In this passage of Scripture in
Mark 16, the end of the Book of Mark, Jesus told them, told us
in verse 15, He said, "Go into all the world, and preach," or
proclaim, "the Gospel," the Good News, "to every creature. He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe.." Read that phrase out loud with
me, verse 17. Together: And these signs shall
follow them that believe. Say it again. Together: And these signs shall
follow them that believe. Signs following. He starts out talking about the
sign of "in His name" demons being cast out devils, the sign
of speaking with tongues, and He mentions other things and the
sick being healed. And verse 19, "So then after the
Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat
on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and
preached everywhere," they did what He told them to do;
preaching, proclaiming the Good News and, "the Lord working
with," now, actually the word them is in italics, so the Lord
working with, "and confirming the word with," what? "Signs following. Amen." Signs following. So, you can sense "them" is
added by the translators. They went forth and preached
everywhere. What did they preach? The word and the Lord working
with, with what they preached. And confirming, that's the
verification, what was He confirming? He wasn't just confirming them,
what was He doing? He was confirming the Word and
He did it with signs following. The title of our series that
we're beginning is Miracles Now. Miracles now. And I want us to just camp some
in the Book of Acts. Have you been reading the Book
of Acts? You should be. Everybody at Faith Life Church
reads their chapter, every day, Monday through Friday. You can do more than that if you
like, but do at least that. Somebody said, "What is that?" Well, after the service go back
to the Information Counter and they'll give you a little
reading card. And if you'll read one chapter
every day just five days a week, Monday through Friday in the New
Testament, you will have read the New Testament through in its
entirety in one year. And that's what we're doing
together. We've done it before and we're
going it again this year as a church. And we are in the Book of Acts
right now, aren't we. Are you getting anything out of
the Book of Acts? Does it bless you to read about
the Book of Acts? Are there supernatural things
recorded in the Book of Acts? Are there miracles, signs and
wonders? Well, are we a part of the same
church? We are. People sometimes talk about the
early church almost as through it was a different church. No, we're part of the same
church they are. That's the beginning days of the
church, but there's just one church. Just one church. Somebody said, "Which
denomination?" There's one church. Just one. And there are parts of the
church scattered in all kind of denominations and groups, but I
assure you, there is no Baptist, Catholic, Charismatic sections
in heaven. Nobody is going to ask you that
when you get there to determine what part of heaven you go to. No, no. No. You must be born again. If you're born again, no matter
what church you go to, what group you're a part of, you are
a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're not born again, no
matter what church you go to, or how you've been baptized, or
what book you got your name on, you're not a part of the church. You must be born again. So joining the church won't save
you. Thank God we can be born again,
and people that scoff at it and mock it obviously haven't been
and are obviously lost. So you shouldn't pay attention
to that. Anybody in here know what I'm
talking about when I say born again? Anybody in here been born again? I was just a boy when I was born
again; I was in junior high. No way I didn't know what
happened; I did know what happened. I went down to the altar, I
prayed, I gave my heart to the Lord, something happened to me. I couldn't explain it. But the next day on Monday, back
in school, I was sitting there and the people I didn't like, I
liked. I just felt different. Instead of the blah and the
negative and the junk, I was happy. There was something inside me. When you've been born again the
Bible said you're a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. So no, the new birth is very,
very real. Jesus talked about it and the
beginning days of the church you see so much about it, nothing
has changed. But in looking in the Book of
Acts like I said, we see miracles, miracles and signs and
wonders. And I want us to feed on these
things because faith comes by hearing, doesn't it? Faith comes by hearing. We're going to ask some
questions tonight -- do you believe in miracles? And as we look at these things,
we want to ask our self the question, do we believe as we
look in the Book of Acts and we see these amazing things that
are recorded, do we believe that this happened? And then do we believe that it
could happen now? These two questions I want us to
bring up to ourselves repeatedly. Do we believe this literally,
actually happened? And then, can it happen now? In 2010 in Branson, or any
state, or any continent on the planet earth. Could it happen now? Again? Are we open to that kind of
thing? Well, not just are we open, are
we believing for these things? The truth is much of the church
is not believing for these things. And there's even a lot of
churchgoing people that deny these things. Some churchgoing people deny
that these ever actually happened. I mean, there's people that
teach in seminaries, doctors with multiple degrees, that
explain to their ministers and pastors and evangelists in
training that, "No, the water didn't literally turn into
wine... No, the dead weren't actually
literally raised up again to life..." That, "These are figurative,
they're symbolic. They are moral myths." Phew. Well, you have to wonder if
these folks are born again at all. Because a person like that is
not going to believe in the virgin birth. A person like that is not going
to believe in the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus,
so how could they be saved? They can't be. You cannot be a Christian and
not believe in miracles. So let me see in here, does
anybody in here believe in miracles? Oh, we got Christians up in this
place. Look here. Look here. A house full of Christians. We laugh but there are number of
churches that are not full of born again people; they're just
basically social clubs. They come and talk about this
and talk about that. We believe, in case you had any
wonder or question about it, in this church right here we
believe that God is absolutely, totally real. He created the heavens and the
earth and everything that is in them. And that His precious Son, born
supernaturally without a human father. Somebody said, "That's
impossible." Watch out. You don't know Who you're
talking about. The One we're talking about,
with Him, nothing is impossible. People say, "I just can't
believe that." That's not true. It's not true that you can't
believe it. You should say it accurately,
you choose not to believe it. You could believe it if you
chose to. Faith is a choice. People say, "Well I believe in
this... I believe in that things just
evolved." Well, where did it come from to
get to here if you believe it evolved? Where? How did it start? "We can track life from
conception, and how it develops from one stage to the other." Okay, great. But what causes it to go from
one stage to another? You can't see that under a
microscope. It's life. No. If you understand that
everything that we see, the Bible said, was made and created
out of things that are not seen; Hebrews tells us. There was a time when this
planet wasn't here and the star our sun wasn't here. And the matter that you are made
out of wasn't here. And now everything we see, even
in its amazing beauty and glory, the Bible tells us it's fallen,
it's cursed. We don't even really know how
beautiful it was when it was first made. We're going to find out. I said, we're going to find out. Because everything is going to
be restored. There's going to be new heavens
and new earth wherein is no curse. And in time to come the Bible
says there will be no sorrow, no pain, no crying, no dying, oh
my. Think about it, saints. No hospitals, no institutions,
no cemeteries, no funerals. All that stuff will be long
gone. No aging. No aging. No dieting. No cleaning. Ha ha! Might have got some new converts
right there, right there. Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in miracles? It's a choice. Look with me over if you would
in two openings, Acts the fourteenth chapter and then
we'll go to Hebrews two. As you read the Book of Acts,
and we're doing that right now - let me encourage you, read it
carefully and every time you see a supernatural something, a
miracle, a sign, wonder, pay close attention this time. Ask yourself the question do I
really believe that happened? Because there's a lot of people
that tell us, "Oh no, that's an old writing and it teaches us
some valuable lessons, but surely you don't believe -- that
defies the laws of physics. Surely you don't believe -- that
would be a miracle." And there's a lot of people that
don't believe in miracles. You have to make up your mind
which one you are. And when you read about the
miracles that have happened, one of the first ones we're going to
see is Jesus has been raised from the dead. Was He really dead? Was He almost dead and He
revived? Was He really dead and they
stole His body and lied and said He raised from the dead? Somebody said, "It's confusing
to me. I just can't believe it." It's a choice. It's a choice. Pay attention to your heart. You're made in the image of God. He'll let you know what's right
if you'll listen to them, and you'll have a witness inside
yourself about what is true and what is right. And when you get that, you
should choose to believe that. And you must make this Book your
standard of what you believe. Else wise you'll be easily duped
and deceived and misled. The so Jesus is physically
raised, He was dead for days. And He is physically raised from
the dead. This is not just a spiritual
apparition. You remember He tells them --
Thomas said, "Unless I see the wounds, unless I put my finger
in the wounds," he knew that they had driven those pieces of
metal through His body and he said unless I see that, that
spear in His side. Well, Jesus appeared to them
after He's raised from the dead. Do you believe this or not? Was He really dead? Really dead? Has He now been raised from the
dead, physically as well as spiritually, soulically? His body physically has been
raised from the dead. There's even shows they have out
now about people that are trying to find Jesus' body. Boy, you talk about a waste of
time. There's some dumb folks
financing that endeavor. Because Jesus is in His body,
and He is seated at the right hand of Majesty on high in His
body. His flesh and bone body. He told them -- when they saw
Him they knew He was dead and when they saw Him they were
aghast and they thought it's a Spirit, it's a Spirit. He said, "No, a Spirit does not
have flesh and bone like you see Me have." And He told Thomas, "Reach your
hand over here. Touch Me. Put your finger in that hole." Apparently those holes are still
there. "Put your hand in My side." He did it. He felt the flesh after Jesus
had been dead. He pulled his hand away and he
said, "My Lord and my God." And Jesus told them, "Thomas,
you believe because you've seen. Blessed are those that have not
seen and yet they believe." Is that you? Then you believe in miracles. He went on to tell them, "You
got anything to eat around here?" This is Jesus talking after He's
been dead, "Got anything to eat?" I don't you know they were
thinking wow, something to eat? What do we got? We got a little fish and some
honeycomb. He said, "Give Me some. Give Me some." And He ate it right there in
front of them. Now here's a revelation you're
going to like. You still get to eat in the
world to come because the Bible said our body is going to be
changed and made just like His body. Isn't that what Philippians
talks about? It's going to be made just like
His glorious body. Mmm, mmm, mmm. He could do some amazing things
after He raised from the dead. He could go through walls. And yet He's solid to the touch. He appeared in different forms,
some people saw Him this way and some people saw Him that way. I don't know maybe you get up
one day and feel like looking like this... And you want to change so next
week you just feel like looking like this... And so you just look another
way. I don't know. He did. He looked different to different
people. Well, it's a glorified body that
is no longer subject to decay or corruption or death. Phew! I'm looking forward to that, how
about you? Mmm, mmm, mmm. Glory to God. These are not fairytales. These are not myths. This happened. Didn't it? I said, it happened. And so He spoke to them, and the
Bible said He appeared to a number of people, many people if
you added them all up together. And the Bible said they were
many infallible proofs of His being physically raised from the
dead. How many say I believe it? To me there's no question about
it, He was dead and He is alive again. Hallelujah. And the exciting thing is God
raised Him from the dead, the Bible said if the same Spirit
that was in Him is in you, He's going to raise you up from the
dead too. And one of these days the
trumpet is going to sound, hallelujah. And the Bible said the dead in
Christ are going to rise first. Their bodies are going to come
back to life, they're going to come back together. Think about it. Some of these Christians died
out of the desert. Some of them died at sea. Where is their body? Their bones were bleached and
blown to the four corners. The sharks got them or whatever. Where is their body? Well, God knows where every
molecule it is. He knows where every atom is. And it would be pretty amazing
to be alive and remaining when He comes back and see that,
their body come from the four corners of the earth and go... back together. And you're standing there about
as big eyed as you've ever been, and just about time you finish
seeing that, the Bible said and we shall be changed. It's going to hit us. We shall be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, it's going to happen fast. But it's going to be radical. Our bodies are going to be
changed on a molecular, and further than that, spiritual and
molecular level. We will no longer be mortal. Glory to God. No longer be subject to the
things that this body is subject to including aging and death. And the Bible said we will be
called up together with them and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. That's never going to change. We're going to be with Him,
we're going to be in our perfect condition forever. That's a long time. We really don't know how long
that is. But this will be the shortest
thing we will ever do, what's happening right now. It's the briefest, shortest
thing we'll ever do. I don't believe this is theory. I believe this is truth. The Word says it, it bears
witness with my heart, I have chosen to believe it. For me, it's settled. I'm not wondering about it, I'm
not pondering it, I'm looking for it. I'm looking for it; He's coming. Somebody say, "He's coming." He's coming. And what little time we have
left, we want to get as many with us as we can. Right? So that they can go when we go
and not be left. Did you find Hebrews two? Well Acts fourteen and then
Hebrews two. Acts 14:3. Notice this. "Long time therefore abode they
speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the
Word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by
their hands." Somebody say, "Signs and
wonders." Now what is a sign? What is a wonder? I've studied these and preached
on these in times past and looked them up again anew and
fresh, and the definitions of these are really quite simple. These words mean pretty much
what you think they mean and the way we use them today. Language changes through the
years, but these words, pretty much are how you use them. A sign, another word for sign is
a mark. A mark or an indicator. You know, we use the word sign,
signed, signature from the word sign. And it has to do with putting
your mark on something. Doesn't it? Well, God signs stuff. I said, God signs things. And what He signs is His Word. He signs what He said. And He doesn't do it with ink
and pen, He does it with wonders, He does it with
miracles. We need to know this about Him. He's always been this way. Our God, our great mighty God,
has always been, is and will always be the God of miracles. He's the God of signs and
wonders. Now that's the language He has
given us. Just my thinking, I think it's
just His natural realm. But when it manifests in this
realm, it's extraordinary to us because it's not the norm. It is superseding or exceeding
natural laws. Well, the Creator could do that
now, couldn't He? If He made it, couldn't He do
something outside its confines? Certainly. So this word impossible and
can't be done is human invention, manmade thinking and
ideas. God confirms His Word. He signs His Word with wonders,
with miracles. Say it out loud, "God confirms
His Word." Say it again, "God confirms His
Word." Say it again real strong. "God confirms His Word. He signs His Word." He confirmed Word with what? Signs following. He signs His Word. He signs His Word. He marks His Word to let you
know that it is His Word. That what they said was Him. He was saying it through them. It distinguishes what men can
produce, or contrasted I should say, what men can do what He can
do. Something man just came up with. No matter how hard men would try
to push, they can't put power in their words like God can. They can't confirm it with
miraculous signs like He can, so without Him it's just obvious
that it's just the words and things of men. But when it's more than that, I
said when it's more than that -- maybe it came through a man, it
came through a woman, but it wasn't just men, it was God. Then God signs it and says,
"Yeah, it was Me. Look at this. Yeah, it was Me. Yeah, I said it. Yeah, this is Me." Are you interested in some more
of this? I'm greatly interested in this. Whoa. Hebrews two, if you'd go over
there. The Bible says in Hebrews 2:4,
"God also bearing them witness," now that's the third scripture
we've seen this language in, bearing them witness, "Both with
signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of
the Holy Ghost, according to His will." God bears witness to His Word
spoken and acted on and lived by His people. The way He signs it and marks it
is what men call miracles and wonders. Gifts, manifestations of the
Holy Spirit. There needs to be a
transformation, a renewing of our mind and transformation of
our lives. So many are too satisfied with
the absence of the miraculous in their lives. Too many, they feel like they
know a lot, and they feel like they're comfortable enough, and
just do not hunger for it, nor seek it, nor pursue it. But, as you read the Book of
Acts, I want you to read it carefully and with faith, put
yourself in their shoes. What kind of life are they
living? What kind of things are they
seeing and hearing? Has the church changed? If it did, should it have
changed? Or should it be like it began? Do we have the same Holy Spirit
they had? Why shouldn't we have the same
kind of manifestations? Is our faith the same? Same kind of faith? Same name of Jesus? Same Good News Gospel? Same Jesus? Then why should our life and
existence be more mundane, be just mental and physical and not
spiritual and not supernatural? Friend, they saw some stuff,
didn't they? They saw some things. They were involved in some
things. Man, you had translations, a
preacher is here and while he's preaching he goes, "Whoa, this
isn't Branson. How did I get over here?" And he realizes, "I have to
preach to that guy," and he just picks up where he left off. We see people raised from the
dead, guys falling out of multi-story buildings, and just
getting up and coming back to the meeting. We see some amazing things,
don't we? Are we a part of the same
church? Do we have the same Holy Spirit? Why should they have all the
fun? Isn't the Book of Acts still
being written? As you read the Book of Acts and
you get to the end, what's the last chapter, twenty-eight? Or whatever it is. What did I say? Yeah. You can tell it's not a closure. It's like a running account of
what's happening and then that's where they got to. You and I are still writing it. We're part of the same church. Aren't we? There are still being things
written, God's keeping up with it, about -- the title is Acts
of the Apostles. Really that is a title given by
men because it wasn't only apostles that experienced
amazing things. It was prophets, it was
evangelist, it was lay people we'd call them, people that were
necessarily the ministry, it was amazing things happening all
through the church. It was the Holy Spirit
manifesting and doing things through the whole church. But I want you and I to feed on
these things, camp on them, read about them, read about them when
you're not at church, and when you come to church on Friday
we'll talk about it. And we'll camp on it. And we're going to talk about
miracles. Miracles. Miracles. Somebody say, "Miracles." And we're going to ask our self,
we're going to get real plain with ourselves and say hey, do
you believe that? Do you believe that really
happened? Make yourself look at it and
think about it. And then once you've made your
decision, hopefully you believe the Bible, then you say okay,
can that happen now? What if that happened tomorrow? Am I ready for that? What if that happened tonight? Am I ready for that? Because see, a lot of people
like to talk about miracles, but when they start happening, it
scares them. They get nervous. They do. And there's a whole group of
people that the Bible talks about that says they have a form
of godliness, but what do they do? They deny the power thereof. They believe a lot of stuff on
paper, but if it starts happening, oh. People go, "Oh, wow. Wow. That's strange. Oh." And it will be. It will be. It will be much different than
you and I have thought. We know so little. Our experience is so shallow. I've had some small experience
with the Lord in some of these areas and you want to pull away. You think oh, mmm, He's real,
isn't He? And He's awesome. People like to say all this
goofy stuff about Him, but He's not real to Him. But friend, when God shows up --
He could come in here and just barely lift His little finger
and every one of us would paste our nose in the carpet and go,
"The Lord, He is God. He is so awesome and amazing." He doesn't want to scare us, He
doesn't want to blow us away, but He does want to do more than
what's being done. A lot of it has to do with us,
how we think, what we want. If we're content the way things
are, He won't push it off on us. But if we get hungry for more,
He's ready for more. He stays ready. He's always been ready for more. Faith comes by hearing. What if we hear about miracles? Is anybody going to help me here
in this place? What if we hear about miracles,
we preach about miracles, we teach about miracles, you read
about miracles in the Book of Acts, then you talk about
miracles at home, you talk about miracles in your car, miracles
and miracles and signs and wonders and miracles. You talk about them so much you
just to where you expect them. You talk about them so much and
got them on your mind you just get to where you're looking for
them. Where are those miracles? I know they're around here
somewhere. An exciting thing to me is why
would the Lord have us on this? Uh huh. Why? We don't need to be shocked and
seize up when something happens. You know, more than once when
the Father used Jesus to manifest great miracles of
healing and deliverance, the people got scared and wanted Him
to leave. Do you remember that? More than once. It scared them. Because people are so used to
just the natural and the mental. And when they actually have an
experience of God manifesting Himself, it can take you aback. I believe the Lord is preparing
us, getting our thinking right, getting us open, getting us
ready. I'm convinced He has not
changed. People have changed, but He has
not changed. And what you read about in the
Book of Acts belongs to us the church today just like it
belonged to them. In fact, it ought to be
increasing. Every generation ought to be
getting stronger, not less, not losing things. Advancing. Increasing. Somebody say it out loud by
faith, "I believe in miracles. I believe in signs. I believe in wonders." Thank You Lord. You know, God brought out His
people Israel with signs and wonders, didn't He? Do you believe all those amazing
things happened that you read about? The frogs, lice, darkness. How about the Red Sea? Do you believe that? Not a moral myth, it's a
miraculous truth. Think about it. I mean, the way it parted, that
thing just split and the Bible said the waters piled up on each
other into a wall and congealed. I guess that means it froze. Well, that's a good way to keep
it from collapsing on you. But that's a neat thing that
that part was frozen and the whole thing wasn't. And they walked through it. Can you imagine walking through
it? "That's a fish over there on the
other side of that ice. Whoa!" Would that be different than
just reading about it? Walking through there, how would
you feel? They walked through on dry
ground. Miracles. Mmm, mmm, mmm. God brought water out of the
rock for them. He rained manna, bread, out of
the sky every day. Fed them supernaturally. Do you believe these things
actually happened? Literally happened? Absolutely. They happened. They happened. God hasn't changed. A lot of people have come not to
believe in Him, come intellectual, and skeptical, and
unbelieving, but He hasn't changed. He has always been the God of
miracles. He's still the God of miracles. He will always be the God of
miracles. And He likes to do signs and
wonders. He likes to sign His work. And we like for Him to sign His
work. We very much appreciate Him
signing His work. Whoa. Are you holding a place
somewhere? Where? Yeah, we already read that
though, didn't we? What is a sign? We said it's a mark. It's an indicator. It's something you can see that
God is real. It's something that you can
discern, that other people can discern and see. A miracle, often times the word
is used with a similar meaning, it means something that is
conspicuous, something that stands out. Something you're not going to
miss. The New Testament word for
miracle often times is the word for force or power. I like to say it like this
because you see the two words used and if you put them
together you could say it like this, that a miracle is power
that makes possible. Power that makes possible. Makes what possible? What men thought was impossible. That's a miracle? Power that makes possible. Is God the God of power that can
make it possible? We need to watch about using
that word impossible. And sometimes people have
avoided that one but they use the word "can't" instead. Can't happen. Won't happen. Can't happen. Can't be done. Can't, can't, can't. Isn't that another way of saying
impossible? If it can't happen that's
another way of saying impossible. And no matter how it looks to
you or me, God has power that makes possible. And all things are possible to
Him that believes. So when you get full of this
kind of faith, it's real hard for the devil to shake you. Because one of the biggest ways
he tries to get you down and discouraged you is to convince
you it can't be done. Too late. To hard. Too far gone. No way. No how. Can't happen. Can't be done. But if you just don't believe
like that, if that's against your religion, you just say I'm
sorry but I don't accept that. There's no such thing that it
can't be done with a God that all things are possible. And with Whom nothing is too
hard. We might need to look at some of
it other issues but that's not what we have to ponder about
because it can be done. We may not know how, but it can
be done. And you get used to living like
this, no matter what's going on, you're just go into it can be
done mode. "You'll never pay those bills on
time." You go it can be done. I may not know how, but it can
be done. It can be done. "You'll never come out of this. They say that nobody ever
recovers from that." And you say it can be done. Because God has power that makes
possible. He made the heavens. He made the Earth. He made everything. He's the Creator of life, don't
tell me it can't be done. Tell me how He made all this. You don't. You can't tell, you don't know. If you can't explain that, how
are you going to tell me it can't be done? He did that. Say it out loud, "It can be
done." See, just because somebody can't
figure it out they ought to be humble and just say I don't know
how. They ought to say I can't do it. I don't know how. But to say it can be done? That's arrogance. Maybe ignorance. It's not good either way. I don't want to be arrogant or
ignorant, so I choose to believe it can be done. It can be done. "Well there's no way, no how
you're going to get out from under all that debt and not lose
everything." It can be done. I'm preaching to somebody. It can be done. Why? People say, "It would take a
miracle." Isn't it great that we happen to
serve the God of miracles? Hey! No problem. That's what our God does. He specializes in miracles. And I am glad you said that. Miracle, well, that's just
exactly what He does is miracles. I mean, from Genesis to
Revelation it's one miracle after another, isn't it? Miracle, miracle, miracle,
miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle. Moses is standing there looking
at a bush burning, burning, burning, burning, but just as
green as can be. It's not burning up. "That can't be done." Oh, yes it can. "You can't burn something
without it affecting it and it being burned." Not only does it work with
bushes, you can do with people. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. The thing was so hot it was
heated up all those times hotter than it ever been heated in its
existence. It was so hot the people that
threw them in were killed immediately, boom. Heat. Wiped them out. Killed them. And these guys weren't burned,
weren't singed, weren't scorched, didn't even have the
smell of smoke on their clothes. It can happen. It can happen. Amazing things can happen. Glorious, wonderful things can
happen if you will believe, if I'll believe. If we can believe. We can if we choose to. Do you like talking about
miracles? I can tell you like this. You're like tell me some more,
tell me some more. We serve the God of the
miraculous, of miracles, of signs, of wonders. Go to Exodus the fourth chapter,
how about it. Exodus four. I never taught on this exactly
like this, I'm believing God. Are you believing with me? Please do. Exodus four. We saw three New Testament
Scriptures, there are more that deal with this. The Bible said in the mouth of
two or three witnesses let every Word be established, that say
very plainly that God confirms His Word with signs and wonders,
miracles. He's always been this way, He
hasn't changed. He confirms His Word with signs
and wonders. He signs His Word with amazing
things that mark the situation, that are conspicuous, that hey,
this is God. Nobody else could do this, this
is Him. He marks it so that everybody
that sees it and hears it that will be honest and admit it will
go, "That wasn't a man... That wasn't a woman... That was God. Look at that." Suit me great if we got to
having service in here one day and everybody came by five hours
later and every car is still out in the parking lot. They'd think, "What happened?" And we're in here going... wow. And everybody would want to
know, "What happened? What happened?" God. God. Whoa. God. He's big. He's big. How big is God? He's bigger than the Pacific. He made the Pacific big. He's bigger than the biggest
mountains and landmasses. He's bigger than the planet. The planet is big. Our star, our sun, makes our
planet look like... He's bigger than our star. He made it. They tell us our solar system is
a drop in the bigger part that we can't even see. He's bigger than the vastness of
space. He's bigger than all the power
of all the stars. It's hard to fathom how big He
is. And to think as big as He is, He
knows you. Keeps track of the number of the
hairs on your head. You don't even keep track of
that. I know I don't. I do good to comb them once in a
while, not count them. He knows you. He cares, and yet His vastness
-- what He knows, there's no end to His understanding. His judgments and His ways are
unsearchable. Nobody has plumbed the depths or
the heights of it. Why am I talking about that? We need a realization of this
because people talk about God like He's a Disney
advertisement. People talk about God just in
such small terminology. And they struggle with the idea
can got help me with this? People even make statements,
"Not even your God can do that." That's stupid. And the more you think like
this, and the more you focus on Him, and the more you meditate
on Him, whatever your mind is on, you open your Spirit up to. The mind is the doorway to the
Spirit. And didn't the Bible tell us to
keep our mind stayed on Him and He would keep us in perfect
peace? We'll something is going on if
perfect peace is permeating our being, what's going on? There must be an inflow through
this corridor of our mind of God into us. Is it really that simple that
you can just set your mind on Him and He starts flowing into
you? And the more you keep your mind
on Him and the more you open yourself up to realize how great
He is and how big He is, and the more you believe in Him, the
wider you get open for Him to come in and fill. And the more He reveals Himself
to you. We camped for weeks around here
in talking about walking in the light and we talked about being
a disciple. We talked about how God will
manifest Himself to you. Didn't we see that? That He will reveal Himself,
make Himself real to you. That's His desire, that's His
Word. And we follow Him like that far
enough, we'll begin to see some unusual things happen. Outstanding things. And the greatest thing is if it
became normal to us. If the supernatural just became
our way of life. Then it wouldn't be such a shock
to us when we leave here and go on to the next. Exodus 4:8 said, "It shall come
to pass, if they will not believe you, neither hearken to
the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice
of the latter sign." God had given Moses two signs
with his rod and with his hand. Do you remember those? And I just wanted to draw your
attention. Do you believe that when he
threw his rod down it really became a snake? People say, "How in the world?" We'll how in the world does this
planet exists? How can you think? How come your heart takes
another beat? I reckon God can arrange matter
anyway He wants to. And then when he reached to pick
it up - I mean, this snake is crawling and he reaches and
picks it up by the tail, and it just becomes a rod again. See people say, "That's magic. Harry Potter." No, this book was out a long
time before Harry Potter. And even stuff that seems
bizarre, the way that a lot of times people were able to think
and come up with it is because so many times it has some basis
in some truth somewhere. They may have twisted it and
mixed it up. We must believe in the
miraculous. Not be afraid of it, but believe
that a lot more is possible than what we've been seeing. If we won't be afraid of it, and
we'll trust Him and believe and be open, He could bring us into
another place, couldn't He? Hmm. He's talking to me. Yes, Sir. The signs have a voice, they're
saying something. Say it out loud, "Signs speak." They speak. He said if they don't hear the
voice of the first sign, they will hear and listen to the
second, the last one. Because these signs are saying
something. What are they saying? What was the message that got
across to them when they saw that? Pharaoh wouldn't have given
Moses the time of day if there hadn't been some power involved
here. Would he? He would have executed him. But he was scared of him. How many would like to see the
church get some respect in this irreverent world? See, that's one of the prices of
being carnal and not having any power or miracles in our midst. People can despise us with
impunity. Act like there is no God. But as we get into this, we'll
see there were some things happen and the Bible said fear
fell on the whole city, on the whole region. People didn't cuss the church. They didn't say and do things. And if the church is buying
building materials and somebody is going to cheat them and they
say, "Hey, I got two words for you. Ananias and Sapphira." "Are you sure you want to do
this?" And there was a level of
respect. Now this is not just for people,
for God. Even among unbelievers, they
might not serve Him, but they feared Him. Now, no amount of education and
dissecting Greek and Hebrew words is going to bring that. Is it? Only one thing, miracles. Signs. Wonders. Say it out loud, "Miracles
signs, wonders." Say it again, "Miracles signs,
wonders." Do you believe in them? Do you really? You believe in them? Glory. Can it happen? It can happen. Just because you don't know how,
or they don't know, or just because you never saw it,
doesn't mean a thing. It can happen. Do you remember the Bible said
the man of God and their students were out one day and
they were cutting some wood and the guy's axe head flew off the
handle and hit the water? Bloop. It's gone. And he said, "It was borrowed,
it wasn't mine." And the Lord showed the man of
God what to do in this piece of metal comes swimming up to the
surface. Don't you imagine the guy's eyes
got real big and he thought... he had to tell him, "Reach in
there and get it. Pick it up." He's like, "I don't know if I
want to. This doesn't happen. This is weird, this is strange." See, to your natural mind it
could seem scary. Come on now. Put yourself in his sandals. Have you ever seen a piece of
metal come swimming up off the bottom by itself? What if you saw it? What if you're standing there
looking at it? It's just like a fish. How would you feel? What would you think? This is not somebody's science
fiction book. This is the Bible, this is God,
this is Him. To Him it's not a problem. Do you need it? Okay, just tell it to come back
up. That's how He operates. Jesus just walked on top of the
water. Didn't He? Do you really believe He
physically walked on the water? Did it happen? It happened. The Bible said He comes walking
on the water. How do you do that? How do you do that? How can that happen? Somebody say, "It can happen." It can happen. And when they saw Him, the
disciples, when they saw Him, they saw Jesus come walking on
the water, what did they say? They were filled with -- faith? No. They had been with Him, they
have seen miracles. Even when you see miracles,
there are miracles of a degree you haven't seen that can jar
you. They've seen amazing healings,
amazing deliverances, amazing things. And yet they've never seen
anything like this. And so they cried out for fear. "Oh!" Grown men. "Oh!" People that have been with Jesus
for months and months and months are going, "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Do you see that? What is that? What is that?" Jesus said, "It's Me. It's Me. It's Me." We like to think that we believe
in the miraculous because we just haven't had much experience
with it. But as you do, it's an
eye-opener brother. Man, makes you reverent. Makes you realize the holiness
and the awesomeness of the God we serve. Somebody say glory to God. Thank You Master. The Bible said while He was on
the mount one day His clothes just started getting bright and
got brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter until
they're just glistening like bright sunshine on snow. Did this really happen? It happened. Maybe it was just a visual
thing. Maybe the sunshine was hitting
the side of the mountain a funny way and Jesus was standing by a
pool and kind of reflected off. Why would I say that? There's all kind of church going
people they choose to believe that. No, this my friend is
supernatural. The Bible said there's no way --
the New Testament said there's no way you can make those
clothes that white. There was no amount of bleach or
anything else that could get clothes like that. The Bible uses the words
glistening, glistering. It's the idea of it's just
sparkling, it's just dazzling, it's too bright for you to look
at. It makes you close your eyes and
blink. And then they see two other guys
that were supposed to have been dead a long, long, long, long
time ago standing there having a conversation with Him. That would wake you up. Wouldn't it? You mean to tell me you believe
all this? Could it happen now? Could these kind of things
happen today? Could they? Has God changed? Has His will changed? We have a different Holy Spirit? No, no, no. People have changed. God has not changed. Say it again, "I believe in
miracles." We've defined signs, we've
defined miracles. The word wonder, it means what
you think it means. What does a wonder do? Makes people wonder. It does. It means to be filled with
admiration, amazement and awe. Say, "To be filled with
admiration, amazement and awe." Would you like to experience
more of this? That you're just absolutely
amazed, and in awe, and in admiration of what God is doing
and what He has done. You're just in awe. You're past mentally trying to
figure it out. You're just in awe. And you know it's real, you know
it's there. I've seen the Lord do miracles,
healing miracles. It happened so quickly it made
you think was it there? I remember a lady one time had a
big thing on her wrist, a big old growth type of cyst or
whatever. And I went to pray for her and I
mean by the time I went to speak, her arm was so smooth
just like it wasn't there. Not a second, not a half second,
not a quarter second, I'm talking so fast you think, did I
say anything yet? And I looked at her and she
said, "It's gone." I thought, yes if it was there. I thought I saw it was there. And it's not like I felt
anything -- or she felt anything. It just wasn't there. She said, "Where did it go?" I thought I don't know, but
thank God it's gone. That's what matters. Numerous times, I believe this
has happened with people in our church here, our friends, our
family, numerous scores of times somebody had gotten hurt,
somebody was in some kind of accident or incident, and they
checked them and they said this is broken, and that's torn, and
that's destroyed. We'll have to do all this. And we prayed and asked God and
I mean before they could examine them again, they couldn't find
it. That has happened scores of
times in this church. Right here. That is the best. You didn't have to get over it,
you just never had to be treated for it. Somebody say, "Miracles. Miracles." Some miracles are not signs for
everybody else. They might be a sign to the
individual, but the Lord didn't intend that all miracles be
broadcast. Do you remember Him telling
people they would experience some amazing things that He tell
them don't tell anybody about this. Do you remember Him saying that? Sometimes He said don't go back
to the town and don't tell it to anybody in the town. They didn't always listen to
Him, they should have. I've heard people try to say,
"He knew they couldn't keep from telling. It's just a form of reverse
psychology." Was not. What's not. He meant for them to do what He
told them to do. And you could see immediately it
said after that He couldn't even go out among the people anymore,
it hindered Him. They were reasons why He told
them to do that. But then there are other things
that are signs, God means to jar the community with it. He means to. And He hasn't changed. I'd like to see some community
jarring things. Not just here, but all over,
wherever the Lord would move and do things. But community, city, town,
county, state, country jarring things. Where people had to come check
it out and go, "What happened here? What?" And nobody can explain it. And whether they'll listen or
not, we can tell them. "God signed it. It was Him. And He signed it." So what does that mean? It means it's Him. He said, "It's me. I'm real. I'm here. What are you going to do with
it?" Go with me to the Book of Acts
please. Jesus is our Example in
everything. There is no greater Example. Don't take any man or woman and
make them your ultimate example and say I just want to be just
like them, I want to be just like brother so- and-so or this
one or that one. Family members, doesn't make a
difference. Don't make any man and set them
up to be your ultimate example; you're shooting too low. If there's something about them
you like and want to be like, it's because to some degree
they're like the Master. So go ahead and lift up your
eyes onto Him, the Example, to be like Him. To live like Him. Is it possible to have a prayer
life like Jesus had? To commune with the Father like
He did? Is that possible? Is it possible to believe and
have faith and exercise faith like Jesus? Not quite as strong. Is it true or not? Didn't He say if you believe on
Me the works that I do shall you do also and greater works than
these shall you do? Not that you're greater than the
Master, but because He was going on to the Father. If He would've stayed and
continued, things would've just kept getting greater and greater
and greater. But He wasn't just doing it for
that purpose only, He did that as an example and then He came
down here to be our Substitute, our Sacrifice. And He did that. He showed us how to do it and
then He did that. Now He wants us to pick up and
do what He did. And for it to just keep growing
and getting greater. So is it possible for us to have
faith and walk in faith in the earth like He did? Most Christians don't believe
it, but it is. To commune with the Father, to
pray and commune with Him, and hear from Him like Jesus did
when He walked the Earth, it's possible. And if that's possible then it's
possible to have the same kind of things happen; amazing
miracles and things happen. In fact after Jesus is raised
from the dead, we see amazing things by the disciples and
apostles hands, and the Bible said the unbelievers looked at
them and saw it and took note that they had been with Jesus. They were trying to speak
against Him but they said, "I'll tell you what happened --
they've been with Jesus." Why? Because they were doing what He
was doing. They just continued doing what
He had been doing. And the church is not dead. I said, the church is not dead. It's continuing on today. You're the church, I'm the
church, we're the church, people like us all over the planet. And we shouldn't be a dead
mental bunch. There should be more to our life
than niceties and Scripture notes. There should be some power,
power, power. There should be some miracles. There should be some signs and
some wonders. There should be some
manifestations of things you cannot explain. Things that are marked,
pronounced. You can't miss it. There it is. What are you going to do with
it? Did I give you a Scripture? Yeah, I did. Acts two. I said Acts at least. Acts 2:22. He said, "You men of Israel,
hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God
among you," how did God approve Him? "By miracles and wonders and
signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you
yourselves also know..." He said everybody around here
knows the amazing things that happened through Him, through
His life and ministry. And He's telling them do you not
understand that that was God approving Him? God was signing what He was
preaching? God was stamping Him and saying
this is Him, this is the One I sent. This is what I said. How did He do it? Healings. Deliverances. Water turned to wine. Dead raised. Do you believe these things
really happened, actually happened? Are we just to look longingly on
this and marvel at it; was that why God gave it to us? To just look at it and go, "Oh,
that was amazing, wasn't it? Wouldn't it have been exciting
if you been back there and seen some of those things?" Why would He do that? Just give it to us to marvel at
only? No. The Book of Acts is not just a
history book. It's a pattern. I said, it's a pattern, it's a
revelation of what the church is supposed to think, and what the
church is supposed to do, how Christians and Believers are
supposed to live. Is it possible we can pray more,
we can get our thinking straightened up, our faith can
get stronger? We can get our minds right, and
our Spirits right? Is it possible we can come in
even to this place, one mind, one accord, focused, full of
faith, believing? We've seen some things, we know
God is a God of miracles. We should not be even debating
about it. We hear testimonies every week
of people God has healed and delivered and done miraculous
things. We know it's real. Do we know there is more? Do we know there is a lot more? A whole lot more than where
we've been wading around ankle- deep? Is there knee-deep and more? Thank You Lord. I'm not talking about seeking
the spectacular, I don't have time to get into it all tonight,
but we're not supposed to just seek after signs. There's Scripture that deals
with that. And we're not supposed to
require a sign before we're going to believe. That's evil the Bible says. We'll touch on that as time
permits in the future. I'm talking about being open to
what God can do, and what He will do and would do to people
that would yield to Him and cooperate. I'm talking about coveting
earnestly the best gifts. Hungering and thirsting after
the precious and right and good things of God. Believing that God is exactly
Who He said He is in this Book. He's every amazing thing you
ever can see and done far, far, far beyond. And thinking about it, talking
about it, and thinking about it, and talking about it, until our
being becomes transformed by the renewing of our minds. And we no longer think anything
impossible for God to show up and puts some new kidneys in. Or instantly mend a bone. And not just limit Him to
healing miracles. What else would You do Lord? Help us to be open and to yield. Say it out loud, "Lord, I
believe You could do anything. Nothing is too hard for You. Nothing at all. With You there's no such thing
as it can't be done. I believe You are the great God
Who created the heavens and the earth, everything in them. You made me. You are the giver of life. Able to resurrect from death. You are the One Who has overcome
death, hell, the grave. With You nothing is impossible." Thank You Lord. Nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible. With You nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible. Nothing, nothing relationship
wise is impossible. Nothing emotionally is
impossible. No, there's no such thing as
being in such bad shape mentally and emotionally that God can't
fix you and make you sound of mind and peace in your mind. No such thing as being too far
gone physically. No such thing as being too far
gone financially. God does financial miracles. Financial miracles. Miracles. Why should a thing be thought
hard for God to do? These things must seem so
paltry, so small from His perspective. How must it strike Him if
somebody asks Him in all earnest, "God can You help me
pay my electric bill?" You have to figure out where
He's looking from. He sees the vastness of space. He sees all the stars in the
solar systems, all the human beings that He's keeping your
heart beating. And you want to know can He pay
your little electric bill? I'm glad He's not quick to get
indignant with ignorant babies. He just looks and maybe shakes
His head once in a while and goes, "Well, yes, I can. Yes, I can." Stand on your feet everybody. Let's lift our hands and worship
God for a few moments tonight. Let's exercise our faith in His
greatness, in His vastness.
