The Energy Crisis in the American Church

Chapter Nine The Endless Night of Miracles

That night, when Jesus was born was a miraculous night. It was a night of miracles. That evening has never ended because we, today, are living in this endless night of miracles. Miracles that are just as miraculous as an older teenage4 becoming pregnant, by the Holy Spirit of God. Miracles are possible today I believe in miracles, all kinds of miracles.

And so, when I turn to 1 Corinthians and I read that in the listing of spirituals gifts that are special endowments of supernatural energy, and I r4ead that when Paul says, "I don't want you to be misinformed," then I am very anxious to read what he says. Then I turn to verse 10 and I find one more of the features of a Church that is available to aid in the energy crisis in the American Church, which is "to another the working of miracles." In veers 28, "God has appointed some in the Church for His own use. First, apostles, special messengers; seconded prophets, inspired teacher and expounders; third teachers, then wonder-workers. And then he says "For are all apostles? Do all have the power to perform miracles?" Well, the answer obviously is, "No." But there are some that do.

We continue our message dealing with the energy crisis in the American Church. We're talking about energy which is available ritht now in the J.C. power outlet. Jesus Christ power outlet, because all do have the potential of receiving these gifts. All of us have received certain gifts. You say, "I don't have a gift" Nonsense, you do have a gift. And the pathetic thing is that we are not using the gifts as we should in our Churches. 1 Peter 4:10 records, "As each of you has received a gift, a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment, employ it for one another as benefits good trustees of God's many sided grace. Faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians, by unmerited favor." So then if therefore you are a Christian, you have the potential to receive gifts from God.

The other verse in Hebrews 2 records in verse four, "Besides these evidences it was also established and plainly endorsed by God who showed His approval of it by signs and wonders and various miraculous manifestations of His power and by imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit, imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit to othe believers according to His own will." We have talked about these gifts which are available - some more spectacular gifts indeed, others are not so spectacular. The emphasis, of course, being placed upon Love. Every breliever receives one or more gifts from the Holy Spirit.

We turn to Romans 12, we turn to Ephesians 4 and we find a listing of gifts which have been given from God to you. We turn to 1 Corinthians 12 which has been our basic text and we're talking about special supernatural endowments given to the believers to aid the Amnrerican Church in the energy crisis.

I want to talk to you about miracles; the endless night of miracles, first the past, the Biblical miracles and secondly the contemporary miracles that are taking place. But first of all, perhaps in the introduction I should state this: In the book of Acts to which we are going to turn frequently, we must bear in mind that it was written by a medical doctor. and if anything has come about by higher criticism regarding God's Word in our day, it has been that the writer of the book of Acts was an experienced physician who was one that had skills and ability beyond end. He was trained. He was a learned individual. When a doctor says "I was an eye-witness to a miracle," then this substantiates the fact that it was a miracle. Doctors deal in accuracy. As I recall, several years ago, there was a four-party conversation where the second party was contradicting what the first party had said based upon what a physician had said. The fourth party involved in the conversation said, "I believe the physician, before I would believe others involved in the circumstances, because he deals in accuracies." Luke, indeed, recorded in the book of Acts about the miracles. I believe in miracles.

If we think that the laws of nature, for example, are just self-existant and uncaused, then we cannot admit any deviation from them. But, if then, on the other hand we believe that th4ese laws of nature were designed by supreme will, then that same supreme will would be able to change a particular circumstance, on occasion. Something could be suspended. I'm glad we live in a world that is made up of law and order as far as the universe is concerned. It is nice to know that we have seasons. It is nice to know that the hours of the day are going to be the same and things are come what basically the same. And God has ordained it this way. Bug the God who ordained in this way is very capable of changing and this is when that becomes a miracle. When the ordinary doesn't happen. When the ordinary is suspended, then we witness a miracle. And I believe miracles are happening today. I believe they happened in the Bible.

When we turn to 1 Corinthians and we read about the gift of miracles, we are tailing about an individual whs had been given s supernatural gift whereby a miracle can take place. This person can do something because God is using him or her as a channel and they become a wonder-worker. And the phrase in another ways of speaking may be more accurately expressed as the demonstration of mighty powers rather than "the working of miracles."

Generally speaking, miracles would be a descriptive of the healing eworks of an unusual type. l think there is a difference between the tift of healing and the gift of miracles. The three that go very closely as they are associated: One is faith, the gift of faith; ;two, the gift of healing; and three, the gift of miracles go hand in hand. They are interlaced. But yet, they are separated, too.

To make a distinction, the gift of healing could be for a person, la bodily situation, whereas the gift of miracles would be circumstancr4es that were altered because Gode saw fit to altar them. You know, I think we have scarcely begun to explore the spiritual resources that are open to faith and to prayer. We come to Church on Sunday. We read our Bibles throughout the week on occasions. We pray on occasions, but, we have not even begun to s scratch the surface of what can occur when we rely upon our faith and upon our prayer. Because God's involved, we cannot set limits upon God.

It is possible today to experience miracles. Jesus said in Mark 14, "I am going to give you power." He told His disciples, to "perform miracles." This did not stop in New Testament days. As we have said before, the same Jesus of yesterday is the Jesus of today, not limited. In fact, He has even more available power. Then He was in one place at one time. Today He is in this room, or wherever you are. He is around the city, state and world.

Biblically Yesterday

We turn to the book of Acts and there were recorded miracles and powers. In Acts 8, verse 13, these words, "Foul spirits came out of many who were possessed by them, screaming and shouting with a loud voice and many who were suffering from palsy or were crippled were restored to health." Now here is a miracle. We turn to Acts, chapter 19, and we read in verse 11,"God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul." Notice what happened. l Handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick and their diseases left them.; Evil spirits came out of them, also.

(INSERT, 2017. Recently we received a request from an individual in an African nation to please send a "prayer cloth". We prayed over a cloth, anointed it with oil and sent it to the Pastor.)

In Romans 15:18 Paul refers to his miraculous gifts in this nature. He is an instrument through which God's power has indeed flowed to people and miracles came to pass. Working of the powers according to Paul, was a gift which linked itself to the ministry of the Word of God.

In kthe book of Acts there are a number of miracles that took place. They wer4e extraordinary healings, and nkin the category of extraordinary healings, I would like to share with you a few. There was on one occasion, an individual who was quite ill. There was in Joppa, a woman who was a disciple. Her name was Tabitha in the Aramaic, and in the Greek it means Dorcas, or in English it would have been Gaziel. She was one who abounded in good deeds, acts of charity and kindness. She fell sick and died, and when they cleaned her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Liva was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him, begging him to come without delay Peter came.. When he arrived they took him to the upper room and all the widows stood around him, crying.

They displayed the undershirts and other garments that Dorcas was accustomed to make while she was with them, as this was her livehood. Put put all the people out of the room. l He went over to this woman who was dead. He touched the body and said "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she raised herself and sat upright. Now there is no other way to explain this than a miracle. Itg was written by a doctor who could attest to the fact that she was dead.

In Acts 20, when a young man who fell out of a third story window to his death was brought to life by Paul, it was another miracle. Miracles happen because of the power of God. And any miracle that occurred in the Bible was because of the power of God.

In John 3, chapter 2, this man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus at night and said to him, " Rabbi, we know without a doubt and are certain that you are come from God, or you could not do these miracles,." So all miraqcles come from God.

Two things are important. Faith is required in those who perform a miracle. In Matthew 17 and in Acts 6 this is very clearly spelled out. That is, if I was to perform a miracle I would have to have the faith., On the other hand, in Matthew 9 and in Acts 214 it very clearly says that, "the person who receives the miracle must have the faith," And that is why more miracles are not taking place today in the American Church. Because, we the believers, do not have the faith and we who need the miracle do nor have the faith.

The same Jesus who came into the world as a babe, not as a superman, but as a babe who grew up, who learned disciplines as babies and young children do, was the same Jesus who turned water into wine, and the same Jesus who performed the miracle of the catch of fish; the same Jesus who performed the miracle of walking on the water, the same Jesus who performed the stilling of the tempest which was a miracle. The point is, in the energy crisis, that His disciples did likewise. When He sent the 70 disciples out in Lake chapter 10, the Wor4d says that He sent them out with the power to do th4ese things.

Contemporary Times

What about the contemporary today? In light of the contemporary, we know that the gifts that come to people are given by God. And that when a miracle comes, it is to encourage the believer, not frighten the believer. When a miracle comes it comes to a parson who is in need. God is at the point of need. Gifts bring glory to God. Miracles bring glory to God and they could be seen today. The power to do greater works comes from the fact that Jesus entered into Heaven and the full powers of Jesus are available today.

In the past few years, we have seen in our world, a powerful revival of New Testaments type Christianity, which is to say, we have seen miracles taking place, well documented miracles taking place. In the country of Indonesia, in the country of Japan, in the countries in Europe and even in America. Things are beginning to happen. My question is, "Why isn't it happening in our city?"

I read documented evidences, for example, in Indonesia where a large group of people descended upon one Church. They were having what we might call a "potluck dinner," escept that the pastor's wife had prepared a casserole for just 12 people that she was expecting. Over a hundr4ed people were present and the circumstances were such that there was no time to get extra provisions. A miracle took place. This young lady kept dishing out of that casserole and the peole kept on coming by and everybody had enough food to eat from one casserole. Now, you could call it farfetched and dismiss it as fanciful if you like. But what are you going to says to the people who were there? They experienced it: It was a miracle

I have also read of this documented account also. A group of people, again the country of Indonesia, had a time element involved where they had to be in a certain place. The recent rains had swollen the river to the extent that they couldn't even cross. As I understand, the bridge had been washed away, but they had to cross. They were on one bank and the one who was involved in this as a leader, had within his being vibrated such an impulse to cross that river that he had the gift of faith.

He said, "Come on, we're going to cross this river,." The natives there said, "What do you mean, cross this river? This river is too deep. It is not only too deep, but it is too swift. We can't cross this river." Now, these comments came from people who lived there, and they knew the river. The pastor said, "We're crossing." And he started walking, and he walked right across the river. He called his partners and they crossed. The natives crossed too. Everybody crossed the riv4er. Now, it was a miracle. Again you can dismiss it as fanciful except what are you going to do about the people who crossed the river? They each said "It was there, I crossed it,."

I could share so many instances of miracles with you. A person had died. lIn this particular country they didn't have the convinces that we have today so the body was laid in state just naturally. After one or two days it was a very unpleasant place to be, especially if you were down wind. People came to pay respects to the deceased. For some reason, one pastor felt the urge to go to the body and place his hand on it. As he wrote the story he said, "I could even get twenty feet near sit and wanted not to do it. But when God tells you to do something you must do it, and he did it. l He walked over there with all the faith in the world, and he touched that body and said, "In the name of Jesus, be made whole." And my friend, all I can say is just what the paragraph told me. That person who had been dead, officially and in all other categories, got up Well, I don't know what you would have done if you were there, but I am told that more than a hundred people immediately confessed Jesus as their Savior. Each one said "My religion is not carrying me and is nothing. I will become a Christian.,"

Miracles are taking place today. Water has been turned to wine and this has been documented. Water has been drawn for the purpose of Communion because there was no wine a available, has been turned to wine by prayer. So what I am saying, my friend, is that God takes real chances when He sharers His supernatural works with His people. He might share more with you but He knows that unless we are spiritually prepared, it may be harmful.

In Conclusion, may I say this, that the real Christians are encouraged to yield to God, to yield to God's dealings and to go on and not to regress. When you become a Christian, then from that point of salvation, go on and on and on, believing with faith in your heart. You'll have new dimensions opening up to you.

We are told, in America, that we need to explore new resources for our energy because of the crisis that we are in. I say that in America, in the American Church, we have scarcely begun to explore the spiritual resources open to faith and to prayer. Who can set limits on God. We need to use the gifts which are available and one of the gifts which is in operation in the world today by God's Holy Spirit, is the gift of miracles. And I believe in miracles.

I believe that in this way, as we come together, we become a living congregation. We are aware of and we are using spiritual gifts given to us. We can't help but be alive. In doing so, we are going to discover that there is no energy shortage in our Church We have Pacific Gas and Electric, we have spiritual P.G. and E. that is power, grace and energy. We can draw frsm this on the J.C. (Jesus Christ) power outlet.

May We Pray:

Our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge, that without your Spirt, we can indeed do nothing. We do ask for miracles to be performed in our lives. Oh, we can categorize them as a spectacular miracles, or mediocre miracles, or small miracles. We thank you for spiritual gifts which were made available. As we read our New Testament, we find that there were just the common people who were in the congregation of the first Churches who indeed had the supernatural gifts of miracles. We pray that You would give that gift of miracles to persons today. We pray that we have been given for all have been given gifts, and sharing for the common good there will be no energy crisis. Amen.