MIRACLES WE ALL WANT THEM
Notes
Transcript
Faith is the instrument not the source
Faith is the instrument not the source
INTRO
INTRO
CULTURE
THIS YEAR 25 YEARS AGO WE CAME TO CANADA AS LANDED IMMIGRANTS
COMING TO CANADA AS AN IMMIGRANT
FOUND OURSELVES IN A CULTURE SHOCK
ENGLISH BUT NOT ENGLISH
THIS YEAR WE CELEBRATE 25 YEARS IN CANADA
EVERYTHING WAS BIGGER AND BETTER
MALLS
CHRISTMAS TREEES
YELLOW SCHOOL BUSES
OPEN YARDS
OPEN DOORS
HOCKEY
FOOTBALL
SKIING
OUR FAMILY HAD TO FIND A NEW RHYTHM
PAUL FOUND HIMSELF IN A VERY SIMILAR SITUATION
HE HAD BEEN TO EPHASUS BEFORE - PRICILLA AND AQUILA
BUT NOW HE WAS BACK - HIS 3RD MISSIONARY JOURNEY
THIS TIME HE SPENT AND EXTENDED TIME IN EPHESUS - 3 YEARS
THERE WAS A LOT OF IDOL WORSHIP AND BELIEF IN THE MAGICAL POWERS OF THE GODS THE PEOPLE WORSHIPPED - ESPECIALLY THE GODDESS ARTEMIS.
THIS GODDESS WAS SAID TO BE VERY POWERFUL. THE GUARDIAN DEITY OF EPHESUS SHE FIGURED AS A SAVIOUR GODDESS THE DEAD ENTRUSTED TO HER CARE AND SHE WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE LENT ASSISTANCE TO WOMAN IN CHILDBIRTH
CENTRE OF CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE PAGANS AND THE CHRISTIANS
THEATER
GYMNASIUMS - CHANGE ROOMS, HOT AND COLD POOLS , EXERCISE ROOMS, MASSAGE ROOMS
MAJOR PORT
ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS.
MANY PAGAN CULTS
THIS IS WHERE WE PICK UP THE SCRIPTURE READING FOR THIS WEEK.
11 God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles.
12 When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
13 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!”
14 Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.
15 But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?”
16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.
17 The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored.
18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices.
19 A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.
20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.
WHY WOULD THERE NEED TO BE UNUSUAL MIRACLES?
BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE CULTURE THEY FOUND THEMSELVES IN, SOME OF THE STUFF WAS NOT CONSIDERED SUPERNATURAL BECAUSE OF THE MAGICIANS ABILITY TO “COPY” SOME OF THE STUFF
WE SEE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THAT GOD USED MOSES TO SHOW THE EGYPTIANS WHO HE WAS. NOT JUST ANY ORDINARY GOD BUT AN EXTRAORDINARY GOD.
NOT UNLIKE MOSES AND AARON
Blood
Frogs
Lice or gnats
Flies
Livestock
Boils
Hail
Locust
Darkness
Death of firstborn
SNAKES
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
9 “Pharaoh will demand, ‘Show me a miracle.’ When he does this, say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’ ”
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent!
11 Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic.
12 They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
BLOOD - MAGICIANS DID THE SAME
FROGS - MAGICIANS DID THE SAME
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GNATS - THEY COULD NOT COPY - THIS WAS SUPERNANTURAL
FLIES - ONLY ON EGYPTIAN HOMES NOT THE ISREALITES
LIVESTOCK - ONLY ON THE EGYPTIAN HOMES
BOILS - THEY COULD NOT COPY
HAIL - ONLY ON THE EGYPTIANS
LOCUSTS - ONLY THE EGYPTIAN CROPS DAMAGED
DARKNESS - ONLY ON THE EGYPTIANS
FIRSTBORN - ONLY TO THOSE WHO NEVER OBEYED GODS COMMAND
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HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT TO TODAY?
1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Faith is the instrument not the source
Faith is the instrument not the source
SECONDLY THE MIRACLES HAPPENED BECAUSE OF RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
Ultimately, healing is not contingent upon the quality of one’s faith, but upon the Healer.
MIRACLE:
a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.
BORROWED FAITH IS NOT YOUR FAITH.
THE SONS OF SCEVA
THEY WANTED TO DO THINGS SO THAT THEY WOULD LOOK GOOD
THEY DID NOT HAVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
WHEN WE TAP INTO THE SOURCE WE RECEIVE THE HEALING POWERS OF GOD IN OUR LIVES.
THE GREATEST MIRACLE OF ALL TIMES IS THAT JESUS CAME TO EARTH TO LIVE AMONG US - EMMANUEL - GOD WITH US
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,
31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
JESUS REMINDS US IN JOHN 14 THAT HE CAME TO TEACH US THE WAY. GOD SENT HIM AND IF WE TAKE TIME TO KNOW HIM, WE WILL KNOW GOD.
INTIMACY
INTO - ME - YOU -SEE
KNOW THE HEART OF GOD
THIS IS THYE EVIDENCE (THE WORKS - MIRACLES) THAT GOD IS WITH US
SPURGEON SAYS:
“You will have enough temptation in your own mind without going after these things. Is there any habit, any practice, that you have got that defiles your soul? If Christ loves you, and you come and trust in him, you will make short work of it. Have done with it, and have done with it forever.” (Spurgeon)
EXAMINE OUR HEARTS - SEEK GOD
V12 - IS A TRUE CHALLENGE FOR OUR FAITH
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
GOD WANTS TO DO GREAT THINGS FOR US