SERMON: MIRACLES

MIRACLES
30 August 2009 (Naylor UMC Only)

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Corinthians 1

8. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
9. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
10. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
11. as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

-- When a hurricane hit South Florida several years ago, Norena's home was one of many that was severely damaged -- The elderly woman got money from her insurance company to fix the damage and immediately hired a contractor to fix her home -- but, she ran out of insurance money before all of the repairs were completed and her contractor quit working -- leaving her with an unfinished home with no electricity -- and ever since, Norena lived without power in her home
-- now what makes this story truly amazing is that the hurricane that damaged Norena's home was not Katrina, but Andrew -- if you remember, Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida back in 1992 -- Norena lived in the dark for over 15 years -- so, think about what that means -- this elderly woman had no heat when the temperature dropped in the winter -- she had no air conditioning to help when summer rolled around -- no hot showers -- no refrigerator -- no freezer -- the only thing she had was one small lamp and single burner on her stove
-- Norena never complained to anyone -- her neighbors didn't know that she didn't have power -- and because no one knew, no one could help -- finally, in 2007, someone found out about Norena's problem and got word to the mayor of Miami -- just a few hours later, an electrical contractor hired by the city was able to get power hooked up to her house
-- CBS News said that Norena plans to let the water get really hot, and then take her first bubble bath in a decade and a half -- "It's hard to describe having [the electricity]…to switch on," she said. "It's overwhelming." 1

-- can you imagine someone living without power for 15 years? -- can you imagine someone going day after day after day with no power simply because they refused to ask for help -- because they refused to let someone else know that they needed a hand -- because they felt like they could make it on their own?
-- if you had to point to the one character flaw in the church in America today, it would be this -- for way too many years, the church in America has been living without power -- we've just been getting by like Norena -- looking good on the outside but totally dark and devoid of power on the inside
-- if you read the account of the early church -- if you read of the miracles that God did through them -- if you think about how God magnified their ministry and grew their numbers -- allowing them to flourish under the reign of the evil dictator Caesar Nero -- you can't help but be astonished
-- some people read the stories of the apostles and the early church in the Book of Acts and they try to explain it away -- sure, that's what God did then -- that's what God did when He was getting His church established -- but He doesn't act that way now -- that's why we don't see that in our churches -- it's not because of anything that we're doing or not doing -- it's simply because God doesn't work that way anymore
-- but, is that true? -- the Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever -- that means that Jesus' ministry has not changed -- the same Jesus who did the miracles in the gospels -- the same Jesus who calmed the sea and the wind -- the same Jesus who called Lazarus from the grave and raised the dead -- the same Jesus that made the blind see and the lame walk -- the same Jesus who cast out demons and wept for His friends -- this same Jesus is still the God of our church and still works in this way

-- if this is the case -- if the Bible is true when it says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever -- then there are a couple of principles that we can discern from this statement
-- first, miracles did not cease when the Bible was written -- in other words, if Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday, that means that Jesus is still working today as He did then -- that means that miracles should still be taking place throughout the world and throughout the church just like they did in the gospels and in the New Testament -- that means that the power has not gone away but should be evident in the midst of His people
-- and, secondly, if we're not experiencing God's power -- if we're not seeing Him work in our midst in this way -- then the problem doesn't lie with Jesus -- it has to lie with us -- just because Norena didn't have power in her home for 15 years after Hurricane Andrew didn't mean the problem was with the electric company -- the problem was with her -- she simply wasn't connected

II. Defining Miracles
-- so, let's take a few moments and think about this topic a little more -- let's start by defining what a miracle is -- that word gets thrown around a lot and not just by Christians -- we tend to use it in our normal, every day communication -- "It was a miracle that I made it to work on time" -- "It was a miracle that Georgia beat Florida" -- "It was a miracle that my lights came on just in time to watch that movie tonight"
-- but are those really miracles? -- what is the biblical definition of a miracle? -- Baker's Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as "an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God." -- in a similar vein, Kris Samons wrote that "Miracles are those acts that only God can perform" 2
-- a couple of years ago, Dr. Daniel Sulmasy looked at miracles from a scientific and theological standpoint in an article in the Southern Medical Journal and came up with a six part definition of a miracle:
1. A miracle must be a real, individual event that can be documented and verified -- in other words, to have a real miracle, you have to have proof to show that something really happened
2. A miracle must be something that is not normal or that has never happened before -- like someone getting healed from cancer without medical intervention
3. A miraculous event must evoke widespread wonder.
4. A miracle is something that can only be freely given by God and cannot be conjured -- in other words, we don't reduce God to a vending machine -- miracles come through Him and Him alone and not because we pushed the right buttons or said the right prayers
5. A miracle always is recognized as a special sign from God and always communicates a spiritual message -- in other words, there are no quiet miracles -- when God acts in our lives in such a way, He does so to get attention and to spread His word -- God does miracles so He gets the glory
6. A miracle must be affirmed as a miracle by the community of believers and the message of the miracle must be addressed to more than one member of that community, at least indirectly -- what this means is that when God does a miracle, we'll all recognize it as a miracle and we'll all be touched by the message of the miracle 3

-- so, that's what a miracle is -- a verifiable event -- the direct, supernatural intervention by God in a person's life to influence a situation that is impossible or unsolvable in human terms and that demonstrates the power and presence of God for an entire community
-- examples of miracles are easy to find, even today -- Dr. Sulmasy gave one example in his article of a 60-year-old Franciscan monk who had developed pneumonia -- but, even when the pneumonia was cured, the x-rays showed a mass in his chest -- the doctors did more tests and suspected it was cancer and decided to do surgery to confirm
-- the night of the surgery, the monk gathered with his fellow friars for a healing service -- he was anointed with oil and his brothers prayed for him -- The following day, he goes in for the surgery but it gets canceled because his routine preoperative chest x-ray -- taken that morning -- showed no lesion to be removed -- they did a CT scan and confirmed that the mass in his lungs -- which had been there for at least six months and had been seen 10 days before on x-ray -- was no longer there -- there was no need for surgery because the monk had been healed

III. Experiencing Miracles
-- so, we know what a miracle is -- we know why God does them -- but how do they come about? -- how can we experience the power of God in our churches and in our individual lives in this way today?

-- well, first, we need a situation that is impossible by human measures -- look back at verse 8 here in 2 Corinthians 1

8. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
9. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.

-- Paul and Timothy were ministering in the province of Asia -- Paul said they had suffered great hardships -- elsewhere in the scriptures he tells us about the persecution they endured -- being flogged and beaten and stoned -- the shipwrecks he experience -- being subjected to cold and heat -- being hungry -- being naked -- being harassed by robbers and thieves -- being thrown in prison
-- it reached the point, Paul writes here, where the sufferings and hardships were beyond their ability to endure -- they saw no way out -- they saw no deliverance coming -- they thought they would die
-- that's the first step in experiencing the power of God in our lives -- and it's here that the church in America is truly failing -- rarely do we try to do things in our churches today that are bigger than us -- rarely do we attempt to do great things for God
-- usually, what we do is come up with an idea for ministry on our own -- we see if we've got the money in the budget to cover it -- we see if we've got enough people to do it -- and then, and only then, do we go forward
-- when's the last time that you tried something that you couldn't do on your own? -- when's the last time that this church has tried something that we couldn't do on our own? -- when's the last time that we did something that put us totally and completely dependent on God and His power or else we knew we were facing total failure?

-- you've done that here before -- you did that with the roof before I got here -- you didn't have the money -- you didn't have the resources -- but you needed the roof fixed and you finally got to the point where you trusted God to do it -- and what happened? -- the roof was fixed and you ended up with more money than you started with
-- what happened when Jerry came up with the vision to put a Bible in every home in Naylor? -- that was an impossible feat for our church -- at the time we had about 12 people here in the congregation -- most of them in their 50's and 60's -- and not a lot of money -- it was impossible by human standards -- it was something that we couldn't do on our own -- it was a vision greater than us -- and what happened?
-- God made it happen -- the money just showed up -- all of you got out and gave out the Bibles -- and a church of 12 people was used by God to do the impossible
-- but that was in the past -- we can't live on tradition -- we can't live on the past -- God is asking us the question, "What have you done for Me lately?"
-- what have we tried lately that is impossible without God? -- what situation have we faced -- what ministry have we attempted that is greater than our checkbook and greater than our people and our resources can handle? -- miracles only come in response to situations that are impossible and too great for us to handle alone -- if we can do it on our own, then we don't need God -- if we can do it on our own, then it's probably not something that God is calling us to do

-- the next step in experiencing a mighty move of God is to reach the point where you totally depend on Him and Him alone for deliverance and action
-- look at the second part of verse 9

9b. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.


-- miracles only come when we quit relying on ourselves and rely on God instead -- I just finished reading a fantastic book -- a true story -- the autobiography of Brother Andrew -- Brother Andrew was a missionary from Holland -- he had no support from any mission agency -- he had no salary -- no staff -- no car -- no money -- no resources -- but he felt called to minister to the Christians behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950's and began to carry them Bibles and other Christian literature
-- when Brother Andrew began his work, it was illegal to carry any literature -- Christian or non-Christian -- into these countries -- they would stop you at the border -- search all your belongings -- and arrest you if you were trying to smuggle items across
-- Brother Andrew writes in his book, "God's Smuggler," that there was no way to get Bibles across the border -- there was no way to keep customs agents from searching his suitcase and his belongings -- there was no way to keep them from searching the car that he finally had given to him for his ministry
-- so he didn't even bother to hide the Bibles -- he just put them in the back of the car and asked God for a miracle -- he asked God to make seeing eyes blind to the presence of the Bibles -- and to make hearing ears deaf to the messages he delivered to the churches -- he didn't rely on his own strength or his own cunning or his own ingenuity to get the Bibles and the word of God across the border but totally depended on God and God's providence -- and with a ministry that spanned over 20 years to the communist countries, not once did he ever get detained the border -- not once did the border agents see or discover the literature and the Bibles he carried

-- look at verse 10

10. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
11. as you help us by your prayers.

-- Paul was totally dependent on God -- he trusted God -- he says that God had delivered him in the past, and God would deliver him in the future -- Paul says, "God does deliver -- I have no doubt"
-- do you trust God to deliver? -- can you depend on Him to work when all hope is gone?

-- finally, the purpose of a miracle -- God doesn't do miracles just to make your life comfortable -- He doesn't do miracles to make things easy for you -- He does miracles so that He will get the glory -- so that His name will be magnified -- so that His message will go out and change hearts and transform lives
-- look at the second part of verse 11

11b. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

-- many will give thanks for what God has done -- when miracles occur -- when God acts -- it will be seen by many -- it will be experienced by many -- and God will get the glory -- God's message will be seen and felt -- and God's church will be strengthened -- that is the reason God works in this way -- that is the reason for miracles

IV. Closing
-- when you think about it, it all comes down to trusting and depending on God -- it all comes down to faith -- as Abraham Lincoln pointed out, "Faith is not believing that God can, but that God will!"
-- faith is believing that God will deliver -- that God will work -- that God will do a miracle in response to our total trust and dependence on Him -- that we can do the impossible through Him
-- as Francis Asbury, one of the first Methodist Bishops in America said, "We live by faith in a prayer-hearing, soul-converting, soul-sanctifying, soul-restoring, and soul-comforting God."

-- so, as we close this morning, let me ask you -- can you say you live by faith in this way? -- can you say that you truly trust God -- that you truly depend on Him in your life? -- can you say that your power is on?
-- to live a life of faith is to live a life of adventure -- to live a life of faith is to dare to dream great dreams -- to reach out for the stars -- to try to do the impossible in the name of and for the name of Jesus
-- what impossible trial are you walking through right now? -- what impossible mission is God sending you and this church on? -- what is He calling us to do?

-- you have seen and experienced the power of God in your lives -- you've seen the miracle of God manifested in this very room -- among this very people -- but that's not good enough -- don't you want to see it again?
-- it starts with a vision and with faith and with trust in a God who will make it happen
-- as we close in prayer, let's ask God to challenge us again -- let's ask God to give us a mission that is greater than ourselves -- something that we can't do -- something that is impossible apart from Him -- and let's ask Him for the faith to see it through
-- let's pray



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1 KUTV, "Woman Turns Lights on After 15 Years in the Dark," KUTV.com (2-17-07); submitted by John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to Preaching Today.com

2 "What is a Biblical Definition of Miracle?" by Kris Samons, Probe Ministries, http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4222629/k.EE2A/What_is_a_Biblical_Definition_of_Miracle.htm, Accessed 30 August 2009

3 "What Is a Miracle?", Sulmasy, Daniel P. OFM, MD, PhD. Southern Medical Journal. December 2007 - Volume 100 - Issue 12 - pp 1223-1228. http://journals.lww.com/smajournalonline/Fulltext/2007/12000/What_Is_a_Miracle_.15.aspx, accessed 30 August 2009