When Pigs Fly: Participating in the Miracle

Intro:

So much like most young people when the New Year rolled around, I decided I would go to the gym more often. I have a gym membership, and I have some fitness goals for the year like most of us do ya? Well… It’s January 11th and I still haven’t done a workout in the gym. I go for runs, I do hikes, do some archery, Push-ups, sit-ups in the morning etc. But I still haven’t taken my sorry butt to the gym. Anyone here already broken some of your New Year’s resolutions because you just didn’t do anything? Well don’t worry, you’re in good company. Similarily, every year, we look forward to the plans God has for us where some of us at the start of this year might be a little more fearful of what’s to come.

When Glenn invited me to speak this morning, I was pondering what to speak on. After some good conversations, I decided I would make a sermon out of an old paper I wrote during my time in Bible School. It’s all about miracles, the times When Pigs Fly. Would you like to see a miracle this year? Do you need a miracle? Maybe financial? Physical? Emotional? Do you want to see God intervene in some supernatural way? Do you want to see Pigs Fly? If you answered yes to any of those I want to challenge all of you, including myself, to do today, this year, and the rest of our lives, is to participate in the Miracle. How do I do that? Well there are 3 Main stories I wanted to visit together that explain not only how to participate, but also that participation is a requirement of a miracle.

Miracles Require YOUR Movement

What do you mean my participation? Like a prayer? Prayers are crucial to our faith yes, but that’s not the pinnacle of what we’re expected to do. In the Gospel of John we get introduced to a man who has fallen so far into victimhood, that he’s all-but given up.

John 5:1–9 CSB

After [healing an Official’s Son], a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Just like that, this guy is healed. 38 long years and all it took for him was to listen to Jesus, and get up? Now you might be here thinking, “Well if Jesus told me directly, I’d listen too.” That sounds logical right? That’s the thing, later when the leaders question the man, he had no Idea who Jesus was! But regardless, in that he thought “Well why not” and still gave an effort to stand despite 38 years of failing! The Great Theologian Charles Spurgeon says it this way, "He did not say, 'Wait until you feel better, and then get up,' but 'Rise!' The power was not in the man, but the power came with the command; yet the man had to make the effort to rise. His part was to believe the word and move his legs." - Charles Spurgeon

Part of participating in a Miracle is actually doing the movement. Not settling into the routine of failure.

Miracles Require Surrender

Now I could’ve used the word payment or sacrifice here but I didn’t want any of you to hear what I’m not saying. I’m NOT advocating for the prosperity gospel where you pay for miracles. That’s not true. But God’s miracles do often require us to give up something, whether socially, emotionally, internally, or even physically. This story comes from the time of Elijah during a great famine.

1 Kings 17:7–16 CSB

[The Widow] said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’ ” So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Elijah.

Here we see a mother who was preparing to die alongside her son and this dude shows up, asks for some food and water which will surely speed up their death! Elijah quotes a promise from God, the woman believes and surrenders what little she had and a miracle takes place where their food supply didn’t run dry. If she rejected Elijah and kept the little she had, she would’ve died that night. How often do we do this? We hold onto things in times when we’re well-off and even more so when we’re struggling. Imagine what God can do if you Surrendered what you have and what you are to Him. You can hold God to His promises just like Elijah did.

Miracles Require a Faith of Audacity

Lastly, I wanted to use a point that came from a Sermon I preached here in 2024 called a Faith of Audacity. A faith of audacity is fearless and doesn’t let anything stop you from harrassing God until something happens. We’re going to see the faith of not just one person, but a whole group of friends.

Mark 2:1–12 CSB

When [Jesus] entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” [Jesus] told the paralytic—“I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.” Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Notice Jesus noticing THEIR FAITH? They hear of him, bring someone who can’t walk, they are stopped, THEN MAKE A HOLE IN THE ROOF to get their friend to Jesus. Why? Because they believed Jesus could heal them. They didn’t care about the fact that they were damaging property, their friend and faith mattered more. The Amazing Late Theologian Tim Keller summarizes this way better than I can say so I’m going to quote him here, "Jesus saw their faith. How do you 'see' faith? You see it because they are tearing up a roof. Faith is not a general belief that God exists; it is a desperate, active persistence that refuses to take 'no' for an answer. Their faith was visible in their physical exertion." - Timothy Keller

Conclusion

So how do you witness a miracle? I had the honour of walking with many of you here and saw how God had provided for you, some healings, some financial provision, others freed from constant cycles of oppression and addiction. You see, Miracles still happen. But what I truly believe stops us from experiencing more miracles today isn’t a lack of faith, but rather our consistent hesitation when it comes to action. Friends, God wants to work in you and through you, 2026 can be an amazing year filled with signs and wonders of God healing, providing, transforming, redeeming, and saving. But each of us has a part to play to see it happen. Now I get the fear of, “What if God says no?” It’s a real and painful reality that sometimes God says no. But I’d rather not have my desired outcome because I put in the effort and God says no, than me giving up when the miracle is right around the corner. The biggest miracles in the Bible was a result people like you and me putting in the work to reach God’s miracles.

Miracle List:

Noah - Built an Ark

Abraham and Sarah - Promised a Son, Had to try despite their ages

Joseph - Humbly Serving in the midst of injustice

Moses - Leading His People through the Red Sea, all the miracles in the desert

Joshua - Commanding God to keep the Sun in the Sky, Walking around Jericho, Crossing the Jordan River

Gideon - Gathering an Army, reducing it by 99.06% with NO WEAPONS to take on a battle where it’s 450 Midianites for every 1 Israelite

David - Facing an undefeated Giant as a teenager with NO armour

The Feeding of the 5000 - A little boy brings his tiny lunch forward for Jesus to multiply

The Woman with continued bleeding - Fighting to get through the crowd, presisting despite getting tripped, elbowed, shoved, Just to touch Jesus’ cloak

Jarius’ Daughter - Jarius Relentlessly searches for Jesus

Blind Bartimaeus - The Crowd tells him to shut up, but he kept shouting for Jesus and Jesus heals him

In Acts, people would bring the sick to the streets just so that if Peter’s shadow passed over them, they’d be healed.

Paul - Blinded on the Road to Damascus during his onslaught of killing Christians, Jesus tells Him what to do, He does it, Ananias (Not the one who died for his lying), was told by God to go to Paul and pray for Him DESPITE THE FEAR. Paul is healed and is converted

Paul & Silas in Prison - In chains, they began to sing songs and when the doors opened through the earthquake, they got up and took action, converting the Jailor who was about to commit suicide.

Every single one of these stories shows a partnership between our actions and God’s actions. It’s not because God CAN’T do it without us, it’s that His design was always for this to be a partnership. To illustrate, I want you all to imagine we’re all sailors. We start at White Rock and our Goal is Vancouver Island. God is providing wind, blowing west. That isn’t going to help either of us unless we get in the boat and raise the sails to catch the wind. To get to that miracle, you have to participate!

As I close, I want to leave you a Big Idea of what we learned together today. This Big Idea is “Expect the Wind; Raise the Sail.” Faith, paired with action, leads to witnessing a miracle. If you buy a gym membership and never go, you’ll never achieve the goals you’re looking for. If you want a miracle story in your life, you need to get in the game! If you just sit and do nothing, you may never get to experience the miracle that God has for you. As long as you have breath in your lungs, you still have the opportunity to choose to participate in God’s plan and miracles. What will you choose?

*Invite to stand and Pray*