Of Faith and Miracles

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 17th of February, 2019 at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Look for the video of this and our other services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We know that Jesus performed many and all kinds of miracles when He walked the earth.  We’ve talked about some of them in this series on faith.  But His disciples also performed miracles, after He returned to heaven.  The Apostle Luke recorded some of these in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, written to tell Theophilus of things that happened after Jesus ascended to heaven – as sort of a sequel to his Gospel account.

Listen and follow along as I read the follow up to one such miraculous occurrence from the Book of the Acts, chapter 3, verses 11 through 16, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

--Acts 3:11-16 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, immediately following His baptism, You filled Your Son Jesus with Your Holy Spirit, giving Him the power to do miraculous things.  At Jesus’ request, You’ve given us that same power.  Help us, please Father, to have faith in that power, to have faith in the power of Jesus’ name.  Help us have faith in ourselves so we can better serve You.  Speak to us this morning that we might hear Your word and understand the message You bring to us.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son Jesus.   Amen.


Evangelist Ray Stedman once told the little story of an alcoholic who became a believer.  A skeptic asked the now former alcoholic how he could possibly believe all the nonsense in the Bible about miracles.  "You don't really believe that Jesus changed the water into wine do you?"  "I sure do," replied the man, "because in our house, Jesus changed the whiskey into furniture."


There are two addictions that can rob a family of a lot of money: one is alcohol and the other is gambling.  If a person can break that addiction, then they can afford to buy furniture, and food, and pay the power bill.  Jesus filled the hole in the alcoholic’s life and he was able to buy furniture with the money he used to spend on booze.

Folks that knew him from before might have thought a miracle had occurred.  A 1988 study by the Princeton Religion Research Center found that 82 percent of adults mostly agree or completely agree with the statement, "Even today, miracles are performed by the power of God."  That was over 30 years ago.  I wonder what the percentage would be today…


Our scripture reading actually begins right after the lame man was healed by Peter and John, but it captures the reaction of the crowd, and Peter’s comments to them.  This is considered to be Peter’s second sermon as recorded in the Book of Acts.

His first was similar, and delivered at Pentecost, when God’s Holy Spirit came to the disciples.  Part of the first sermon plays an important role in today’s discussion.  Listen to Peter’s words as recorded by Luke in Acts chapter 2 verses 22 through 24…

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know — 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having destroyed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." 

--Acts 2:22-24 (NKJV)

I love that last line – it was not possible for Jesus to be held by death.

Now understand what Peter says here…  Jesus was attested to us by God by the miracles which God did through Him!  God proved to mankind that Jesus was His by doing miracles through Him!

OK, so we know that Jesus is God, so Jesus could do miracles on His own.  But Peter claims that God worked His miracles through Jesus.  And as Luke noted in Peter’s second sermon, today’s reading, God also worked His miracles through the followers of Jesus.


But Peter and John weren’t alone in this ability.  Acts chapter 8 reports on a number of miracles that Philip performed in Samaria.  And two other well-known Apostles are mentioned in Acts chapter 15 verse 12, when Luke tells us that…

12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 

--Acts 15:12 (NKJV)

This was as Paul and Barnabas spoke to the early church council in Jerusalem, with many of the other apostles in attendance.


So Peter and John, Paul and Barnabas, Phillip and others performed miracles in Jesus' name.  Paul takes it another step.  He goes so far as to say that all followers of Christ can perform miracles in His name.  And oh by the way, that includes us, because we are also His disciples so even we can perform miracles in the name of Jesus.  Here’s what Paul tells us, through his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 4 through 11…

4 There are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all things in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

--1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (NKJV)

God, using His Holy Spirit that He sent to live within us at the request of His Son Jesus, can work His miracles through us.  So maybe not all of us are chosen to be miracle workers, but each one of these gifts Paul describes can be considered a miracle when applied.  When God wanted Moses to go speak to Pharaoh, he protested that he was not good with words, that he had trouble talking to people, but God gave him that gift when it was needed, and that was a miracle.

God can and will work a miracle through us when it serves His will!  But we must be sure to glorify God when He does so.  For as Peter said, it will not be through our power or godliness that we might work a wonder, but through the power of God.


God worked miracles through Jesus.  God worked miracles through Peter, John, Philip, Paul, Barnabas, and others of the disciples.  And God can work miracles through us, even big ones, if that is His will, but certainly small ones that we might not think is a miracle.  Even the simplest act of love and kindness might be seen as a miracle to someone desperately in need of it.  A smile, a hug, a ham sandwich, a healing touch… we don’t know what miracle God might perform through us.

As Morgan Freeman said while playing the role of God in the movie “Bruce Almighty”: “Don’t wait for a miracle – be a miracle”.  Have faith in the name of Jesus, and miraculous things will happen.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You sent Your Holy Spirit to live in Jesus to empower Him to do mighty works.  Thank You, Father, for giving us the same Holy Spirit so that we too might carry out Your will.  Thank You for empowering us to do Your work.  Please forgive us when we fail to give Your Spirit free rein in our lives, when we hesitate to act on Your part, when we don’t have complete faith in the name of Your Son Jesus.

Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, seeking Your forgiveness for our disobedience…

Lord Jesus, You commissioned us to carry on Your work here on earth after You left to go back home to heaven.  You asked God to send us His Spirit so we can do as You commanded.  And now we have that glorious Power living within us.  Thank You, Jesus, for equipping us with what we need to do Your work.  Forgive us when we fail to fully live by our faith.  Forgive us when our faith is weak.  Forgive us when we simply don’t act in Your name.  Please give us the courage and the strength of faith to perform miracles.  Help us be a blessing and a miracle in the lives of others.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master, our Savior.  Amen.