The Jesus Way

From the Pulpit of Keith Miller

Meadowbrooke Church

July 14, 2024

I know many of you know my story and how God saved me. Every year at this time I am more mindful of the miracle of God’s mercy, love, and grace upon my life! When God found me, I was so lost!  I was not looking for Him, yet He found me!  God got my attention on July 12, 1991, after I stepped in front of a big old car in the middle of Business Rt. 1 (aka West Lincoln Hwy.).  My graduating class in 1993 was just under 600, the population where I grew up is currently over 70,000, and the hospital I was taken to after I was hit by that big white car currently has 371 beds. 

So, the fact that a woman from my father’s church who did not know me decided to pull over to pray for me could be viewed as a coincidence, but then to have the wife of the youth director of that same church assigned to my care is too much to ignore!  Not to mention that eight months before my accident, my father had his accident that God used to get his attention by having his hand just about cut off, and shortly after receiving major surgery on his hand and recovering at home, two guys from a little church located not far from where I was hit by that big white car visited our little house to tell him about Jesus! At the same time my friend’s mom at whose home I ate almost all of my meals and spent almost all of my weekends sleeping in their home because my stepmother was so horrible to me while I was growing up, picked up a Bible and started reading it.  So regardless of if I was at home or at my friend’s house, I was unable to escape from hearing about the God of the Bible and how He sent His Son to die for sinners like me! God orchestrated all of that so that on July 14th while confined to my bed with a major concussion in St. Mary’s Hospital, I was forced to listen to Darrell Adair, the youth director of my father’s little church, tell me about Jesus while my father sat on one side of my bed and Jackie on the other as they prayed for my soul… 33 years ago to the day!  Four days after Darrell’s visit, I finally caved and surrendered my life to Jesus as my Lord and Savior!  

So, to say that I am a bit overwhelmed by God’s grace is a bit of an understatement.  God knows how my brain works, and it seems to me that ever year there is something new that I have not thought about since God saved my soul.  I did not sit down to write my sermon manuscript until this past Friday which was the anniversary of the day I was hit by that big white car!  That on the anniversary of one of the most important days of my life, I would be writing my sermon manuscript on Ephesians 5:1-2 is staggering to me!  What is even more staggering is that the God I was running from not only chose me before the foundation of the world (1:3-4), but did so out of a great love for this lost sinner: “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace… (vv. 5-6).  This same God made me alive with Jesus on July 18th in the middle of my living room 33 years ago as a result of His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace (2:4-5), it is staggering to me! 

From everything that you have read, studied, and heard from Ephesians so far, can you blame me for being overwhelmed by God’s undeserved goodness upon my life?  Think about it, 33 years ago while Darrell shared the gospel with my younger 16-year-old rebellious self, that He already determined that He would so mold and shape that teenage kid laying in that hospital bed that 33 years later he would stand before his church family finally ready to preach on Ephesians 5:1-2 after 20 years of pastoral ministry!

Here is what I want to say very briefly before we get into these two verses so you can fully appr