 Here in 1 Corinthians we've been looking at this this book and now we've gotten to chapter 12 and chapter 12 speaks concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit and As we've been looking at these these gifts individually sometimes in pairs We've noticed that it's the Lord who is the one who gives his gifts He's the one who performs the works, but it's the Lord who gives the gifts according to verse 11 here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 One in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills And so we know that when it comes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit We can ask of the Lord that he might give to us a Spiritual gift, but it's up to the Lord to determine which gift we're going to have or which gifts He might give to us and so as we've been looking at the gifts We've been looking at them individually. We have now come to the working of miracles Now in order to get a grasp of what this is referring to in terms of this particular gift We need to lay a foundation Because when you think of miracles We need to really give a definition for them You see somebody from an earlier century If they were to see the things that we have today the things that we take for granted The things that many of you have grown up with and have never even considered that there was a time that You didn't have those things well Somebody from another century if they saw some of the things that we have The things that we are able to do today would undoubtedly say this is a Miracle or they'd say this is from the devil there would be a reason for it I mean they didn't think in terms of stadium lighting in their lifetime They didn't conceive of motorized vehicles and jet flights. They didn't think about phones and iPhones. I mean even in my lifetime Moving from telephones the way that we had them, you know, they had what they called a rotary dial I would how many of you know what I'm talking about. You see some of you guys don't your hands are down Like what what is a rotary? You know, you would put your finger in this little hole and had one two three and you would move it Like that and When you got on the phone sometimes they had what was called a party line and how many of you have heard of a party line Okay, some of you think the party line is that line that you get on and start shouting out your name Hi, my name Dave called this or whatever a party line was a shared line in the neighborhood and So if you picked up your phone and you put your ear to the earpiece You might hear a conversation going on that somebody was having because you were sharing that line And so I would pick it up every once in a while as a little boy And then you'd hear one of our neighbors talking and then they'd say something like corn has ears Which is another way of saying somebody's listening in to our conversation And so we had that see so I grew up in a time when the idea of actually having a small phone I mean just think of some of the Cell phone the evolution of the cell phone. I mean the first cell phones you had it took two hands to pick it up And and it was huge, you know, and you would strap it like an oozy on your waist I mean it was huge, you know, and now you've got this little teeny thing and all you can speak into it It'll it just is amazing thing. Well, it's even amazing to people like myself who grew up with these things But imagine somebody in another time another century What they would have thought about these kinds of things cameras or cameras inside of phones They would have thought that it's just it's a miracle the fact that we have gotten used to seeing images of atomic weaponry and and even parachutes which to us is Is just something that we are familiar with but imagine if you or somebody somewhere else in another time and somebody came floating out of the sky That it's a miracle he can fly, you know So things as simple as radio and television certain medical procedures Even air conditioning heating eye glasses all of those things in another century Would have been regarded as miraculous, but none of them Require supernatural aid Not a single one of those things do because they all fit under what is called natural law so by definition a miracle a miracle is Achieving something that is impossible Without supernatural aid It's something that will not happen without the intervention of God now when you read your Bible And you pick it up in the book of Genesis and you begin to read through it You discover that there are no less than 77 miracles that are that are recorded in the Old Testament all the way to Creation beginning in creation and then you have the miracle of the flood and then you have the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel and you have Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction and then you have Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt To the miracle of the birth of Isaac Elijah raising the widow son Jonah in the valley of a great fish You see the incident of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace You see Daniel in a lion's den being saved all of these things We're kind of used to because we see them as being just common stories in the Bible But those are all miracles. Those are all things that God super in Intervened and he did something supernatural in you look at the life of Moses You see his ministry and his life in ministry was filled with miracles the call of Moses There he has in there he is in the backside of the desert and and he sees a He sees a shrub that's on fire, but it's not being consumed And it draws his attention and and he walks up to it and begins to have a conversation with the God Who has drawn his attention through this this this miracle and and it's a shrub that is not being consumed by fire It's a miracle when you look in Exodus chapter 4 It records that that this staff that he carried was turned into a serpent and Record that his hand became leprous and these are miracles. He delivered Israel through 10 miraculous plagues He parted the Red Sea a struck a rock that gushed out water These are all miracles and we get used to reading these things you read of Joshua who led Israel in the crossing of the Jordan How that his his the priest's feet actually hit the water and the minute the minute it touched the moment It touched their feet touched the water the water parted before them and they walked on dry ground You you see the story of Jericho on the the wall that fell down after Israel circled the wall 13 times in seven days You look into the life of Elijah how that he prayed it for the space of three years It didn't rain and then he prayed again and it poured and so we are used to these stories these are things that we grew up hearing and And have gotten pretty much used to it so miracles Miracles are common in the Old Testament and they're intended to reveal something. They're intended to reveal the greatness of God because miracles are actually works that are consistent with the nature of God and They are what I call part of the communicable attributes of God a Communicable attribute of God is simply an attribute that can be communicated to man And so you'll see things as as the Bible speaks of him being omnipresent or omniscient You you see him as being what is called immutable and that he never changes. You see that he is holy He's righteous you see that God is loved that God is faithful. These are all attributes of God that can be communicated to us But we also see him in scripture as being omnipotent what simply means all powerful And so a miracle would be consistent With the nature of an all-powerful God and that's what Luke 137 is saying when it says nothing is impossible with God That's what it means in Luke 18 27 where it reads and he said that things which are impossible with men are possible with God you see All things are possible with God God is the God of miracles Now I hasten to add when scripture says nothing is impossible with God again. It's speaking in keeping with his nature God never contradicts himself and there are certain things that he really won't do that. He actually can't do He was 618 says it's impossible for God to lie in 2nd Timothy 2 13 it says if we believe not yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself Titus 1 verse 2 says in hope of eternal life Which God who cannot lie promised before the world began So there are certain things that he will not do because it's not consistent with his nature But miracles are consistent with his nature So you see no less than 77 miracles in your Old Testament, then you turn to the new Miracles continue in the New Testament when you look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ There are 37 miracles that are spoken of that were performed by Jesus in the Gospels There are more than that that he performed these are the ones that are recorded When you look in John chapter 21 verse 25 it says Jesus did many other things as well If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written But we have 37 specific miracles that were Performed by Jesus that are recorded for us so that we can see that he is the God of the possible That all things are possible with him Now moving a little bit further and continuing to lay somewhat of a foundation in the New Testament There are three words that are used to describe God's power in action and you'll see these words as you read your New Testament Miracles wonders and signs You'll see these words used to describe the activities of God when it speaks concerning miracles that word miracle in the In the Greek language is the word Denamis It's the it's a Greek word that we all actually translate the word the English word dynamic from It's also used to be spoken of dynamite It speaks of works of power the word Denamis speaks of strength or ability and a miracle when it's used in terms Used is a word that is describing the supernatural something that was done by God Wonders is a Greek word terrorist that means something that causes the observable observer to Marvel It's something that happens that causes wonder in your in your in your mind as you see it This is amazing this this man has been incapable of walking and now he's walking leaping and praising God and so that's the wonder that you experience when you see the miracle of the healing and then you have the word signs and The word sign is semi on is is a word that speaks of an unusual occurrence and it transcends the common course of nature It's it's something that appeals to understanding and it's something that directs It's like when you were coming to we'll say this church for the first time You'd never been here before and perhaps you called the office and said I'm gonna be coming from from this particular city How do I get there and it just so happens that you have to get on the 60 freeway? And so they'll say you need to get on the 60 freeway you go east you exit at Ramona So you see a sign the sign is Ramona you get off on Ramona you take left going north You're gonna go to Philadelphia another sign Philadelphia. So signs are just that Signs are directives. They're pointing you somewhere and so the signs would point people to God To the work that God was doing the signs would produce wonder in the individual who sought Because the sign was revealing that this was a miracle that had been performed by God And so those are the basic words that you find in the New Testament that speak concerning the works of God You see this in Acts chapter 2 verse 22 When it reads men of Israel 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 So those are the basic words that are used when we're speaking about Miracles or wonders produced by God Okay, so is God showing off when he does a miracle Saying you know what I just want to blow your mind check this out That blind guy is gonna he's gonna see in just a moment. Wow heavy. Is that basically what he did? Then no, there's a reason for miracles one of the reasons that God performs miracles This is all scriptural. This is all foundational one of the reasons why there is a miracle in the Bible It's because it reveals the glory of God Miracles reveal to you how great God is in John 11 verse 40 This was said to Martha at the raising of Lazarus Jesus said did I not tell you that if you believed? You would see the glory of God and so a miracle is intended to reveal the glory of God Not the greatness of some man or some human instrument a Miracle when performed always is intended to draw my attention to the God who performed that miracle a Second reason that there are miracles is because it established the credentials of Jesus Christ Remember back in John chapter 3 verse 2 when Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus Christ and began to speak to him Now that Nicodemus came to him by night and said rabbi We know that you're a teacher who's come from God for no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if God were not with him and so a miracle is Basically something that reveals the glory of God as well as establishing the credentials of Jesus Christ But they also established the credentials of the Apostles Who went from Jesus and went out and continued the work that God had begun? 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 12 says the things that mark an apostle signs wonders and miracles were done among you with great perseverance Today there are those who say that they're Apostles perhaps some of you know some people there are churches that actually Have individuals who are referred to as either the prophet so-and-so or they refer to themselves as The Apostle there's a whole movement right now where individuals are claiming to be Apostles Apostles equal to the old Apostles in the early church well one of the things that established the credential of an Apostle And you see this in Acts chapter 1 was that they need to accompany Jesus Christ about his ministry from the beginning to the end They needed to be witnesses of the resurrection And another thing was is that there were wonders and signs or miracles performed by the hands of the Apostles And so they were establishing the credentials of the Apostles these who today said that they are Modern-day Apostles are incorrect biblically because there's no way they could be unless they're over two thousand years old And if they're over two thousand years old I rather doubt that they'd be talking to me right now or and Then a fourth thing is is the miracle was intended to confirm the word of God Because as God's word went forth and was proclaimed God would accompany that with signs and wonders It says in in Mark 16 verse 20 the disciples went out and preached everywhere and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it and so Miracles were intended to have a purpose They confirmed the word of God established the credentials of the Apostles established Jesus's credentials and brought glory to the Lord And so works of power are works that God performed, but they were not restricted to Jesus alone In the New Testament when Jesus was sending his Apostles out even prior to the day of Pentecost Jesus actually gave his Apostles the ability to perform miracles. It's part of a commission He gave them in in Matthew chapter 10 verses 7 and 8 There he said to them as you go preach this message the kingdom of heaven is near Heal the sick raise the dead cleanse those who have leprosy drive out demons freely You have received freely give and so the miracles were performed in the ministry of Jesus through his men that he sent out and It continued on into the book of Acts where the Apostles continued performing miracles Acts 2 42 through 44 they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching to fellowship to the break in a bread to prayer Everyone was filled with awe many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles All the believers were together and had everything in common So when God birthed the church he continued to perform his works Through the people that he originally had sent out to take the gospel to the world Now Continuing on not only the Apostles, but other members of the body of Christ were used to perform miracles when you study your scriptures There's a man by the name of Steven He's what is referred to as a deacon in the early church and he was one who was known to perform miracles Acts chapter 6 verse 8 says even full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people So it wasn't restricted to certain individuals But that God would give to people an ability to perform that which was miraculous as God deemed fit now With all that said the question has to be asked Does God still perform miracles and the obvious answer would be I Don't know no the obvious answer would be of course, but let me share something with you that That you need to think about for a moment If a miracle is a supernatural act that only God himself can perform Then let me ask you a question that you may not have ever categorized in this fashion because most of us when we think of Miracles think in terms of walking on water or Opening the ears of the deaf or the eyes of the blind or unstopping the tongue of the one who cannot speak so that they can speak We think in terms of cleansing leprosy raising the dead We think in terms of healing the paralyzed and things of that nature And I think that when we begin to restrict the activity of God to certain things like that That we're gonna basically miss one of the greatest things that we ever see and we can see quite often Which is the miracle of salvation Because God is the one who performs that see man can't save himself woman cannot save herself There's nothing I can do to save myself. I'm it's impossible for me to do so So one of the greatest things that we see there are Obvious works of God that are miraculous is the conversion of sinners when God actually reaches down touches a life and transforms that life if I gave you an opportunity to come up here and Take five minutes Which would be difficult to be able to do if you're telling your story But if I if I said can you give me your testimony in five minutes? Some of the amazing things that we would hear Would just it would startle people as a matter of fact some of your testimonies are so heavy that when you finished giving them Nobody would sit next to you. They'd be afraid of you. No, they're so heavy That it's just a wonder of what God has done How the Lord has been so good He took a violent man and made him into a loving person It took a woman who cannot remain faithful to one man and made her a faithful wife He took a drug addict or an alcoholic or whatever and and transformed him in an unbelievable way So much so that those who knew them best didn't even recognize him anymore a man like the apostle Paul who breathed Out-threatening against members of the way members of the body of Christ. He breathed out threatening against the church He received letters so that when he would find somebody that was part of this heresy this new belief that was undermining Judaism he had letters that that gave him authority to take them put him in chains bring him back Try him as heretics and then witness to their death. This is a man who hated Christianity and he finally had secured those letters and and he was on his way to Damascus because he's looking for people who are believers in Jesus Christ and and we all know the story of his conversion there on the road to Damascus how that that Great light shone around him He was knocked from his the beast that he was riding on and the voice of the Lord speaks to him and asked him Why are you persecuting me? It's an amazing miracle of salvation and this one who had been breathing out Threatenings going as far as he could to find a believer in Christ so that he could bring him back Try him as a heretic and see them killed Became the greatest preacher of the gospel that the history of the church has ever seen a Miracle that was so amazing that when he tried to join with the other believers initially They would have nothing to do with them because they said this is Saul This is the one who kills believers We want nothing to do with him and then when you read of his testimony They'd give several times in the book of accent and later on in Timothy and other places in Philippians and various other books He speaks concerning the life that he once lived and all that he had that he said was considered to be gained by those Religious he said but I've considered them to be nothing but rubbish because he says I finally now have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ I have the excellence of knowledge of Christ who's my savior and I count all of this as being simply dumb All of the things that I had that used to motivate me to the point of breathing out Threatenings that I might put to death. Those were followers of the way All of that changed in a miraculous moment when the Lord Jesus Christ reached down from heaven and saved this man a man by the name of Saul that is a tremendous miracle and Only God can perform a miracle of salvation On one occasion There was a rich young man, we all know him as the rich young ruler and He approached the Lord Jesus Christ and And he began to speak to him, you know, what good thing should I do in order that I might obtain eternal life? Well You know the commandments and Jesus begins to list several of them and As he begins to share with this young man the things that he should do The man says all these things all these commandments. I've kept for my youth up. What do I yet lack? Well, one thing you lack Jesus said go and sell all that you possess gift of the poor come and follow me You will have treasure in heaven and what is it? We all know what he did What is it that that man did he turned around and he walked away because his possessions were very great How hard it is Jesus said for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Well, why would that be so hard because they trust in their riches? Mark gives to us that insight because Jesus said it the one who trusts in his riches It's not that rich people can't go to heaven heaven is open to any who come to Christ It's the bottom line that those who have many many much money have a tendency of trusting in their riches and have no real felt needs and Because that's true. It's difficult for them to come to trust in in God They've learned to trust in the things that they have in the bank account or the things that they can purchase They've learned to trust in those kinds of things And so even though this rich young man had it all The bottom line is he walked away empty because it takes God to save a sinner Matthew tells us when the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished and asked who can be saved Jesus looked at them and said with man. This is impossible, but with God all things are possible now Moving in a little bit of a different direction for a moment concerning miracles One thing about them is they're not always from God Sometimes what is not a genuine miracle will be claimed to be a miracle from God. There are many claims of the miraculous some of you have heard stories of weeping statues and Mary showing up in lords Things of that nature. She also went to Fatima and apparently Guadalupe There are she likes to travel there There are those called stigmata's how many of you have ever heard of stigmata's you know what a stigmata is they they claim to have the wounds of Christ and Their their hands will bleed and the side will bleed the feet will bleed and they're called stigmata's and There are some very famous individuals who claim to have the wounds of Christ and all and people will come and and Want to hear from them and want to receive blessings from them and all of that and and these are some of the Things that are purported to be miraculous There are you know not to be beaten up on Catholics because there are some charlatans who as I was mentioning in this morning Who sell on TV or on the radio? Anointed prayer cloths, you know just send some money to me and I'll send you a prayer cloth Oh, and I've blessed it and or you can get water from the Jordan You know there are so many different things that you can do You know the I was mentioning the watermelon seeds today. You send me some money I'll send you a watermelon seed a watermelon seed will produce many seeds Your money is going to produce an abundance of money for you And there are so many charlatans out there and they claim that this will be a miraculous provision and this and that and and how do You know? How do you know what is true and how do you know what is not true? One of the things we do know is that Satan counterfeits miracles When you look in the Old Testament Satan counterfeited miracles during the time of Moses Pharaoh's magicians were performing miracles when you look at Exodus chapter 3 verse 10 through 12 It speaks of Aaron's staff becoming a serpent, but the court magicians duplicated that miracle in Exodus 3 19 through 22 It speaks of the waters of Egypt becoming blood But the magicians did the same and then you look at Exodus chapter 4 verses 5 through 7 And it speaks of Aaron bringing a plague of frogs, but the magicians duplicated it And so they were running they were doing similar things because Satan counterfeits You see Satan can perform what would be called a miracle He can perform things that people would perceive as miraculous in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verses 14 and 15 Paul said Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light It's not surprising then if his servants masquerade his servants of righteousness Their end will be what their actions deserve in the last days in 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 9 It says the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders And so how do I know? How do I know when something is being done? That is from God And something is being claimed to be from God, but in reality Is not how do I know that? Well The question has to be asked who gets the glory If the person performing the work Is getting the attention That's not from the lord Isaiah 42 8 makes it very clear. I am the lord. That is my name I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols God is a jealous god And when a miracle is performed All you need to really do besides obviously just checking out the scriptures And looking at Deuteronomy Chapter 13 And and various passages that relate to that all you need to do is Look and see who got the glory for this When you have people standing in line So that someone may perform a work for them I I have a great suspicion of that because I get concerned who gets the glory Now people have a tendency of of wanting to have heroes and When somebody's being used by the lord very often people will begin to gather around them as if they have some special anointing But even as we saw in the book of acts when When uh in chapter three when when the apostle peter and and john had Performed that miracle at the gate called beautiful When the people began to surround them and began to wonder at what had happened Remember how the apostle peter said why are you looking at us as if we did this? It isn't us who did it. It's jesus christ It's in his name and it's the power of his name And so the most important thing as it relates to that Is who gets the glory and is the gospel of jesus christ being presented clearly I get letters on occasion facebook questions those who are facebook friends very often will send me a personal message asking me questions or I get questions from um my um What do you call it my for email because anybody in the church who ever wants to ask a question Can just write me on the email and it gets to me And then I I'll read the question and throw it away. No, I I read the question and and and do my best to answer it And uh, so I do that every week. I have obviously numbers of questions that come in and and one question that comes Probably more often than others is is related to this to this situation. How do I know when it's god? How could I know well one, you know through the word of god You test the spirit to see whether it's of the lord who gets the glory Is it the lord who's getting the glory? Well, there's a guy who's coming into town. He's got a tent and he's going to have a healing revival And should I go to it and the answer is no I personally wouldn't do that. Well, why wouldn't you go pastor david? You know can't god do that and the answer is of course the lord can do anything consistent with his own nature I wouldn't argue that But I don't know that god needs to travel in a tent anymore I I suspect that god is with us now And and what he would have for me to do is just ask him Say lord in jesus name. I have a need in my life that only you can meet I'm coming to you with with as much humility as my heart can muster up at the moment And i'm asking for your intervention here I don't have to go to the miracle worker The guy who puts his name on on the side of his tent, you know and miracles It's almost like miracles by appointment god is going to be here april 8th to the 12th And he's moving on to to fresno. So you better hurry, you know The lord isn't limited in that way the lord is capable of ministering at any moment and we have to be very careful about that You see people are asking Is this gift in operation today? Are are there truly workers of miracles today? And the obvious answer is god continues to perform miracles I'm aware of some claims Of miracles that are not made by reputable men, but the fact is god continues to perform miracles One of the things I think about though when it comes to this particular gift is how difficult it would be to possess such such a gift There are so many temptations that would assault you if you had a gift There would be a pressure for you to actually prostitute your gift that you might become famous and wealthy Because people would stand in line for your special prayers And I've seen that I've seen that in other religions I was in In india And we were in A place called ramaswaram And ramaswaram is A city that is built around Body of water and The people in that city It's one of the quote-unquote holy cities in india and the people will come to ramaswaram and they'll go to this particular water source And we'll get bottles of water drop their clothing in it bathe in it Looking for a miracle And they have their gurus Who are seated out all along the shoreline? And so I got up early and I walked there with some friends And all of these gurus who are seated there And what they do is they have a mat actually it's more like a rug That they're seated on with their back towards the water And they wait for the devotees to walk towards them And the devotee will ask them are your prayers effective? Can you perform the miracle? And the guru has money in front of him And it's all all and he'll point to it and usually they're praying for prosperity And so He'll point to the money on his rug and you'll say it's working for me My prayers work for me And then you see these poor people Putting their money down on the rug So that this charlatan Can say a special prayer of blessings over them So that they might become prosperous Because he's pointing to what he has in front of him has proof that his prayers work I've seen charlatans who will use that that attitude like I have something you need and I'm god's man of the hour and Send me some money and and it's a great temptation if the lord is really using somebody For them to begin to use that particular gift For financial gain Again, I was mentioning this today out of titus chapter 1 verses 10 and 11, but that's what false teachers do Paul said there are many rebellious people mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group They must be silenced Because they're ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach And that for the sake of dishonest gain And so some may want to receive financial gain Others may take the glory and steal it from the lord Again, people are prone to give glory to men And third I think that sometimes people look for the miraculous Because it may be a form of entertainment for them It is something that They want to see Because it's going to prove to them that god actually exists Man will say Seeing is believing But jesus taught Didn't I say unto you if you believed you would see the glory of god And a lot of times what we do is we reverse that order And even believers Even believers have a tendency of trying To make god prove himself to them sometimes We have Begun to pray Not expecting god to move But just because We're told that's what we're supposed to do And you can actually get to the point of believing Theoretically that god will move But never pray expecting god to move And I think that we can get disappointed with the lord sometimes to the degree That we we say well, we are praying But a long time ago We stopped thinking he would answer I remember the story of a of a minister who was ministering in a drought stricken region and And he told his his congregation. We need to pray that god will bring rain. We need rain And so they had a special meeting a prayer meeting And the church gathered together and they had a long time of prayer asking god to move And the next day The people showed up for church And the pastor said did you pray yesterday that god would bring rain? And the congregation answered yes, we did he said well, that's funny because none of you brought umbrellas today And and I think I think that that's kind of what we do, isn't it? And we do that because aren't we supposed to do that? Now, we know there's what 77 or so miracles recorded in the old testament You know, jesus christ performed no less than 37 We know that through the book of acts you see incidents of the miraculous you see miracles being the sign of an apostle But do we really believe that god is still alive? Still moving still capable of performing it that I think is is discovered when we're in a position that we need a miracle Where we finally say there's nothing I can do god. It's all in your hands. I need your help I need your help and there are times that god will intervene There are times when god will actually move I really would encourage you all to remember that when the holy spirit came upon The hundred and twenty and they were baptized in the holy spirit and they pour it out of that upper room And they began to minister the great things of the kingdom of god what god was all about How that god began to work in their midst And and through the book of acts you see god performing amazing wonders mentioned earlier The apostle peter there at the gate called beautiful in chapter three or When when this man named ineas was was healed of the palsy and in acts chapter nine or when paul healed a crippled man in listra and acts 14 or When paul who is apparently a little bit long-winded Was given a message and there was a young man named uticus Who had climbed into a window to try and get some fresh air? and paul just kept on speaking and uticus fell asleep And fell out of the window and he hit the ground and he dropped a couple stories and hit the ground and and was taken up dead and You know talk about a dead church, but anyway and and paul Went out there and he prays for uticus and uticus comes back to life And then paul goes back into the house and preaches for several more hours You know giving him a second chance to drop see if he'll happen twice But there are so many miracles you find in the in the new testament that Well, they're intended to amaze us because that's the god that we that we serve I mentioned to you about how the apostle paul was gathering sticks and and in this bundle of sticks was a viper in it And it latched upon his hand and and the people there are looking at him expecting him to swell up and die Because this is a very poisonous snake and all he does is shake the snake off of his hand into the fire and Continues on I mean you see miracle after miracle after miracle and so When you look at miracles You just trust that the lord is capable of performing them I've been in in hospital rooms. I mentioned this recently. I was in another hospital room just this last week And there's something traumatic and painful and extremely grievous When you see something that you love very deeply Incapable of responding to anything you're saying just laying there with tubes and a monitor Somebody that you're used to hearing his voice Just fill a room in his enormous personality That is overpowering to many people To see him lying there Incapable of moving Excuse me And you walk again When you stand next to him and you bombard heaven Jesus name Move to your glory father show yourself strong Raise him That you might receive glory. We've all done that in one form or another, haven't we? We've all prayed like that for someone we love someone we know someone who's hurting someone who needs I believe god answers prayers like that I would love to have seen my friend Stand up walk leap and praise god I would love to do that He didn't But that doesn't mean he won't Because god moves in god's time Our responsibility is to pray Our responsibility is to pray It's god's Ability that we're trusting The gift of of miracles Is it in the church today? Yes, it is Does everybody have that gift no god distributes severally as he wills God makes the determination Should you ever ask the lord to intervene and do something miraculous? Absolutely Yes What if he doesn't does that prove that god doesn't move no it proves that god is sovereign He chooses when to move What is my responsibility to ask? What is his role to do as he wills? What is my job to trust him? What is his job to comfort me? He and he does it well So in the early church god performed miracles does god perform miracles today? Yes, he does Does he do it in the way that we think he's going to not always? But does he move? All the time So what I do is I simply trust him To do what he knows because there's this old show that I used to watch when I was a little boy But it right here. It's it's a show that was called father knows best And you guess what he does Father knows best. He knows what to do when to do it and how to do it All I need to do is ask my father to please do it Can he do it? Yes, will he do it? It's up to him Should I ask I do all the time And does he answer? Yes, he does in one form or another So You may get into a position sometime Where you need a miracle performed by the lord of god in jesus name. Would you move do not hesitate to ask Because our god is a wonder working god