Empowered Disciples Week 12
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Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
We are picking back up in our series in Acts titled Empowered Disciples and we are in week 12 of this series as we walk through the book of Acts.
We took a break from this series last week for the Lord’s Supper.
The week before last we looked at the first eleven verses of Acts 5, where we seen the fate of Ananias and Sapphira.
They had sold a piece of land, and had pledged to give the proceeds to the church.
Once the land was sold they kept some of the money back for themselves.
Peter tells them it was their property to do with what they wanted, they were not commanded to sell it, and they were not commanded to give the money.
When they pledged the money to the church, they pledged it to God, and when they did not give it all they lied to God.
Because they lied to God they both dropped dead.
This morning we are picking up in Acts 5:12–32 which is a powerful reminder that God advances His mission through ordinary believers empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The signs and wonders drew attention, but the real message was the risen Christ whom the apostles boldly proclaimed.
The Crowds
The Crowds
We have learned that the Spirit-filled church is unified, magnified, and multiplied.
Satan wants to divide the church, disgrace the church, and decrease the church; and he will do it, if we let him.
12 At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.
13 But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,
15 to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
16 Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.
The church described here in our text completely triumphed over the attacks of Satan, that is seen in the first eleven verses of this chapter.
Ananias and Sapphira tried to deceive God, but it did not work, they had allow satan to enter their hearts and lead them astray.
God used Peter and put a stop to it immediately.
Our text this morning tells us the believers were still unified, as we are told they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.
In verse 13 we see that the people were magnified because they were held in high esteem, in verse 14 we are told they are multiplied.
Multitudes were added to the Lord.
God gave the Apostles power to perform great miracles.
We must remember who these apostles were, Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen, they were ordinary men, that God used in mighty ways.
Some of the ordinary members exercised miraculous powers as with Stephen in the next chapter.
Primarily the apostles did the miracles.
The signs and wonders were God’s way of authenticating the apostles ministry.
The mighty wonders performed by the apostles were the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that they would do greater works in John 14:13-14 where Jesus says
13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
When Jesus performed miracles, He had three purposes in mind: (1) to show compassion and meet human need; (2) to present His credentials as the Son of God; (3) to convey spiritual truth.
For example the feeding of 5,000, the miracle met the peoples physical need, revealed Jesus as the Son of God, and gave Him opportunity to preach a sermon.
The apostles followed a similar pattern, for instance when Peter and John healed the crippled beggar it met the beggar’s physical need, Peter used the opportunity to preach a sermon of salvation, and because of the miracle it proved to the people and the Sanhedrin that they were truly servants of the Living Son of God, Jesus Christ.
The apostles reputation had grown, and people were coming from all over, they were bring their sick and afflicted.
The people were laying those that were sick on their beds out in the streets hoping that Peter’s shadow would pass over them, like Peter’s shadow had some kind of power.
God was using the apostles in mighty and powerful ways, God was speaking to Israel and telling them that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed their Messiah and Savior,
The important thing was not the healing of the afflicted, but the winning of lost souls, as multitudes were added to the fellowship, that is the church.
The greatest miracle of all is the transformation of a lost sinner into a child of God by the grace of God.
That is the miracle that meets the greatest need, last the longest, and cost the greatest price - the blood of God’s Son.
That is one miracle we can all participate in as we share the message of the Gospel.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Just as the apostles were used by the Holy Spirit to perform miracles like healing the lame beggar, we to can be used by the Holy Spirit.
We might not heal a blind person, a lame person or anything like that, but we can share our Jesus’ story and the gospel message.
With sharing our Jesus story and the gospel message, the Holy Spirit can use us to do a miracle in a sinners life.
God is wondering are we going to be willing, obedient, and available for the Holy Spirit to use to work a miracle in someone’s life.
You may think well I am just an ordinary person, we again need to remember that the apostles were ordinary men.
You may think I don’t really have a Jesus story, then my question is, are you truly saved?
If you are a born again believer than you have a Jesus story, and that is how Jesus saved you from your sins.
Maybe you think well my Jesus story is not really much, cause I never drank, I never was on drugs, I never got in trouble with the law, but we can never think that our Jesus story does not have power, see when the Holy Spirit uses us, He will send us to those that our Jesus story will impact.
I use to think that my testimony would not be very effective, but then God began to show me how it can be and how He could use it if I will be willing to share it, obedient in sharing it, and available to share it when He called on me to share it.
Some people, and I use to think this also, I do not know enough Scripture to witness to others, or to share the gospel.
We do not have to memorize the entire Bible, or really any of it, yes it is good to know or memorize some Scriptures, but you can also have them highlighted and marked in your Bible or a New Testament that you keep with you.
A lot of the Scriptures are easy ones, like
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Most everyone knows that one.
Then there is the Romans Road.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
You may not be able to memorize all of those, but you can probable share the main points of them.
God loved the world so He sent His only Son that whoever believes will have eternal life.
Everyone sins, and because of sin there is death, but because of Jesus there is eternal life, and God showed His love by sending His Son when we did not deserve it.
We receive this through confessing Jesus as our Lord, believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, with our heart we believe which results in righteousness, and with our mouth we confess Jesus as Lord resulting in salvation, our promise is, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
When we share this we must be authentic, that is we must show that we truly care about the person, and where they will spend eternity.
When we are authentic in our love and care toward others, others will notice and they will be drawn to us.
Imagine a hospital with a renowned surgeon.
People travel from miles away because they have heard stories of lives being changed.
The crowds do not come because of the building; they come because there is hope inside.
In Acts 5, people gathered because they had seen God's power at work.
The miracles pointed people to Jesus and created opportunities for the gospel.
The greatest testimony of the church is not its programs but transformed lives.
We need to ask ourselves: "Can people see enough of Christ's work in my life to become curious about Him?"
