Sermon Notes 8/22/21 “Super Slow Mo Miracles”

After thorough sanitization and cleaning, we reopened the church for worship last Sunday.  It was great to have our Audio/Visual team back in action after 3 weeks of DIY streaming.  With much caution, we had a small number of people in person for worship.  With the exception of Rick, all of our people who have been hit with Covid have recovered now or are in the process of healing, with two remaining in the hospital.  We continue to pray for you all and asking God for a miracle of healing for Rick.  

We are open for worship on Sunday and hope to see you this weekend if you are showing no signs of illness.  If you are unable to be here in person, we do encourage you to join us live at 10 a.m. on Facebook & on the website.  God bless you all.

“Super-Slow Mo Miracles”
“…and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick…”
James 5:15a (NASB)
Key x-References – Another purpose of “miracles” – to strengthen our faith
John 9:1-34 (excerpts NASB) Sometimes miracles require an act of obedience “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ 3 Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him…’ 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, ‘Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?’ 9 Others were saying, ‘This is he,’ still others were saying, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the one.’ 10 So they were saying to him, ‘How then were your eyes opened?’ 11 He answered, ‘The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.’”Note: Significantly, this may reveal God’s sovereign purpose in adversity (v.3)
Mark 8:22-25 (NASB) *Sometimes miracles involve a process (over time)
“And they came to Bethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, ‘Do you see anything?’ 24 And he looked up and said, ‘I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.’ 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.” *Note: Sometimes we must wait!
Matthew 8:23-27 (NASB) *A miracle highlighting the Lord’s sovereignty over nature “When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing!’ 26 He *said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.
27 The men were amazed, and said, ‘What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’” Miracles may have different purposes, manifestations, and durations
Key Online Links—Click to access online videos
Music—Everlasting God Lincoln Brewster Radio Version w/ Isaiah 40 (4:48) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2nz6PG8KM
Video Clip—7 Yards trailer The Chris Norton Story (3:27)
His 4-year struggle to recover from a football injury – Given 3% chance of ever walking 7 YARDS Film
Jim Carey – Ace Ventura Pet Detective (1:00) Executes a button-hook pattern in “super slow-mo”
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” James 4:3a (NASB)
Covid 19D Series #5 8/22/21 Questions About God, Faith and Prayer
“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matthew 21:22 (NASB)
Key Question – What are the ways God answers ALL of our prayers?

  1. Yes – Jesus healed servant of a Roman centurion immediately! (Matt. 8: 5-13)
    “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.’ 7 Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him. 8 But the centurion said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed…. 13And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed that very moment.
  2. No – Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
    “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
  3. Wait – We normally think of miracles as instantaneous – but they can take time! Isaiah 40:31 – “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength…”
    Key Verse(s) – Another purpose for God’s miracles (then AND now)
    2 Kings 5:6-14 (NAS) *Faith vs Trust- Miracles sometimes require us to DO something “He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, ‘And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’ 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.’
    8 It happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.’
    9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.’ 11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, ‘Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ 12 ‘Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, ‘My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?’ 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.”

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