Matthew 6:9-13
1. the 1st song on U2’s most recent release is called Vertigo. According to one review, it’s an aggressive beginning that compresses an LP’s worth of intensity into 3 minutes. It might be the most compact piece of musical dynamite that U2 has yet produced.
2. the song is about someone in a glitzy night club disillusioned with what he’s experiencing. He asks for his check. The girl with crimson nails has Jesus around her neck swinging to the music swinging to the music. Jesus is made the center of the song by both name & change in tempo.
3. and then Vertigo ends with a reference to prayer –
Hello hello
We’re at a place called Vertigo
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how to kneel…
4. God’s love calling someone to prayer in the midst of a light’s flashing, rock ‘n rolling, dancing night club. An earlier line in the song informs us that your soul it can’t be bought. The love of God calling us to pray.
Living through the Lord’s Prayer
1. I’m beginning a new series this morning on the Lord’s Prayer. We’re going to take 6-7-8 weeks to work our way through this prayer.
2. in Matthew 6 Jesus addresses giving to the needy, prayer & fasting. These are common religious practices found in Islam, Judaism, Buddhism & Christianity. There is nothing uniquely Christian about them except the approach that Jesus teaches.
3. when it comes to prayer Jesus points out the wrong way to pray in Matthew 6:5 – prayer that is concentrated on itself & being seen by others. Then he explains the true way of prayer in 6:6-7.
4. I’m glad that Jesus tackles prayer here in Matthew. All of us need teaching on prayer, help with prayer. Prayer is difficult for most of us. I experience seasons in my own life when prayer is a struggle. I’m in one of those times now.
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. (Matthew 6:6).
1st Jesus teaches us the importance of exclusion in prayer.
1. go into your room, close the door. To make sure that I realize I am approaching God I have to exclude certain things (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones). Exclusion brings up the necessity of place. A private place where you can shut the world out and meet with God.
2. I understand this. Place has always been important for me in prayer. I pray best & easiest & longest & most passionately when I have a place to pray. Quiet, private, orderly, allows me space to pace back ‘n forth. I have to be moving when I’m praying.
We’ve been in our new building now for 5 months. I’m still
searching for my prayer place. Nothing feels right yet. I keep looking, shutting the door, pacing, praying. Hoping to find the rhythm of a new sacred space. But so far, nothing. It’ll come. I’m not worried, just impatient.
3. I wonder about each one of you. Do you have a place (sacred space) where you regularly pray? Or places? The corner of the sofa next to the window. The garage. Your car. A park. The cemetery. Your prayer walk. The prayer room here at church. Kneeling down at your bed. Your office desk. I encourage you to find one, make one.
5. Jesus had sacred spaces where he went to pray. In the gospels we find him retreating to lonely places, the wilderness, a mountain, the garden.
6. place helps us to deliberately remind ourselves that we are going to talk to God & listen to him.
2nd Jesus teaches us the importance of awareness in prayer.
1. when we enter our private place of prayer we need to realize that we are in the presence of God. We pray to our Father who is unseen. Before we utter a word it would do us good to begin to think about who God is & what he has done. Awareness.
2. here’s a ‘God awareness’ list from John Piper –
® God’s power to walk on water, heal the lame, still storms & raise the dead
® His knowledge that makes the library of Congress look like a matchbox, that makes quantum physics like a 1st grade reader
® His wisdom that has never been, will never be added to by humanity
® His word that upholds the universe & keeps all the atoms & molecules together
® His purity never to sin
® His trustworthiness never to break his word or let one promise fall to the ground
® His wrath that will one day cause people to call out for the rocks & mountains to fall on them
® His amazing grace that justifies sinners
® His love that dies for us even when we were sinners
3. the ‘God awareness’ that is closest to Jesus’ heart is the awareness that we pray to the God who is our Father. Father God.
4. Father God is a stumbling block for some of you because of the failures of our own earthly fathers. I’ll have more to say about this next week. But know this. The God we meet when we enter our private place of prayer is our Father.
5. sometime this week sit down & make a list of God’s characteristics. Who he is. What he has done. Take that list with you into your place of prayer. Reflect over it before you begin praying. Remind yourself who it actually is you are getting ready to address. Laminate your list. Keep it with you.
then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (6:6)
3rd Jesus teaches us the importance of confidence in prayer.
1. we need to let these words sink in. Then my Father who sees what I pray in my secret place will reward me. Prayer is approaching our Father with the simple confidence of a child. We need childlike faith in prayer. The assurance that God is our Father. That he delights to bless us, protect us, provide for us.
2. I almost drowned to death when I was 6 years old. A bunch of us – Barton relatives – floated down the Boise River on inner tubes from Barber Dam to Ann Morrison Park. My inner tube was tied on to my dad’s & I floated behind him. I couldn’t swim & didn’t wear a life jacket in those days.
Trouble developed as we went over 1 of the 3 falls on the river. My dad’s tube went between 2 posts. The current swept me to the right & I went around the outside of the post & was flipped off into the water. If you’ve been down this river you know how fast & swift the current moves.
I remember being in the water & looking around. I saw my dads legs moving toward me. He tried to pick me up but lost hold of me when he slipped on the rocks & went down. At this point I began to panic. I thought I was going to drown.
Somehow he got back up on his feet. Found me in the water & grabbed me. I came up out of the water screaming & crying. I held onto my dad with an iron grip. I rode the rest of the way down the river in his lap, feeling his big, strong, safe warm body around mine.
3. for several years after that experience I thought my dad was like a god. I trusted him. I looked up to him. I felt loved. He was my hero.
4. if only we felt the same way about our Father God. Especially in our private places of prayer. Jesus wants us to know that God – for all that he is & has done & will do – that we are to approach him as our Father.
5. our Father who art in heaven…
6. do you have confidence in God your Father? Do you believe that he is going to reward you when you pray? Do you expect your prayers to be answered? Cultivate confidence in God your Father. Exercise a childlike faith in him.
7. we 1st move into exclusion (find that private, quiet place of prayer). Next we become aware of God‘s presence. And then in childlike confidence we make our needs known to God who promises to reward our praying.
8. april 4th 1st Friday 24 hours of prayer.
Music i listened to while sermonizing – u2; cheryl crow; bob dylan; willie nelson; emmylou harris; arentha franklin; elton john;
Books i read & studied while sermonizing – a broom of one’s own by nancy peacock; the reason for God by timothy keller; ain’t too proud to beg by telford work; preaching the cross by mark dever; studies in the sermon on the mount by d. martyn lloyd-jones;
1 – The Creation Fall Redemption Restoration Story
1. my favorite uncle growing up was Uncle Howard. He was a story teller. As a kid I had a hard time separating truth from fiction. Especially his story about driving through Colorado, being pulled over for speeding, and acting like he was deaf when the highway patrolman approached his car.
2. I was in Boise one month ago for my dad’s 87th birthday. He told me war stories. He was an airplane mechanic in the Navy. He lived on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor for 3 years shortly after the Japanese bombed it.
3. he also told me the story of how he was born in a log cabin in Konawa, Oklahoma – sod floor, no electricity, no indoor plumbing.
4. this morning I want to tell you The Story before and around all stories. The Story in which all of our stories live, move & have their existence.
5. The Story is found in the Bible. Bible comes from the Latin word biblia meaning book. This book is God’s Story. The Story before & around all stories.
6. this biblia is unlike any other that we have ever held or read. Just like all books, it’s words on paper, but that’s where the similarities end. This is God’s biblia. His Word, his Story, his Revelation.
7. This Story can be summed up in four words. The first word is Creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). All things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16b-17).
8. creation came not by accident but by Divine design.
9. the second word is Fall. God’s creation in the persons of Adam & Eve rebelled against its Creator. They decided to go their own way. They disobeyed God.
10. and God’s original, perfect creation lay spoiled. Separation resulted & now impacts everyone since Adam & Eve. All of us are stained by sin. Separated from God. From each other. From creation. And from our deepest selves.
11. USA Today on Wednesday carried an article on sin. 87% of adults believe in the existence of sin. But for many it comes down to moral pragmatics rather than absolute truth. Sin is becoming relative. People view sin NOT as God views it BUT as how they view it. They interpret sin in a very personal & self-congratulatory manner – I have to do what’s best for me.
12. USA Today quoted Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. 5000 people. 70% are single & younger than 40. Keller talks about sin but says, I use it with lots and lots of explanation, because the word is essentially obsolete. They do get the idea of branding, of taking a word and filling it with your own content, so I have to rebrand the word sin. Around here sin means self-centeredness, the acorn from which it all grows. Individually, that means ‘I live for myself, for my own glory and happiness, and I’ll work for your happiness if it helps me.’ Communally, self-centeredness is destroying peace and justice in the world, tearing the net of interwovenness, the fabric of humanity.
13. what is true in New York City is true right here in Canby, in the Willamette Valley, in the greater Portland area. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Sin is living for self instead of living for God.
14. the third word is Redemption. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (I Peter 1:18-19). What we’re talking about here is rescue by what the biblia calls the Gospel.
15. defined as – God himself has come to rescue and renew creation through and in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf (Tim Keller).
16. the redemption of Jesus Christ is all about reversing the affects of the Fall. Destroying the sin that separates us from God, each other, creation & even ourselves. This is what the life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished.
17. without the resurrection, redemption would simply be a passing fancy. The life, teaching, promises & claims of Christ would come crashing down. The resurrection established Jesus in the eyes of God and his creation as the Savior Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
18. redemption hinges on resurrection. And resurrection establishes Jesus as the Lord and Savior over all creation.
19. the fourth word is Restoration. As it was in the beginning, so it will be in the end. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (Revelation 21:1). The restoration of all things material & immaterial.
20. right now God’s creation – the Columbia River, Smith Rock, Mt. Hood, Douglas Firs, Dutch Iris, Mars Pluto Neptune, the Canby Pond, salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, badgers, worms, lady bugs, the Baltic Sea – God’s creation waits to be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:21).
21. Jesus’ resurrection-won restoration stretches out to include not just our soul and body BUT every speck of God’s cosmic handiwork.
22. creation fall redemption restoration
2 – The Redemption Story
1. creation fall redemption restoration. I want to say a few more things about redemption. Redeem is a market-place word, a word used in business transactions in the ancient world. It means to buy as a purchase or, in the Biblical sense, buy back as a ransom.
2. the emphasis of the redemption image is our sorry state of affairs. We are held captive to sin & need to be purchased, liberated, from its clutches.
3. we fall short of God’s will & intention for our lives. We fail to make the grade, to measure up, to make the cut. We scuffle with shame & guilt. We try to numb it with alcohol, drugs, sex, money, success, food, video games, music, adrenaline, travel, exercise, education.
4. to climb out of this mess some of us take a stab at a personal enhancement narrative. We engage in behaviors that are designed to convince ourselves that we’re okay. We pour it on in order to convince God that we’re okay as well.
5. we try to be moral individuals who avoid the ‘big’ sins. Strive to be model citizens, neighbors, community members & maybe even church members. We endeavor to be good spouses, parents or children. To remember the poor & needy.
6. but we quickly discover that we can never live up to our own expectations. Our feeble actions fall short of our best intentions. Our personal performance narrative fails to close the sin gap between us & God, others & creation.
7. we need redemption, rescue, help. We need, dare I say it, God.
8. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us (John 1:14). God himself entered our world in the life of his Son Jesus Christ to rescue us from our personal enhancement narrative.
9. Jesus lived the life we should have lived. He died the death we should have died. He gives us the life we couldn’t achieve.
10. Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can earn our salvation (personal enhancement narrative). No. Jesus came to forgive and save us through his death in our place.
11. this is God’s grace narrative. God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others. God’s grace comes to people who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.
12. we are not accepted by God because of our moral performance, wisdom, or virtue. We are accepted because of Christ’s work on our behalf. This is the grace narrative that is at the core of God’s biblia.
13. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
14. grace alone saves us. Faith alone saves us. Christ alone saves us. Our sinful, fallen state is made right with God by the life, death & Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
15. and we get in on the grace narrative by fully recognizing, embracing & confessing that Jesus Christ 1) is God in the flesh 2) died on the cross for our sin 3) rose from the dead to defeat sin & death 4) longs to come into our lives & be our Savior & Lord.
16. pray & raising of hands
3 – The Restoration Story
1. creation fall redemption restoration goes something like this…
2. God made everything good, but unfortunately we’ve made a terrible mess of it from the very start. Today we’re destroying the environment. We’re destroying ourselves.
Socially we’re full of hate, war, lust, greed. As a human race, given enough time, we seem to destroy everything we touch.
3. but from the very beginning God has sought us out. In his great mercy he called a man named Abraham to comprise a new people. He gave good laws for Abraham’s descendants to live by at the time of Moses. He sent them into exile but then he rescued them again. More mercy.
4. in the fullness of time he sent his own Son Jesus to die on the cross, to exhaust all sin, to destroy the power of the devil. On the cross God’s love for his fallen creation clashed with God’s wrath for his fallen creation. In the death of Jesus God’s wrath was satisfied even as God’s love triumphed.
5. and now God gives us new life, for in Jesus the kingdom of God has dawned. With the dawning of the kingdom comes a whole host of women & men swept along by the good news of salvation & the power of the Holy Spirit. We anticipate the consummation of the age. A new heaven & a new earth. A resurrection existence. A return to an Eden-like existence in the very presence of God himself. All things wrong made right.
6. Restoration hinges on Resurrection. Listen to Tim Keller from his book The Reason for God: The resurrection is not a future that is a consolation for the life we never had. No. The resurrection is a restoration of the life you always wanted but was robbed from you by our fallen world. Restoration means that every horrible thing that ever happened will not only be undone and repaired but will in some way make the eventual glory and joy even greater.
7. at the end of The Return of the King Sam Gangee discovers that his friend Gandalf was not dead (as he thought) but alive. He cries, “I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
8. the answer of the Resurrection-won Restoration is – yes. Everything sad is going to come untrue. It will somehow be greater for having once been broken & lost. We are looking at nothing less than the ultimate & final defeat of sin, evil & suffering.
9. what is your “sad?” Where has life wounded you? Who are the people who’ve butchered you? What has been taken from you? What is the source of the deepest, darkest shame in your life?
10. Restoration means everything sad comes untrue for you, now in part & forever in whole. I can’t imagine that anyone would want to miss this. The best is yet to come. We are made for eternity.
11. alleluia Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Music i listened to while sermonizing – johnny cash; aaron copland; u2; ty vanacker
Books i read & studied while sermonizing – surprised by hope by n.t. wright; the cross of Christ by john stott; the reason for God by timothy keller;
1. recently I picked up a book entitled Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Edited by John Piper. Came from a conference by the same name.
2. Piper wrote this just after he discovered that he had prostrate cancer – I believe in God’s power to heal – by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. God gets the glory. I believe in God’s power to heal by miracle and by medicine. I want to talk about the miracle part this morning.
3. I spoke on the miraculous last week. I shared 6 healing stories & Norm Beck shared his. 11 people asked for prayer following the service, seeking God for healing.
4. let us know, please let us know if God touched you.
5. healing is an appropriate topic for Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday foreshadows Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday. On that Friday Jesus died for our sins (Isaiah 53:5) – but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.
6. on that Friday Jesus also died for our healing (Isaiah 53:4-5) – surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; and by his wounds we are healed.
7. James 5:13-16 addresses the healing part.
5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
1. when trouble comes, pray. When good comes, sing songs of praise. In the 2 extremes of life – difficulty & happiness – God is our focus.
5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord
1. is any one of you sick? Look to God for your healing. Stay God-centered.
2. the sick person is to call for the elders. If you’re sick, if you have a need, if you’re depressed, call for the elders to come & pray for you. Any day. Any time.
3. they are to anoint you with oil. Oil was used for medicinal purposes in the ancient world. For example, those with fevers or aches were rubbed with oil.
4. Jesus taught his disciples to use oil – they (the disciples) went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark 6:13).
5. is healing found in the oil? No. Healing is found in the name of the Lord (5:14). Oil is a symbol of the healing power of God.
5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
1. who offers the prayer? The elders. Who has faith that God can heal? The elders.
2. the elders are to pray with faith that God will bring healing. The faith of 1:6 – but when he asks he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
3. to the sick the elders bring oil, their faith & their prayers.
4. and who brings healing? The Lord…will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up.
5. make well translates the verb save, the Greek word for salvation. Salvation is a multi-colored thing. God intends to save us and make us whole – spiritually in salvation as well as physically, emotionally & mentally in healing. Isaiah 53.
5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1. James now brings sin into the picture – confess your sins to each other. This is a command in the present tense. James instructs us to confess our sins to each other AS A way of living the Christian life together. Admission to God & to each other.
2. is James teaching that sickness is a result of sin? I don’t think so. Outside of a couple of incidents, there is no one-to-one correspondence between sickness & sin in the New Testament. The primary cause of sickness is that we live in a sinful, fallen, fractured, evil, broken world.
3. To each another clearly urges open confession. Why are we so bad at this when we are so good at sinning? The answer is pride. We are full of pride.
4. Feb 6 Ash Wednesday & Feb 10 Sunday morning worship we publically confessed the sins we wrote down & left on the communion table on Feb 3. My response to this was a huge disconnect between what we portray ourselves to be & what we actually are.
5. some of you anonymously confessed your sin on the blog we set up for Lent: abortion; I can’t stop using porn; idolize and am obsessed with food, especially sweets; I resent someone in the church for a slight they gave my children a few years ago. I haven’t gotten he courage to make it right; critical, judging spirit; I drink alone, no one knows; adultery; battle with lust in my heart toward a married woman who I’m attracted to
6. when we bring our sin out into the light by confession we weaken its grip on us. We find out that we are not alone. We find soul mates who can pray for & with us in our battle against sin.
7. confession also has the potential to bring healing to the whole community. The more sin we bring out of the darkness into the light, the more holiness will mark our community life.
8. the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Double confession to God & to each other builds righteous people. And holy, righteous people pray powerful prayers of healing.
9. what do I want you to hear this morning? The message of James (Bible) is that salvation covers both our bodies and our souls. The death of Jesus on the cross brings a salvation that is holistic. Jesus redeems all of us (body, soul, mind, spirit) not just part of us (souls). The message of James is that Jesus died for both our bodies and our souls.
Concluding comments
1. 1st we live in the tension between God heals some but not all. Paul left Trophimus sick in Miletus (2 Tim 4:20). Epaphrodiitus was ill and almost died (Phil 2:27). Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach problems (1 Tim 5:23). Paul himself 1st preached to the Galatians because of being ill (Gal 4:13-14). Most likely some kind of eye aliment (4:15).
2. the fact that God heals some does not guarantee that he will heal all. And the fact that God doesn’t heal all does not mean he will not heal some.
3. we pray in faith for healing. We take our sin seriously. And we leave the results up to God’s sovereign will. When it comes to healing his perfect will includes both “yes” and “no.”
4. 2nd the Spirit gives to some the gift of healing, miracles, and faith (I Corinthians 12:9-10). The New Testament model of healing includes men & women who are Spirit-gifted for this ministry.
5. James points to the office of elders while Paul points to those gifted of the Spirit. Both are biblical & both are to be practiced.
6. 3rd in the near future we intend to launch CAC prayer teams of elders & people gifted by the Spirit. If you believe God is calling you to something like this contact me or mike higgs, one of our elders.
Music i listened to while sermonizing – chris tomlin; david crowder band; charlie hall; matt redman;
Books i read & studied while sermonizing – surprised by hope by n.t. wright; the shack by william p. young; galatians by scot mcknight; only one way: the message of galatians by john stott; galatians by leon morris; commentary on galatians by ff bruce; memoirs of an ordinary pastor by d.a. carson; letters and homilies for jewish Christians by ben witherington iii; for men only by shaunti & jeff feldhahn; james by r. kent hughes; finding spiritual direction by douglas webster;
1. 10 weeks ago I started this series called Salt & Light – I believe that God is calling us to be the salt of the earth & the light of the world in our community & culture. That he is calling us to be DISTINCT from our culture and to PERMEATE it at the same time.
2. after preaching 2 sermons on Matthew 5:13-16 I turned to Acts 2:42-47 to examine the practices, habits we need to give ourselves to in order to become life-changing, culture-altering salt & light:
® 1st we need to take our sin seriously by confession & repentance
® 2nd to give ourselves to – Biblical teaching + loving fellowship + living worship + outgoing evangelism & mission
3. the following people have shared with us as we’ve been on this journey – mike higgs, annie cernac, heather barton, ragna shollenberger, kyle maddox, lynn olson & kristin payne.
4. we have 1 more sermon to go as we wrap this series up - everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43).
††† PRAY †††
#1 boils & ministry
1. I 1ST met Jing Dubrico in the Philippines in 1976. He was an Alliance pastor, a church planter. When he was 18 years old he was seriously sick for two weeks. He had a string of boils that grew around his waist line. He lost his appetite, lost weight, couldn’t sleep at night. There was no hospital or medicine or doctor to turn to.
2. his mother went to prayer for him. Jing promised God that he would become a pastor if God healed him. Two weeks later Jing was completely healed. Six months later Jing enrolled at Ebenezer Bible College. Today he has been a pastor and church planter for 42 years. Jesus was/is his healer. Those boils were his call to ministry.
#2 conception & salvation
1. 4 years ago Jing and Emily his wife were conducting a Bible study in a Chinese home. The husband of one of the couples told the group that he had been a Buddhist for 40 yrs & was not going to change his religion.
2. a few months later his wife received the Lord. She asked Jing to pray for them to have a child. They had been married for more than 20 years & had not been able to conceive. Both were at their late 40's.
3. Jing prayed. She got pregnant. Their son was born on October 10, 2005. On December 18 they dedicated their son to the Lord AND baptized his father!
wonders and miraculous signs
1. everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43)
2. literally – occurring in every soul awe. Transpiring in every soul. Experienced in every soul. Housed in every soul. What? A deep, inward sense of overwhelming awe because God was displaying his miraculous power. And every soul, meaning both followers of Christ & non followers of Christ.
3. today I want you to hear about the absolute necessity of expecting to witness God’s supernatural power.
4. miracles marked the ministry of Jesus. Miracles marked the ministry of the apostles. And miracles have marked the ministry of the Church down through the centuries.
5. I/CAC/CMA believe that God heals people today.
.
definition of a miracle – wayne grudem
1. a miracle is a less common kind of God’s activity in which he arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to himself. Let me unpack this a bit.
2. less common kind. Miracles don’t occur all the time. Miracles are not the primary way God works & reveals himself to people today.
3. of God’s activity. Miracles come from God. They are not human in origin or human in the making. They are an unmistakable God-thing.
4. arouses people’s awe & wonder. Miracles catch people’s attention. They force people to encounter another dimension to life. They stop us in our tracks. They breed a sense of mystery, awe, wonder, the Divine in our lives.
5. and bears witness to himself. Miracles point to God. They are God’s signposts. They are not about the human vessel God may use to bring them about. NO, NO, NO! A true miracle bears witness to God himself alone.
#3 gum & t-shirts
1. Brett Lott is a follower of Christ who is a writer of literary fiction. Oprah Winfrey made him famous in 1999 by featuring his novel Jewell on her book club. A few years ago he & his family traveled to Moldova in Eastern Europe on a mission trip to help run a Bible camp for kids. He was the camp activities director. They were told to bring supplies for 140 kids. But once the Bible camp started they discovered they had around 160 kids to work with.
2. in one of the relay races they organized each kid was to run to a paper bag, put on a pair of gloves, reach into the bag & pull out a piece of gum, unwrap it & put the stick of gym in their mouth, take the gloves off & run back to their team.
3. as they got to the end of the relay race Lott’s oldest son yelled out to him, Dad, we’re running out of gum! Lott hollered back, pray! Lott himself prayed that somehow there would be enough gum. And there was, to a child. God multiplied the gum!
4. on the last day of the Bible camp the big craft event was the tie-dyeing of T-shirts. They started out with 140 shirts but some had been lost with luggage on the flight over. The largest group of kids for the whole week showed up on the last day – 170 kids & they were working with less than 140 T-shirts.
5. they prayed over the shirts before the kids arrived & asked God for enough shirts. At the end of the day they praised God that there were precisely enough shirts – one for each of the 170 children.
6. Jesus multiplied bread & fish in his day & gum & T-shirts in ours.
#4 healing of a blind man (ken & carolyn vankurin)
1. in a remote area of Indonesia a national evangelist, Yohanis Sock-eye, was holding special outdoor meetings. The Muslims in the area were unhappy because some of their people were attending the meetings. They began stirring up opposition.
2. among the many people in attendance was a blind man. When the invitation was given to respond to the message, the blind man went forward and said ‘yes’ to Jesus as his personal Savior. He requested prayer for healing for his eyes. Yohanis anointed his eyes and prayed for healing and God instantly restored his sight.
3. after seeing this miracle opposition to the Gospel ceased and more Muslims began attending the services. Some were saved.
purpose of miracles
1. wayne grudem gives 4 purposes for miracles. I think he is right on. 1st miracles authenticate the message of the gospel. They give evidence that God is at work. Miracles serve to advance the gospel. Hebrews 2:4.
2. 2nd miracles bear witness to the fact that the kingdom of God & its benefits have come. The benefits of the kingdom are salvation, healing, deliverance, changed lives. Matthew 12:28.
3. 3rd miracles help those in need. Here is where we see the compassion of Jesus at work. Matthew 14:14.
4. 4th miracles bring glory to God. The other 3 purposes contribute to this one. Matthew 9:8. Miracles bear witness to God and underline his glory.
#5 healing through touch
1. kim lee kwai was sick with cancer when Josh was 1 year old. She weighed less than 100 lbs. Chemotherapy had almost killed her. She was extremely depressed & full of anxiety. She was spiraling downward. One morning she asked Harry to drive her to a psychiatric hospital.
2. a few days after she was admitted she was given a roommate. A woman who had overdosed. This woman looked like she was in a coma when they brought her into Kim’s room. She lay on her bed for hours without waking or moving.
3. suddenly she woke wide awake, looked over at Kim & asked her if she could give her a backrub. Kim said yes (now she can’t believe she said yes!). The woman came over to Kim’s bed & started giving her a back rub & immediately Kim felt different & started getting better.
4. she called Harry after the back rub & told him she wanted to go home. This was a titanic healing moment for Kim – emotionally, physically & spiritually. God used the touch of a drug overdosed women in a hospital psychiatric ward to heal Kim. Today she is utterly convinced she experienced a miracle of God!
5. the poet Wallace Stevens has said – the job of the poet is to put people in agreement with reality. The job of Scripture is to put people in agreement with reality. The job of the sermon is to put people in agreement with reality. What reality? The absolute necessity of expecting to witness God’s supernatural power.
#6 leg, back & cancer (norm beck)
1. At the Jan. ' 98 Pastor's Prayer Summit at Cannon Beach I went to the chair in the afternoon session to have them pray for my back. Pastor Larry Trogen prayed for my left leg that was 1" shorter than my right leg and within 5 sec. my left leg grew out to the same length as my right leg. He prayed for my 2 degenerative disc and degenerative arthritis in my back and the pain immediately went away.
2. A lingering question for me afterwards was why did God bless me so richly with healing my painful back?
3. I think I got at least one answer the following year in '99. Pastor Mike from Portland and I were with one other pastor in a small prayer group. Mike told me that when he witnessed the healing of my back and leg that his theology was shattered. He couldn't believe what he saw.(he had a Baptist background) He went back to his church, his faith stronger and deeper.
4. then he said a lady (Donna) in the church had an inoperable brain tumor and had developed a rash on her head from the chemotherapy and they couldn't find anything that would get rid of it. This was in May '98. Mike decided to take some oil and visit her in the hospital. He anointed her head and prayed for her. That afternoon the rash went away. A week later she called him to see if he would perform her wedding. Her cancer was in remission. He said because of his experience of my healing the year before, his faith and the churches faith had grown.
Application
1. do you have a need for healing today? The elders would be happy to anoint you with oil & pray for you in accordance to James 5:13-16. notice what is important:
® sick? Ask elders of church to pray over him & anoint with oil
® pray offered in faith in order to be effective
® confession of sin
® prayer of righteous is powerful
2. meet up front here if you would like prayer
Music i listened to while sermonizing – bruce springsteen
Books i read & studied while sermonizing – lent and easter by thomas merton; surprised by hope by n.t. wright; the shack by william p. young; acts by ajith fernando; the spirit, the church & the word by john stott;
