 Are there miracles today? And if so, why don't we seem to see as many like we saw in the Bible? So one of the issues today in Christianity is this issue of signs and wonders and the question that will naturally derive from that is if there are still miracles today and That's a question. Are there still miracles today? And if so, why don't we see them? Why don't we see them like the way that we saw them in the Bible? Especially the way that we saw them under the hands of the Apostles or Jesus or in the Old Testament People often ask me why God does not perform the same kind of miracles that he used to perform like in the Old Testament And I could list some that you haven't seen in your lifetime nor have I The answer to that question is clear if you understand miracles in the Bible This is a good place for me to just insert this for all of our admonition and information God has a plan for his miracles and His plans do not happen to include a constant repetition of the same kind of miracle in every time and in every place if Miracles happened every day. They wouldn't be called miracles. They would be called everyday experiences We wouldn't even call them miracles nor would we notice them God has wisely protected the significance of his miracles by making sure that they are very rare So is he correct? Well, I would tend to agree as a matter of fact not tend to agree. I definitely agree Miracles are not something that happened all the time Sometimes we'll make these bland statements these generic statements that just waking up today is a miracle Breathing is a miracle or even something special like giving birth to a child. It's a miracle But no miracles are not a common everyday occurrence And so to figure out what it is and why we don't have them or why we do have them We probably need to give a little bit of a definition to miracles even though there is really no Straight or consensus definition Biblically speaking of what a of what a Miracle is, but I think there is a consensus as to what miracles are without there being a straightforward definition a miracle is a special targeted occurrence without the necessity of means or natural causes Meaning you can't use something To cause this miracle to happen or let's just say this atmospheric event happened caused this Happened this chain reaction and this happened. Well, no, that's not what a miracle is a miracle is also also not random nor as a miracle by chance and Then also a miracle is not duplicated It's not common It's not something that you and I can do or any old person can do and it's not an everyday occurrence again Like you said if they were at everyday occurrence and we would not call it a miracle we would call it an everyday occurrence and So again simply waking up or something or you experiencing something that everyone else has experienced or a lot of others have Experienced like even being healed from cancer. Well, that's happened enough times where we can say even though It's a great thing. It's still not a miracle Which means also we need to understand that all healings are not Miracles not all healings are what's called a sign not all signs and wonders are miracles in the Bible We tended to see a miracle which is this supernatural move of God either by God directly or at the hand of one of his men They tended to do one of three things They were either the belly of the mess from God a movement of God or man of God and all were intended to display God in other words to bear witness of what God was doing and So for the people to receive and by the way these miracles were always targeted for someone or some Bodies persons plural to see in order to receive a message or to receive a man Or to receive this movement in other words as God is leading the children of Israel out of Egypt well him leading them out by pillar of fire and by Pillar of smoke and then part in the red seat that without without question was a miracle And what did it do it validated that God was actually the one behind them as well as the plagues and so forth And so what God has done God would do these things just let the people know that he indeed is the one behind them You would see that happening even with certain men Principally Jesus who is God in flesh, but then also with the apostles to validate not only the message But the movement of God but also that these men have come from God and so Those are the three reasons, but they always have the same ultimate reason and that is to bear witness of God So that brings us to the question in are there miracles today, and why don't we see miracles to the same degree? well Two things one there are miracles that happen either directly from God And there will be miracles that would happen at the hand of another man a man that's being used by God It'd be hard to say that God is still using a man to bring about miracles We're gonna look at some examples in the Bible But if it is we haven't seen any at least some that we can verify now that also begs the question Just because we haven't seen them well then does that necessarily mean that there are no miracles? No, but the question would be if there is a miracle at the hand of a man the questions got to be why? When we look at the Bible, we can see the why every time there was a miracle Describing the Bible we see why why it happened and who it was attending for and that every time that this miracle happened There was also a response and a movement by the people that it was attended to move I Give him to me Don't worry Look at me Thank you Lord in the mighty name of Jesus Behaved and so if we see people today saying or claiming that they that they have the ability to work these miracles The question got to be then why don't we see the same response to say movement? Because I don't think that God is going to waste a miracle at the hand of a person and then it not be known Remember every move of God in the Bible was verified not only by the people of God But also by the people who were not of God It was always evident and understood and accepted now that being said does not mean that God himself Does not perform miracles. It'd be hard to say that God does not perform miracles I would imagine that he still does he is the same yesterday today and forever more So if that's the case does he still perform miracles? I couldn't say that he doesn't now could I point to any time especially Recently and in the near the near past or anything like that anytime relatively within the last 10 years 20 years 50 hundred years No, not personally But what would that be enough to say that there has not been any no Again though if we're going to say something as a miracle the questions got to be questions got to be why now He's got through with miracles. That's the better question Well, we know that's not the case because they're going to be some miracles that are going to occur Now, I don't know when we're told these are the last days last days Well, we don't know but when he comes back, they're going to be some signs and wonder some miracles that are going to occur So I want to point to a couple of scriptures to kind of make a little bit of this point Let's go to first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10. It says speaking about the Holy Spirit giving off these These gifts he says let's start in verse 9 to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healing by the one spirit to another the working of Miracles now, let's just stop there. This word here for miracles is From the Greek word dunamis now this word really didn't really refer to the kind of miracles We're talking about even though this is the word that's used here Again, the translators are looking for the better a good enough word for us to use now the word issues here dunamis just means the ability or power, okay, and so Could you also put that in the category of miracles? You could but there is another word that's probably more More closely associated with what we would assume to be a miracle and that is the word the Greek word Simea and we'll look at that just a second, but back to this word dunamis here that is translated as miracles It's just simply the ability or authority or a or power Now and again, it's always said the whole point of even even in the move of the spirit Just like it would be in this case talking about miracles There's always a question why and it's always for God's purpose for that He could be magnified that he could be declared which goes back to what I said earlier A miracle will be used to bear witness of God now the word that I said a second ago this word Simea or Simeon Let's look at this passage as well. Let's go to Acts 2 22 and this is Peter speaking about Jesus Let's look what he says in Acts 2 22 Let's pull up to let's see here it is Men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attests to you by God with mighty works and Wonders and sign that God did through him in the midst as you yourselves know now the word that's used here this word for sign is the word Simeon or Simeon in this case for plural or you might see it in different case-ending Simeon But this word is the word for sign now You need to understand kind of where the root of this word is or or this word is derived from or the meaning of it It's derived from what's called a sign A seal in other words Someone putting an imprint or an engraving on something to let you know that that's them Are you with me? So thinking about that and that's where this word Simeon or signs comes from So when we see the signs from God or in this case from Jesus or from the hands of apostle It is literally God putting a sign or seal or let's just put another way His signature on something so that we can know that this is him it again Bears witness of God Miracles in the Bible do not occur just for the sake of happening They occur to bear witness of God and to validate God himself to validate either the movement The message or a man or all of them, but always to bear witness of God In Hebrews 2 for we see this written he says while God Also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit Distributed according to his will but there's that word again Simeon's which is the word for signs and so God will bear witness of himself The Holy Spirit through Jesus through one of his prophets or apostles He's bearing witness in this case bearing witness of himself But every time we see a sign an actual miracle It is to bear witness of God. Are you with me? And so the question is why don't we see those Signs that these miracles today Even if we were to say and to grant that there are people that can steal grant or can still do miracles I doubt that but I could be wrong and I doubt that God is actually doing the same number of miracles today that he was then although I do believe that in due time the miraculous activity will increase But let's just say that they are and I just haven't seen them They always will be for the purpose of bearing witness to him And so now if we if we believe that there's a reason why there is a decrease and I think everyone would have to agree There's a decrease today in signs and wonders versus what we saw in the Bible because again, these were known first today Even when someone says that we're pretty skeptical about right, but Everyone would probably agree that there's at least a decrease in miracles Some will say there are no miracles today at least for the time being there will be later There might be some that will say that there are a few Even still my point is granted that there are less miracles and here's the reason why The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1 look what it says It says that long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son now What does that have to do with what I'm saying? Well, if the word for signs of miracles is derived from this word for seal or for signature Engraving to get his imprint. Well, we have that we've got that through his son And then us being believers through the the whole experience The word of God which needs to be The bulk of why of what we rely on God from It's his word. It's how we know that we're doing things the right way And so how we can verify if something is of God is his work He's not trying to reestablish himself or to preach himself all over again in the new fashion In other words, he's not going to do as some people say a new thing people are doing these these Illegendament signs and wonders and so forth for the benefit of themselves to both themselves But we have the gospel to promote God to promote Christ are you with me? And so there is no need for a miracle though There are some people who would like to see a miracle who would like to see a sign But Jesus did say that it is this wicked and adulterous generation Obviously speaking back then but even still today who seeks after signs. They want to see something special But the only thing special that you need to see is the word pick up the word read the word And who and if they don't ever see the word if they don't have access to it or if they don't know anything about it They think it's too spooky too mysterious. Well, then that's our job And so our job is to go out and to be the word. We don't need to have the heavens and earth Shaking we don't need fire coming down for heaven for people to believe what we're saying We just go in boldness and say what the word says if they receive it They don't they don't that's not our job But there's going to come a time where he's going to show more signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth And so for the time being The revelation of God through his word is enough That's all that that that he's using right now to validate himself to validate his message Is that and then once a person becomes a believer they receive extra validation Which is what the Holy Spirit and so my friends personally I don't believe that today there is a need for a grand display from God from the heavens to demonstrate his word to magnify himself to Give ability to message or to movement and certainly not to a particular man And so for that reason I think that that's the reason why we have a decrease in miracles again, though I do believe that God still has the ability to perform miracles and there might be miracles from time to time It's only if only if that particular miracle does Give witness or bear witness to God and it's awesome power There might be a miraculous healing without the aid of a doctor without the aid of medicine and then it's done So to give credit or to bear witness of the glorious power of God I can't deny that that didn't happen because he is still God We do know though we do know that it's going to be an increase in miracles soon enough But for the time being there is no need for them all we have is the word and to be honest That is more than enough. Amen