Kansas City as an associate pastor. But I had felt God stirring my heart to pastor my own church. I had been a “successful” evangelist since I was sixteen years old and had assumed that a church would want to grab me up right away. I thought I would be able to pick for myself which one of those large churches I would take.

It didn’t hurt to have a successful pastor for a father, a man who had lots of friends and pull in the denomination. I had a lot going for me — so I supposed — as I confidently typed up my “impressive” resume and sent out copies to all the large churches I heard were looking for a pastor.

But the demand for Tommy Barnett was all in my own imagination.

Not one church called. As the weeks passed I began to feel something must be really wrong. I swallowed my pride and applied for churches not quite as large as I thought I could handle. Surely they would want me, and I knew I could do them good. But they too ignored my gracious offer to become their pastor. Frankly, no one wanted me.

In a state of desperation one day I cried out, “God, no

matter what kind of door You open, I promise I will step through it.” Within days I heard from Davenport, Iowa. The deacon who called to invite me to try out told me

what a great church they had.

I felt I was meant for bigger places than Davenport, a sullen little settlement on the mighty Mississippi river. Nevertheless, I told God I would go through whatever door He opened. So off I went to the tryout in Davenport.

Arriving late Saturday evening, I drove all over town, wanting to take a first look at this great church. But it was nowhere to be found. Early the next morning I went looking again and eventually ended up on the wrong side of the tracks.

There it was — on Elsie Street, right behind A & W Root Beer. In my years as an evangelist I had seen every kind of church, but nothing like this. It was worse than the worst I had ever seen. I was suddenly reminded of my commitment to go through any door God would open.

It was an old, dilapidated building that had been around too long and constructed too cheaply even to pretend to be historic — and it smelled, too. It begged for a bulldozer to come and put it out of its misery.

The little wood-frame building seated fewer than a hundred and had high, concrete steps that were cracked in the middle. The faded paint was peeling, windows were broken, and the yard was unkempt. As I walked down the aisle, every board creaking under my feet, I noticed that the building was lit by bare light bulbs hanging from wires. The carpet had holes, and the building was heated by an old coal stove.

I remember when I was a kid playing marbles with my friends. If someone made a bad shot and yelled “overs” before he was called or caught, he got a second chance. I wanted to yell “overs” to God. Davenport was not my idea of an open door. But I had made a sacred vow so I had to say yes to the invitation at least to talk with the church board. In my heart I was sure God would not sentence me

to such an unlikely place. After all, I had preached to thousands around the world.

If you pray for guidance and look for the open door but are not impressed with what you see (for example, taking a lesser job), don’t be too quick to write it off. God’s miracles are found behind some uninviting doors. We miss the miracles because we don’t look in the places where God hides them.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

Proverbs 25:2

Sunday morning dawned, and seventy-six people showed up for the service. This was considered an excellent number, apparently pumped up by the curiosity of those who wanted to take a gander at the prospective preacher.

That morning service didn’t improve on my first impression. The song service was accompanied by an old, out-of-tune upright piano. The song leader didn’t sing well either; on top of that, he led the little group in a chorus that sounded more like a dirge than praise. The people sang listlessly.

I was sure this Sunday in the Quad Cities was equivalent to Abraham’s taking Isaac to Mount Moriah. It was only a test, and if I passed it I knew God would open some bright and beautiful door because I had been obedient.

I determined to preach the hardest sermon I knew just to discourage them from even considering me. I stared out at seventy-six of the most negative people I had ever seen and began to hack away at my message on faith. I must admit my heart was not into the subject. I just wanted to get through it and out of town so I could get on with whatever else lay ahead in my life.

The deacons wanted to meet with me that afternoon to interview me for the job. I obliged them because there

W as little else to do in Davenport but count the hours until I could escape back to the civilization of Kansas City.

That Sunday night I preached my “meanest” sermon and after the altar call set out for the door. I had already checked out of the motel so that I could leave for home immediately. The board stopped me short, saying I could not leave until the voting was over.

Voting?

Now it came to me. I was so preoccupied with my disappointment I had forgotten to tell them I was not going to take the church. They had already gathered the twenty members in the back room to decide my future.

I was stuck.

Pacing the floor, I tried my best to figure out a way to let them know they were wasting their time. I was never coming to Davenport, and that was that. But the board came out before I had time to put a workable plan together. They were all smiles, telling me I had received 100 percent of the votes, and this was the first time in the history of the church such a thing had happened. It must be God!

What they did not tell me was that no pastor had survived the church more than two years before he moved on or was moved by an unceremonious prodding from the same voting body that was so enthusiastically endorsing my candidacy.

It has always been hard for me to say no straight out, and the people were so excited I did not want to disappoint them. Therefore, I did the only thing I knew to do — I stalled. I told the church this was a great spiritual matter, and I had to pray it through before responding to their offer. It was indeed a grave spiritual matter, but in all honesty I was buying time so I could let them down easy. They swallowed their disappointment and assured me they understood. In spite of their assurances I knew they did not really understand, and they were wondering

why I would not jump at the chance to be their pastor.

Returning to Kansas City I wrestled with God for three weeks telling Him all the reasons why Davenport was not a good idea for me. I had always envisioned myself preaching in New York or Los Angeles. I saw little opportunity in the town or in the church.

After three tormented weeks I called the board and told them I was on my way.

OlJR FIRST DAYS IN Davenport were a struggle. No one came to the altar to accept Christ, and the evangelistic calling within me cried out that something was horribly wrong. I met with the deacons to tell them maybe it was not God’s will for me to be there after all. I called my dad and complained. Both the board and my father said I should hold steady. This was especially hard for me after seeing hundreds respond to my altar calls when I was on the evangelistic field. But I stayed and prayed strictly out of sheer obedience rather than any great spiritual desire.

Up until this time everything had gone well with me and my ministry. Now I was stuck in a difficult situation. Perhaps if I could just endure it for a while, I would be out the door and on my way to bigger and better things. But God had another plan, and that was to give me victory in the face of immovable obstacles.

The answer did not come through my mighty sermons or any of the other things I tried in order to bring life into that church. In fact it was at the end of my efforts that I discovered that the miracle had been in the house all along.

I ate lunch with Mrs. Bobbie Stottlemeyer and her husband, Leon, my first Sunday in Davenport. She had been in the church for several months and had a real concern for the lost, but the seed inside her had never blossomed.

One day after I had exhausted all my ideas she came to me saying, “Brother Barnett, I’ve been saved for less than a year, and although I’ve never won anyone to the Lord,

I’ve been going out every Friday for two hours to witness.

I believe God has led you to this city to help us win people to Christ.”

There was something so sincere in her spirit that I asked if I could accompany her and her partner the next Friday when they went out to witness. She agreed, so I drove them on their rounds. The first week we had no success. But the second week that we went out witnessing I drove around the block after I had dropped the ladies off for their appointment. Not finding a parking place I pulled again in front of the targeted house, and one of the women beckoned to me frantically. I thought something must be desperately wrong because she was so excited and emotional.

“Hurry, Brother Barnett,” she cried, as she gestured wildly. “We’ve got an old man on his knees, and he wants to get saved. What do we do next?” I went inside and helped the ladies lead this dear old man to the Lord.

The next Sunday the excited women brought their brand-new convert to church and put him on the front row. Our people were thrilled when he stood to testify.

Something strange and wonderful happened that very special Sunday so long ago. That little dry and dead Iowa church started to stir to new life. I took advantage of the moment and told the congregation we would go witnessing again the next week and anyone else who wanted to get in on this wonderful joy could join us. Four ladies did, and that week two elderly women came to know the Lord. The following Sunday they showed up in church, and we had them testify. The next Friday we had more people out soul-winning and more converts to share what had happened to them. Soon the converts filled the front rows of our church, and the whole congregation caught the soulwinning fever.

So many were being saved and now needed transportation that I began appealing to the congregation for help. The lady who had started it all filled her car each week

with new converts and then commandeered her husband’s vehicle. They both were making two trips to church every Sunday with our new babes in Christ.

I went to the church board to ask that we buy a bus, but the response was decidedly cool.

“We had a bus before you came,” the members told me flatly. “It sat and rusted. No one would ride in it when it would run. We don’t want a bus ministry.”

“Men, this is not just transportation. This is winning souls,” I appealed.

“Let’s pray about it,” they responded, throwing my own recent delaying ploy back in my face.

“We’ve prayed long enough,” I blurted out. “Let’s do something. If the Lord provides the money, will you let me buy a bus?”

They were trapped in the possibility they might just miss God if they gave a flat-out no. Not wanting to discourage their new pastor, the board conceded, “Well, if the Lord provides — but only if the Lord provides.”

The next Sunday I asked all the people to stand if they had been saved in our witnessing program and had to depend on a ride to church. Then I added, “If anyone in the congregation feels inspired to buy a bus, please come to me after church.”

Immediately Mrs. Stottlemeyer jumped up and said, “I don’t have a thousand dollars to buy a bus, but I do have a house I have been trying to sell for months. If we sell this house, I will give you the money for the bus.” We stopped the service right then and prayed.

A miracle occurred.

That week the woman sold her house, and the next Sunday she presented us with a check for our first bus.

We bought our bus, and now the battle was on. All hell wanted to stop this work before it started. Our bus motor burned up the very next week. I stood before the congregation to tell them the news and saw them shake their heads sagely, “We told you so.” I did not dare ask for an

offering to repair the motor but went to the bank and borrowed the money myself to get the bus back on the road. Within a month the bus was jammed full, and we had to buy another.

One of our excited new members bought the second bus and then a third. "As long as God prospers me and as long as you keep filling them, I will buy you buses,” he said. While he could not continue this generous offer for long, God used him to inspire faith that He would provide as long as we continued winning souls.

Soon all our buses were filled and revival was in full swing with people getting saved and packing out our little building. We had brightened up the place, and excitement was running high. Before long we were forced to new facilities, and the revival had captured the imagination of the whole city.

When revival broke out in Davenport, the news soon made it around the country. Sunday school records were shattered. People poured in from all over, and the media sat up and paid attention. Our church began to battle the porno shops and massage parlors and won, the first time such a victory had happened in the history of Davenport. Hundreds were saved in these special meetings, and lives were changed dramatically.

The remarkable Iowa revival never stopped, and each Sunday new and exciting things happened. Far from damaging my "reputation,” Davenport made it. I now look back embarrassed that my faith in God’s wise leading was so small. When I left Davenport, forty-seven buses were bringing people to church. Four thousand people were in Sunday school.

Looking back at those years, I am amazed that people perceived I had it all together. How wrong that perception was. When I went to Davenport, God had so humbled me that I did not think even those seventy-six people would stay with me very long. I was so insecure that if I saw someone absent, I would leave the platform during

the song service, go to my office and call that person’s home.

It was God’s grace, not my dynamics, that made it all happen. At Davenport I learned a lesson that would form the fabric and foundation for the rest of my life and ministry. It was the simple awareness that the miracle is in the house!

EVERY STEP OF THE way and at every obstacle I found that the supply to meet my need began with something God had already put in the house. Pastors need to realize that everything they need to build a great church is already in their congregations. Mrs. Stottlemeyer was the miracle in the house at Davenport, and she has been followed by many more. Almost all of the full-time staff members who have worked with me over the years have come from within the church I was pastoring at the time.

Every businessman needs to recognize that the keys for his success are in his own hand or his own organization. In every child is the potential to become a miracle. In your house or in your life God has already planted the seeds that can blossom and become the answer to your most desperate dilemma.

Today I live in Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the middle of the desert. A seed can lie dormant in the dry sand for months and even years. But when the rain finally does come, the desert blooms like a garden.

That’s the way it is with many people’s lives. They feel they have been in a dry desert for so long that life appears to be gone. Yet life is everywhere, lying dormant, just waiting to come forth. Tiny seeds waiting to become something great — that’s what Jesus said the kingdom of God was like.

AND He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

31 “It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,

32 “yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.”

Mark 4:30-32

One pastor said to me, “You seem to have the ability to take nobodies and turn them into somebodies.” The key is that I believe in people! I believe everyone has the seed in them to do something great for God. I believe it even when I can’t see it. I know there’s a miracle in there somewhere.

There was a man in the church in Davenport named Orbie Underwood. Orbie was a hard worker at a factory. He was a rather low-key kind of guy. But he was inspired by Mrs. Stottlemeyer. He took over a bus route, did a great job and saw his life begin to change.

Not only has Orbie been instrumental in bringing hundreds into the kingdom of God, but he has also become a deacon in the church. Orbie took the principles he learned in church and put them to practice in other areas of his life. Today Orbie Underwood has one of the most successful conversion van businesses in the quad cities and state.

In the years that followed those early days in Davenport I learned a lesson over and over: Whenever I come to difficult situations in the church or in my personal life, I just need to look for the seed of the miracle that is already in the house. I hope you too can discover that the miracle you need is already in your grasp.

Through the experience in Davenport I discovered the ten commandments for the making of a miracle. That’s chapter 2.

TWO

Tell Me — What Do You Have in the House?

O UT OF my deep need I learned to lean on God and started to see His sufficiency in each situation. Davenport was a wonderful education. My insecurity was not pleasant at the time, but God used it to teach me things about faith I could not have learned at any other place or time.

In that little Iowa town one vivid Bible story was brought to mind over and over. God was showing me what was to become the key to the series of miracles that would

guide my life and give me success beyond anything I had imagined. It was the familiar and simple story of the worried widow with the unpaid bill.

NOW a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

2 And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except ajar of oil.”

3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.

4 “And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels; and you shall set aside what is full.”

5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.

6 And it came about when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped.

7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

2 Kings 4:1-7, italics added

At least ten great principles in this simple story have revolutionized my life. For me, this story speaks of the ten commandments for the making of a miracle. Here they are:

Tell Me — What Do You Have in the House 1 ?

1. Know Where to Go When You Don’t Know What to Do.

She was a widow and a single parent in an impossible situation with no food and no means of support. She was being threatened by angry bill collectors. If she did not pay up immediately, she would lose her children.

The only thing going for her was that she knew where to turn. Only God could make a miracle happen in her situation. She went to the prophet with her plight.

Where we place our expectations determines whether we receive a miracle. If we insist on looking to man to supply our needs, we will continue to be disappointed. The major battles of life are spiritual so there must be spiritual resources if things are to turn around.

We would do well to remember King Asa’s downfall. When threatened by hostile forces, this ancient king put his trust in Syria rather than God. His plan of action was to pay King Ben-hadad to send his troops as mercenaries to protect him. The prophet reprimanded him saying,

The eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them.

2 Chronicles 16:9, TLB

God wants to show Himself strong on your behalf as well. But going to God means asking, praying and believing you have received. Paul exhorted the Philippians to worry about nothing and to pray about everything (Phil. 4:6). Our worrying is most often expressed by an ongoing, inner conversation we have with ourselves. We will argue, complain and moan about the situation just as if someone were actually listening. That’s why when someone asks us sincerely how we are doing, that person gets such an earful. The complaint has been well rehearsed.

The Ten Commandments for the Making of a Miracle