Ex 4:11+12, And the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say." 
	This morning we take our discussion of this passage into the New Testament with the specific view as to how Christ Jesus dealt with those who were both physically and spiritually blind and in need of His healing touch. This will include each of us, as we already know, in terms of the manner in which we can only live our lives on this earth through His guidance and His strength and His wisdom. 
	As a quick opening aside, it truly does amaze me that there are so many people who seemingly function in this world without the true knowledge and guidance of their Creator. It is only by the grace of God in action, as His benevolence is on full display in terms of His Creative Hand of operation, that we can make it through even a single day on this earth. Yet, whenever I see those who face the dilemmas of daily life without turning to Christ as their source of everything, I am truly in awe of God’s providential Hand that rules and overrules even in the lives of those who fail or refuse to recognize Him. 
	I am not stating this in any judgmental fashion because that is between them and The Creator. Rather, it is the fact that I could no longer survive in this realm apart from turning to Christ to see me through each moment of each day. In nowise am I stating that I know this reality in perfection. I very much have those times when I try to do it all on my own and fail miserably. However, I know enough to realize that when I look to the Lord to meet each day’s opportunities for growth into Him, He is more than faithful and His grace is overwhelmingly poured out unto and into me. On that proven basis, it would no longer be possible to live on this earth and not to count on the Lord to deal with the issues and the circumstances and the trials and the obligations. His grace is more than sufficient to meet each and every need. Without His daily touch upon the course of my walk on this earth, I would have no hope, no strength, no vision, no sense of direction, and no purpose. He has made Himself that vital in the functional endeavors of my life. 
	This, then, brings us back to the course of our consideration as we begin with the reading of Mark 7:32-37. Please open in your Bibles and follow along. Mark 7:32-37, And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they entreated Him to lay His hand upon him. And He took him aside from the multitude by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!" And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. And they were utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." 
	Here we see the Son of God in His capacity as the One who gives speech and hearing to a man who was both deaf and dumb. While this was a physical healing, it still follows the pattern of this morning’s passage with the truth that God is the One Who gives forth speech and hearing and sight. It is all a gift from Him for each one of us, whether in terms of the physical or spiritual. 
	In Moses’ case, it was a matter of giving him Aaron as the mouthpiece by whom Moses could express that which the Lord had to say. He would not only speak to Pharaoh, but to the Hebrews as they were delivered from slavery into the freedom as the Nation if Israel. In the case of this reading, it was a man who could not physically hear or speak whom the Lord healed in order to show forth the miraculous power of God. 
	Those gathered together at the healing of this man could not help but spread forth the news that there was One in their midst Who could perform such a miracle of healing. This was but one more example of the increasing number of miracles that Christ used to show the love of God for those He came to save. 
This power is not limited to just physical healing, as we have seen. It extends into the every aspect of our lives as we learn to count on the Lord to see us through what it means to live by His faith on this earth. It has its basis in the very core of our being the witness and the testimony of Christ to others in this realm. As with this healing of the deaf and dumb man, so is every word that the Lord gives us to speak forth to be to the glory of God.
Please consider the following passage with regard to how the Lord teaches us what to speak and when to speak it. Luke 12:11+12, "And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense, or what you should say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." 
	As with Moses, we will find ourselves before those who will challenge our credibility and our stand of faith in Christ Jesus. We will be called upon to declare our every intention and manner of life as the Children of God. This may not be in the court system or before a learned board of regents. Sometimes it is in the very homes in which we live with those beloved relatives, or with our neighbors, or bosses, or workmates, or friends. It will become the very focal point of how we express the reality that God shows in our daily walk with Him. 
	Sometimes it will be a need when someone simply asks a seemingly innocent question that has immense implications with regard to our work, our family harmony, or our social interaction with neighbors and associates. Other times, it may be a long standing explanation and justification of why we live the way in which we live and how we truly know that what we believe concerning God is real. In either of these situations and in countless others, the Holy Spirit will give us that which is required to be spoken, or to bind our tongues if we are to be silent. We can count on Him if we truly look to Him and rely on Him to be the every source of our words and our actions and our thoughts. 
	As well, please note that we are not to worry about how to respond to those who challenge our knowledge of the one True Living Lord God Almighty. Just as He gives us life and breath, so will He be the very source of our speech and our knowledge and our wisdom and our strength and our ability to stand against the false accusations and threats and intimidations of this age.
	Again hear the encouragement of Our Lord in Luke 21:12-15. "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. "It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. "So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. 
	Notice that He will give us the utterance and the wisdom that can neither be refuted nor will it be resisted. The forcefulness of this comes from the fact that His Word will go forth from our mouths as an overpowering confirmation of the reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Often we will not even know the full length and breadth and depth and comprehensive influence of that which the Lord gives us to speak, but speak we shall. Those arrayed against us may not accept it, but they will not be able to stand against it. 
This reality was in evidence when Peter and John were being interrogated by the Jewish counsel concerning the healing of the lame man outside the temple. Please turn to Acts 4:8-14 and follow along. Acts 4:8-14, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands here before you in good health. "He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. 
Please recognize what will be very true in our testimony for Christ’s sake. …they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And …they had nothing to say in reply. 
When our words and our wisdom are from the Holy Spirit, there will be that same evidence in place in the authentication that we have been with Jesus. It will not be our foolish human understanding or reasoning abilities or debating skills in evidence. It will be the very simple, yet all-powerful truth that the words that proceed forth from our hearts and mouths are those words so given to us by Christ under the authority of His Lordship. That is why they will not be able to resist or refute them. 
Again listen to Our Lord as He detailed the full nature of the manner in which He would always be the source and the focal point of the truth of His so great love manifested in the all-encompassing power of the Word of God given to us. Luke 24:44-53, if you would please turn to it. Luke 24:44-53, Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things. "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came about that while He was blessing them, He parted from them. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising God.   
	…but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." They were witness to the ascension of Christ into heaven. Once more they were without the physical presence of their Friend, their Teacher, their Mentor, and their Savior. This time, however, rather than cowering in the upper room, locked away for fear of the retribution of the Roman authorities and the persecution of the Jewish Counsel, they were awaiting the promised glory of God upon them. It would be in God’s power and authority by which they would proceed forth and declare the reality of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to everyone, in every place. 
	They had the Good News to proclaim and were gathered together with the excitement and the anticipation of being enabled to share the truth with friend and foe alike. And notice how they spent the time of waiting for the manner of God’s empowerment to state publicly the Gospel message. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising God. They were consumed with great joy in anticipation of what was ahead of them. They were continually praising God for all that He had done in the fulfillment of all the scriptures as detailed by Jesus before His ascension. "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 
	The Creator of Heaven and earth, the One Who designed and instituted man’s every ability to function within the realm of His creation made known, in a most personal and complete manner all that was part and parcel of His coming into His Creation. He came in order to bring man back into the relationship with God that was always the heart and mind of the Triune Godhead. In the course of that action of redemptive love, these disciples, and so many after them including you and me have been given the mouths with which to speak forth the glorious message of salvation. This is always to the praise and the worship and the honor and the declared magnificence of God on high. He continually gives us the words and the powerful strength to so honor Him with the message that Jesus Christ is alive and reigns over His creation forever and forever. So be it!
And the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 2:11+12. Worship the Lord with reverence, And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! Amen.