Miracles

Introduction:

You may have heard the story about a man who was at sea and suffered a major blow to his ship and it sank.

The man was left at sea all alone floating on a piece of the ship.

After floating there for some time another ship just happened to come by.

The people on that ship offered to take the man aboard, but the man refused and said, “I’m waiting for God to send a miracle my way and save me.”

After some time passed another ship just so happened to pass by the man.

Those onboard that ship also offered the man help and to save his life by coming on their ship, but the man refused their help and said, “I’m waiting for God to miraculously save me.”

After this happened a third time the man drowned.

He stood in front of God and asked God why He never sent a miracle his way to save Him and God said, “I did you big dummy. I sent you 3 ships but you refused help.”

Sometimes God sends us help in ways we might not recognize until we get on the other side.

I want to tell you today that God still preforms miracles.

God is still a miracle worker.

I actually believe that now the atmosphere is ripe to see miracles that we have only dreamed about.

I love the verse that says God can do exceedingly, abundantly, more than we can ask or think.

He can do more.

He is still on the throne.

How many of you in here can say, “I have witnessed a true miracle in my life?”

I want to preach a message today about miracles and the purpose for them.

I want to preach today more of Peter’s sermon.

So, if you have your Bibles open with me to Acts 2:22-24

Acts 2:22–24 NIV

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Point 1: God has always preformed miracles and will continue to do so.

A miracle is defined as:

An extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.

A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific laws[2] and accordingly gets attributed to some supernatural cause. Various religions often attribute a phenomenon characterized as miraculous to the actions of a supernatural being, (especially) a deity, a magician, a miracle worker, a saint, or a religious leader.

The word miracle is usually used to describe any beneficial event that is physically impossible or impossible to confirm by nature.

It’s so interesting that if you look up this word “miracles” in Acts 2:22 the original Greek word used here is the word “dynamis” (dynamite) which is the same word for “power”.

If you look at the places in the New Testament were you see power or miracles it is the same word.

By human natural we are all amazed and attracted by signs, wonders, or miracles because they are out of our control and understanding.

Miracles cannot and will not ever be explained by science.

Those who do not believe in God will be quick to say things like:

That’s made up.

It didn’t really happen.

**Tell the story about talking to the guys in the coal mine about Cody’s bracelet.**

I am so thankful for doctors and medicine.

I believe in the power of prayer and that God can do anything, but if I am not healed in a service like this I am going to go to the doctors.

I do think sometimes that we should all learn to go to God in prayer as our first option.

I think this is maybe the reason why we don’t see more miracles because our first reaction is to go see a doctor.

We had a lady attend our 4th of July party a few years ago.

A few minutes before the fireworks began she had a heart attack.

We called the ambulance and did what we could for her.

Once the ambulance arrived and took over and had her loaded up in the ambulance, a few of us began to pray for her.

She reached out to the church a few months later to thank us for praying.

She said that she honestly believes that are prayers are what kept her alive.

I’m thankful for doctors, but they are only human and can only take us so far.

Listen to what I’m about to say:

If the doctors tell you they have done all they can and there is nothing else they can do.

Do not lose hope because God can do anything.

Until He decides your time is up your not going anywhere.

Do you remember the woman with the issue of blood?

The Bible says that for 12 years she dealt with this issue UNDER THE CARE OF MANY DOCTORS and even spent all she had, but she only got worse.

1 touch from Jesus healed her and it didn’t cost her anything.

Pray and seek the Lord, but do not be like the guy who refused help from the ships because he wanted to wait for a “miracle”.

Those ships God brought his way was a miracle.

I have seen people healed by miraculously in a service like this and I have seen people receive healing in a hospital.

We should accept whatever the Lord has.

However, when a miracle happens that is unexplainable it always points back to God.

Miracles remind us that God is the One who is in control and holds all power.

One thing that we always need to remember when God’s people intervenes through prayer and a miracle takes place that there is no scientific evidence for, it is nothing else than the power of God.

Remember, the Greek word (The original language of the New Testament) for miracle is the same word used for power.

When we witness a miracle we witness the power of God on display.

God performed a miracle by speaking everything into existence by His word.

God performed an enormous miracle by raising Jesus back to life who was crucified by wicked men, as our passage says.

He will perform a miracle when all the armies of the world try to come against God’s people during the battle of Armageddon and God destroys them all with His word.

Guess what?

If He did it before and will do it in the future, He still does it today.

Ask Elijah to come up.

Point 2: Miracles confirm that we are from God.

Acts 2:22 says that Jesus was accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.”

The NLT Fire Bible says that God publicly endorsed Jesus by signs, wonders, and miracles.

God proved that Jesus was from God, in His case He was God, through miracles.

These miracles pointed to the dynamis power that was at work in Jesus.

It’s important to remember that Jesus did not preform any of His miracles until He was baptized in the Jordan River by John and then baptized in the Holy Spirit.

We look last week at the fact that the Holy Spirit is the power that we cannot live without.

Jesus said, in Acts 1:8, when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, then will we become His witnesses.

Don’t try to do this thing on your own.

You will end up being beat up bad.

When God performs a miracle through us it has nothing to do with our own strength or wisdom but His.

It is a sign that you are from God.

It is designed to point a lost and dying world to the Lord.

I have learned that it is not who we are or the way we pray, but it is about His anointing and power in our lives.

This comes from our time with Him.

God appears to Moses in the burning bush and tells him to go to the most powerful person in all the world at that time (Pharoah) and demand that he releases God’s people.

Moses asks God, “What if the people don’t believe that you sent me?”

God tells Moses to throw his staff on the ground and it becomes a snake.

God then tells Moses to put his hand inside his coat and pull it out.

When he did it was leprous.

He then put it back in and pulled it out and it was clean again.

When we see miracles it is reassuring to us that God is present.

When I hear an Evangelist speak things over someone’s life about a thing that no one else knows, it shows me that that person is hearing from God.

When I heard Robby Mitchell prophecy over some of you that spoke right to your situation it excites me because I know he is hearing from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

Ambassador is defined as an authorized representative or messenger.

Church, we are here as an authorized representative for the Kingdom of God.

Man, I feel like if we can truly get this it would change everything.

We have the same spirit in us that was in Jesus.

The Gospel message is all summed up by the fact that Jesus was handed over into the hands of man by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge, He was nailed to a cross, God raised Him back to life again, and sent His Spirit to live in every person that would call upon His name to empower us to represent the Kingdom of God as it continues to advance.

We are called to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and to put the power of God on full display in a realm where Satan fights to have control of and take as many people with him.

We are the answer to a lost and dying world.

Conclusion:

You go out today as a representation of the kingdom of God.