Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
I'm just excited about this message.
It's funny, you know, I was ready last week for it.
And then the more I looked it over more, I realized I bit off more than I could chew.
So we're probably not going to get through all the subjects today.
But today's message is signs and wonders, miracles and gifts.
All at God's, at God's, by God's will, you know.
And, you know, the Lord proves, He bears witness of His word by manifesting signs and wonders,
miracles and gifts, doesn't He?
And we're going to talk about that today.
Because if you remember, Jesus would preach and preach and speak.
And as He spoke, then all of a sudden the sick and everyone would come towards Him.
And He would just pray for them and they were healed.
But He first and foremost gave them the gospel, really.
And because the gospel is what sets souls free, right?
It's, you know, we are born into sin.
And as a result, we are in bondage to our old nature and our sin nature.
But the Lord sets us free.
And that's the greatest miracle of all.
So when the Lord does these signs and wonders and miracles and gifts,
these things are really to prove a bigger principle
that the Lord Jesus sets us free of sin and forgives our sins.
Like we were singing about, those songs were tremendous for this.
You know, He saved me, you know.
And He doesn't look upon me based on my duplicity and double-mindedness.
He sees me like Himself, you know.
He sees me, that's how He perceives you.
He loves you that much that He chooses to forgive all of our sins and iniquities.
So that's the greatest miracle of all.
So the Lord doing these signs and wonders and miracles and gifts
are things to really prove a bigger truth, isn't it?
So let's pray and we're gonna dive in.
And I know the Lord's gonna speak to you because the Word always speaks, doesn't He?
So, Laura, thank you today for your brilliant Word.
And, Laura, we ask you to transform our minds and hearts to be in line with yours.
And, Laura, when we walk out of here, we want to have perception that sees the signs
and the wonders that you're putting in front of us
so we can step in the right direction and go through the open doors,
not keep banging on the closed doors, Lord,
and we can really live that abundant life like you promised us.
So, Lord, we just pray that today you would speak boldly through your Word.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So let's dive right in.
We're only looking at four verses.
And so let's dive right in.
If you can recall, this is Hebrews.
And we know the Holy Spirit wrote this through an unknown author.
And we talked about that a couple weeks ago.
And so let's dive in.
Chapter two, verse one.
Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard,
lest we drift away.
So let's just stop there for a second.
Because the Lord's telling us that we need to be careful.
In fact, the New Living Translation says,
listen very carefully, pay more closer attention.
My version, New King James' version says, take heed.
And what it's saying is, be very careful not to forget what you've heard.
Now, if you can recall, this book was written,
by the time Hebrews was written,
probably at least two, perhaps three gospels were already written.
Many of the letters of Paul were already written and dispersed to the churches.
But back then, a scribe was hard to find.
And a scribe that would sit down and rewrite an entire letter of Paul,
they weren't widely duplicated, right?
It was not like it was tedious, and it was methodical,
and it had to be accurate, right?
So even though there was already much of the New Testament written already,
when Hebrews was written, it's not like everybody had a copy of it, right?
You had to listen carefully, and listen clearly,
and remember what you've heard.
Could you imagine that today?
We're bombarded with so many things.
I can't remember what Jill tells me here.
Oh, now I'm in trouble.
It's hard to remember what you've been told, right?
Just a minute ago, right?
Because there's so much pouring in, right?
But back then, people were diligent
because you didn't have a copy of what was being read, okay?
And you might have a piece of it, a little scroll of phylactery,
tied your arm or your head or your doorpost or something.
But you didn't have an entire book of Isaiah, right?
So you had to listen, and you had to remember.
Now, thank God nowadays, and I often, by the way,
tell people if they have difficulty in reading,
and we've had many people that grew up with dyslexia
or have a condition that they just can't read.
And I'm like, well, then you have to be listening.
Daily Audio Bible, which is a resource that we actually have right on our website.
You can click on there and download it.
Listen to the Bible.
If you can't read it, listen.
If you're driving us to work in the morning
and you just don't think you have time to read,
at least be listening, right?
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, right?
Romans 10.
So it's okay to be receiving it one way or another.
Now, I personally love listening and reading.
I love reading it, okay?
And you can get into vast reading projects
where I'm going to read through the Bible in one year, okay?
And that's a volume read.
But then you could also just break it down,
and I'm just going to study these two verses today
and nail them and follow every cross-reference and really absorb it.
But the bottom line is we need to be soaking in the word, right?
And so the Lord's telling us, be very careful
not to forget what you hear, but also what you read.
Now, you know what's interesting now?
With all the technology we have, all the electronic devices
that you can pull up a book of the Bible anywhere, okay?
Thank God for that.
And you can pick up various versions of the Bible.
You know, still, faith comes by hearing
because how many people are going to pick up a Bible,
not believing, and suddenly read and believe.
They need to hear it first, don't they?
And who do they hear it from? Us, right?
We are the Lord's anointed to bring his message to the world, right?
So still, after all these years, still hearing is still
typically the way people come to faith, by hearing,
but then by seeing signs, wonders, miracles,
and gifts, evidence that what they're hearing is true.
Amen.
And so we're being told to be very careful and not to forget.
So let's read on verse two.
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast
and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward.
Let's just stop there for a second.
So two weeks ago,
I spoke about how the Lord used angels throughout the Old Testament
and even into the New Testament to bring a message.
In fact, that's what angel means.
And Angelos means a messenger, right?
So he sent these celestial creatures,
these non-human spiritual beings to people to give them messages.
He also, of course, used the prophets.
And as he gave these messages,
if people didn't heed the word that they heard from the Lord
through an angel or a prophet, what would happen?
They would receive the just reward.
Now reward doesn't mean a prize in this case.
It means a compensation.
It means you're getting what you deserve.
You didn't listen and now you're going to pay the consequences.
And we see that throughout Israel's history.
In fact, Numbers has so many of those stories.
I love Numbers.
If you haven't been coming out on Wednesday nights, come on out.
Numbers just has so many amazing narratives
on what took place in Israel's history.
I love Numbers.
But, and by the way,
Danny did an amazing job this past Wednesday night
talking about the Nazarite spirit.
And it was phenomenal.
So, in Numbers 6.
But, so, whenever the Israelites did not heed the word of God,
they paid a consequence.
You know, when Israel left Egypt, okay,
no one fell by disease, sickness, or death.
There's no record of death in Israel
as they left Egypt through the Red Sea.
As they approached Mount Sinai,
we know that the word was given.
It was the law that was given.
And the first four commandments,
do you remember what they are?
I am the Lord your God.
You should have no other God but me.
The next is, do not carve anything.
Do not make an idol that's supposed to replicate me.
And then the third commandment is,
don't take my name in vain.
And then the fourth is, keep the Sabbath.
So, they heard the word spoken
over the amplification of heaven.
They heard the word themselves.
In fact, it made them tremble and be fearful, right?
And then Moses stayed up there
getting more instructions from God
for 40 days and 40 nights.
So, as Israel is down at the base of the mountain,
they look up and they see this mountain on fire, okay?
And they're looking,
look, whatever happened to this guy Moses?
He led us out.
He can't still be, I'm paraphrasing,
he can't still be living through that, right?
I mean, it was an inferno.
So, make us a God that we can follow.
So, one after another,
they broke all four of those commandments.
Because the first thing they did was said to Aaron,
make us a God who we can follow, okay?
So, you should have no other God but me.
They broke the first commandment, okay?
The next, Aaron says,
all right, bring me your golden earrings
because I'm going to melt them down
and make a carved image.
Number two, strike two, right?
Okay, then they said,
okay, behold your God who led you out of Egypt.
Strike three, okay?
Because now they're taking the Lord's name in vain
by applying it to this piece of gold
that they just crafted.
So, they're taking the Lord's name in vain.
And then the fourth strike is the Sabbath.
This is the day of rest that you are
to set apart between me and you.
And what did they say?
Once that golden calf was made,
they said, tomorrow we're going to have a Sabbath
for this new God of ours.
So, they broke the Sabbath,
all four commandments broken.
And with that, of course,
3,000 people died, okay?
So, every time they disobeyed
or neglected what God said,
they received their just rewards, right?
And that's a story throughout the Old Testament.
Every time they, in fact,
Numbers has about six of them,
you know, where death occurred
because of their rejection of God's word.
And so, he's warning us.
Look, they fell.
We need to take heed.
So, let's read verse three.
How shall we escape
if we neglect so great a salvation,
which if the first began to be spoken
by the Lord and was confirmed to us
by those who heard him?
So, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great a salvation?
You know, how can we neglect salvation?
This word neglect is,
forget the Greek word,
but you can find it in Matthew 22.
Remember when the king sent out the,
he sent the servants.
Go tell everyone who I invited
to my son's banquet to come.
It's time to party.
The celebration is here.
He's getting married.
Okay, it's all a picture,
of course, of Christ in his church.
Tell them to come.
And one after another,
as the servants went to them,
it's party time.
The son is getting married.
They neglected the invitation.
They rejected it.
Oh, no, I'm too busy doing this.
I'm too busy.
And they never came.
That's the idea.
This neglect is being careless of it
or not even caring
that you are invited.
That's that neglect.
Also, it's used when Paul writes to Timothy
and says, don't neglect the gift
that you have been given.
So neglect means don't cherish
what you have.
So how can you and I not cherish
our salvation?
It was interesting
because when Andrew was singing
that song, you save me.
You save me.
I don't remember the rest of the words,
but it was a good song.
Oh, there it is.
Christine, you're good.
You save me.
And I won't ever leave your love.
I mean, what a great song.
It's that cherishing that you are saved.
And you're not just saved
for heaven someday, right?
I mean, we have a future in heaven.
I mean, isn't that awesome?
Can you say amen to that?
We are destined for heaven.
We can't destroy that.
It's already set up for us.
Behold, our house is being made right now
or is made
and he's preparing a place for us, right?
And he's preparing us for the place, right?
So, you know, that's destiny.
But, you know, we were saved
for here and now too, right?
In other words, when God brought Israel
out of Egypt,
he didn't merely save them from Egypt
so that they would no longer be
in bondage in Egypt.
He saved them to bring them
to the Promised Land, right?
And in the same way,
the Lord has saved us
to bring us to that Promised Life
no longer in bondage
to our mood swings,
to our emotions,
or our cravings,
or our lusts,
or our sins.
He set us free, man.
We are heading into
the Promised Life, amen?
And so that's where
he's bringing us to.
So he saved us
and we don't want to take
that salvation for granted
and always look just to heaven.
Now, heaven's great
but I want to live it now too,
don't you?
I want to live that salvation life
here and now on earth
as it is in heaven, right?
And so that's the idea.
So I was thinking,
how can we neglect salvation?
And this verse in Philippians
came to me
when Paul wrote
to the Philippian church
and he said, Philippians 2, 12, 13,
he says,
work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
Now, I hear the brakes screeching.
Wait a minute.
Work out?
Like, I have to work
for my salvation?
Like, is that what this is about?
No, I know you know
better than that, right?
But you see those words
and it would appear almost like,
I'm working for something.
I got to work hard
to make sure I'm saved, right?
But he's not saying that.
Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
You know what I see this as?
Fear of missing out.
I really do.
Like, I don't want to miss a thing.
There's even a song that sings
that I don't want to miss
what God wants to do in my life.
Like, it makes me afraid to miss out
on what he's about to do in my life.
Do you feel that way too?
Like, God is going to do something.
I don't want to miss.
I don't want to waste my time somewhere else
if he's opening a door
to something much more significant
for my eternity, you know?
And so that's the idea.
Don't miss out.
But watch what he says,
for it is God who works in you.
He's doing all the work.
He's doing all the heavy lifting.
He's doing everything
both to will and to do
for his good pleasure.
Isn't that interesting?
So he causes you to want to do it
and he gives you the ability to do it.
It sounds like he's doing everything to me.
Doesn't it?
He's doing everything, right?
He causes you to desire it
and then he gives you the empowerment to do it.
So it's not a working for salvation.
It's really like a working from salvation,
if that even makes sense.
But it's desiring.
I love what David said in Psalm 37
when he says,
delight yourself in the Lord
and I will give you the desires of your heart.
Isn't that beautiful?
Like, the more you spend time
with God, he actually changes what you desire.
I know all of you have experienced that, haven't you?
When you look back
and you think about what I used to find joy
and happiness in
and it's so sick now, you know?
And every time I start to think about it,
it's like, oh man,
that brings back bad memories
to think that I actually enjoyed that stuff
because he is transforming you.
He is giving you the desires
that you're meant to desire.
Isn't that beautiful?
He's changing you.
The Lord has done that in my life
and Jill's life so much
that he's just changed us so radically,
you know, in many ways.
And he's doing the same thing in you.
He's changing what you actually desire.
So to neglect your salvation is to say,
you know what?
I wanna do what I wanna do
and I don't necessarily trust
what he has me to do is any better than this.
I wanna stick with what I have.
We're making a big mistake
and it's not for salvation's sake.
In other words, it's not whether or not
you're getting into heaven.
It's living out your predestined life.
You know, Ephesians 2.10,
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus
which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.
So there's things that God says,
man, I can't wait until Ben does this.
He's gonna love doing this.
When he actually lands that plane in the bay
and picks up those missionaries
and delivers them where they're meant to go,
he's just gonna, I'm speaking prophecy right now.
But he's just gonna be like,
like, Lord, I can't believe you.
You always had this plan for me, you know?
And that's all of us.
You know, you are his workmanship
and he's planned things
before you were ever in your mother's womb
so that when you walk in them,
you're like, wow, so this is what it's like.
This is awesome to live that life,
live something that was pre-planned for you to do.
Predestined, it's beautiful.
So that's the idea.
Don't neglect the salvation
because God is always leading you to somewhere better.
He works all things for the good of those who love him
who are called according to his purpose,
like we were singing this morning, right?
It's wonderful.
So let's read on in verse,
oh, I just wanna mention something in verse four.
Oh, I didn't, I mean, verse three, sorry.
How shall we escape?
And then he says,
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord
and was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
And I just wanna mention,
this is one of those verses in Hebrews
why people do not think Paul actually wrote this book
because whenever Paul talks about the Lord,
he receives a special teaching from Jesus Christ,
not only after he rose from the dead,
but after he ascended to heaven.
And there's four occasions that he writes about this,
that he had like firsthand knowledge.
In fact, he writes this in 1 Corinthians 15, eight.
He said that I was the last that Jesus ever spoke to.
It was me, because Jesus already was ascended to heaven,
but he called me up to the third heavens
and he spoke to me there.
In fact, he writes in Galatians,
he said that, you know, when I first got saved
and converted in Damascus,
I didn't run to Jerusalem and start to get taught by Peter.
No, the Lord taught me directly
while I was in Arabia and back in Damascus.
In fact, you know, Paul never met Peter
for three years after he got saved.
He never even met him yet.
He was taught by Jesus Christ himself.
Isn't that amazing?
So when Paul writes, he writes as a firsthand witness
of Jesus Christ.
So here we see he's writing,
the author here is writing about people
who actually did hear Jesus.
I just wanted to mention that.
But anyway, I hope I didn't bore you with that little tidbit.
But let's move on to verse four.
God also bearing witness with both signs and wonders
with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit
according to his own will.
So let's start off by talking about signs and wonders
since that's the first thing listed.
Signs and wonders.
So what are signs and wonders?
We read them a lot in the Bible.
First of all, signs are prevalent.
It's Samian.
77 times you can read the word Samian,
which means a sign, okay?
And it's just what you think it is.
It's a person or a thing,
and it's supposed to signal you
on something that's happening, okay?
So it's a sign, okay?
In fact, the Lord said,
these signs will follow those who believe,
all these miracles, right?
So it's a sign, okay?
Just like any sign we read,
it's telling us something.
Well, the Lord is always giving us signs.
I think a lot of times we miss them.
A lot of times we blow right by them.
I miss that sign.
I got to get off at the next exit.
You know, he'll reroute us,
but we miss signs sometimes,
and they're prevalent.
But wonders not so much tear us.
Wonders, it's only mentioned 16 times in the Bible.
It's a form of miracle,
but it's not really about the miracle itself,
because wonders always carry with it a sign.
Did you realize that?
Every time you see the word wonder,
it always has a sign with it.
It always carries a sign.
So it's something that happens that's illogical,
that isn't, it's not of the norm.
It's something that is peculiar.
It doesn't make sense necessarily.
It might be a bit of a miracle.
And yet, it's telling us something else.
It's more about what it's telling us
than the actual thing that happened.
Does that make sense?
So, well, let me tell you a little bit more.
Signs and wonders, 16 times,
you'll find them in the New Testament.
The first 12 times, it's great.
It's signs and wonders are pointing to truth, okay?
It's telling you that this is happening to verify
or to bear witness to what the word says.
Three other times, signs and wonders are spoken of
in a negative sense because they're a sign from the devil.
So the anti-Christ, false teachers, false witnesses,
you know, those types of things,
these are signs and wonders.
And the word says that in the last days,
these signs and wonders will be performed
that if possible, even to deceive the elect, okay?
Now, it does say if possible.
Now, I believe if we know the word of God,
we're not gonna be deceived by a false sign and wonder, okay?
Because we know what the word says,
because typically the enemy messes up
because he knows scripture but he bends it, he twists it
because there's always a lie somewhere in it, you know?
And so we can realize this is not of God.
But the last time, it's kind of a slight rebuke
of a sign and wonder.
He goes, unless you people see signs and wonders,
you're not gonna believe.
Well, in a sense, God has designed that
because he wants to demonstrate that his word has power, okay?
And that he gives signs and wonders to prove his word is true.
Now, sometimes signs and wonders can be life altering,
like really changing things dramatically, okay?
And like for an example, in this type of thing
with a sign and wonder that is significant,
that is life altering would be a situation where,
let's say when the four men were carrying the paralytic,
remember that?
And they removed the tile of the roof
and they lowered him in front of Jesus.
And Jesus saw the guy and you remember what he said?
He didn't say, get up and walk.
He said, your sins are forgiven.
And then of course, people were been out of shape.
How could he say that's blasphemous?
Only God can forgive sins.
And then remember what Jesus said,
so that you know that the Son of Man can forgive sins.
I said this first, I'm paraphrasing.
In other words, the greater thing
is that this man's sins are forgiven.
Not that he's about to walk.
The sins being forgiven is the greatest miracle of all.
But then Jesus said, get up and walk.
So you see the wonder was this paralyzed lame man
standing up and walking.
That was a wonder.
But the sign was to something greater than that.
The sign was pointing to the fact
that Jesus forgives sins.
Does that make sense?
So the wonder might be a paralytic walking,
but the sign is telling us that he forgives sins.
And there's several of these.
Another one would be an example of Lazarus.
Remember when Lazarus, he was told Lazarus was sick.
And then the Lord perceived that he actually already died.
And then he says to his disciples,
we have to go back to Bethany where Lazarus is
so I can raise him from the dead.
And they all go, as he gets there,
Mary and Martha, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
If you had been here, this wouldn't have happened.
And he's like, Martha, Martha, you know.
Lazarus will rise from the dead.
Well, I know the word someday he'll rise from the dead,
but like that's in the last days.
He goes, no, no, no, no.
I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will never die,
will have eternal life.
And with that, he said, Lazarus, come out.
And he raised Lazarus from the dead.
You know, the wonder was that Lazarus was risen from the dead,
but the sign was to something far greater than Lazarus, wasn't it?
It was pointing to the fact that when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus Christ, we live forever.
Eternal life, that's the sign.
Lazarus being raised from the dead.
Yeah, that's great.
And if I was Lazarus, I sure would be happy about that, right?
And his sisters, but it was something greater than that.
It was that Jesus Christ provides eternal life.
He said, I am the resurrection and the life.
You know, isn't that amazing?
Like, so that the wonder is something
that could be life altering,
but it's even more than that.
It's pointing to something far greater than that.
How many examples are there in our day
when people's lives are altered by God's wonder?
And yet it points to something so far greater.
I looked back there in the corner,
Jerry Dover being healed of five cancers, okay?
Amen.
And he knew the moment that he was healed.
Amazing.
And yet, was it only about healing you from cancer?
No, it was about way more than that.
Remember the treasure box?
And say, you know, there's many more treasures in here.
There's much more I'm going to do with Jerry Dover's life
than stop here.
It's not just about healing you of cancer.
It's about you transforming other people's lives.
Some that are even going through the same thing
that you went through, right?
The sign is far greater even than the wonder.
So that's the idea.
Signs and wonders are wonders are always carrying a sign
pointing to something even greater than what just happened,
you know?
And the Lord does that again and again in these life altering things.
I had another one I wanted to give an example of,
but I forget what it was.
But he does these things all the time
that he cleanses someone from addiction
so that they can go and start a recovery ministry.
You know, it's not just about them no longer being addicted to drugs.
It's something far greater than that.
It's about them ministering and demonstrating the love of Christ
to other people who are going through the same thing.
It's amazing.
My son-in-law was severely injured playing college football
in a D1 school.
He had really had a trajectory for some great things
in his athletic career.
And he was severely injured in his knee
and was wheelchair bound for at least six months, you know?
And I mean, just imagine the devastation
you think you're going to be a pro athlete some day
and now you're in a wheelchair, you know?
But the Lord not only healed his leg, okay?
But he's not going to be a professional athlete,
but he's done so many more things through him
because of what he went through to help people
who are going through depression,
circumstantial depression as a result
of severe disappointment in life.
Like, I thought this was going to happen
and this happened.
How can this be a good thing?
Well, God works all things for the good of those who love him
and who are called according to his purpose.
The Lord, the wonder was yes,
Tevin's knee was eventually healed,
but it wasn't even just about his knee being healed.
It's about how is the Lord going to use Tevin
to transform other people's lives, right?
So wonder always carries with it a side
to point to something even far greater than what's happening.
And he does that again and again.
It's so amazing to hear people who go through situations
and realize when they come out the other side
how amazing that this actually happened.
You can rejoice in bad things
because you know God is going to do something
even greater through them.
But sometimes signs and wonders aren't so life altering.
They're little things.
I think that's really where we live most of the time
in the little things.
God planting little seeds of little things, okay?
Let's take the first miracle of Jesus.
Do you remember what it was?
I know you do.
At a wedding, turning water into wine.
When you think about that,
Jesus is going to raise the dead
like we just talked about with Lazarus.
He's going to cleanse the lepers.
He's going to give blind eyes sight.
He's going to make the lame walk, you name it.
He's gonna just miracle after miracle, miracle.
Why would you start with turning water into wine?
Seems like such an incidental thing.
Like will anyone die if they don't have more wine at a wedding?
Probably not.
They might even live a couple extra years.
I don't know.
But like it doesn't seem like a significant thing
and yet the Lord chose that miracle to do first.
And you know the longer I contemplated that
I realized, look, Jesus came back for his bride, right?
The whole picture throughout scripture,
starting with Adam and Eve,
is God wanting a relationship with man
and it is portrayed through a marriage.
Marriage is a sacred covenant to God.
Why wouldn't he consecrate a wedding
with the very first miracle?
Because he wants to demonstrate
this marriage is so significant to me,
but it's about more than just husband and wife.
It's about Jesus Christ and his bride.
In fact, even Israel is called Yahweh's bride
and we are called the bride of Christ.
It's all a picture.
So the miracle wasn't about having more wine, okay?
Yeah, that was a neat wonder.
But if the sign was pointing to something far greater than that,
that we are the bride of Christ, you know?
And don't you think we live most of the time
in these little things?
Like, wow, I wonder why God did that.
I love Jill has these little things.
She's now, she's getting a little nervous.
What's he about to say?
But the Lord continues to give her, show her hearts
all over the place and it really is miraculous
because we'll be walking along the beach
and suddenly she'll say, look at this
and she'll pick up this shell shaped like a heart.
And I'm like, that's a, I never saw a shell shaped like that.
Wherever she goes, the Lord's always giving her little hearts
and she says, that's God telling me he loves me.
And I think that's like, that's beautiful.
Why don't I get some hearts?
No, I'm just kidding.
But like, that's not my thing with God.
My thing is other things.
But like, he's always sending you little signs
and wonders that don't make sense to other people.
But you know, God's telling you something significant.
You know, and it could mean like nothing.
It's not a life changing thing,
but it's a sign and wonder to tell you
you're on the right track.
Just keep, just stay with me.
I'm bringing you to something even greater.
I'm doing wonderful things in your life.
You can trust me.
Those signs and wonders are sometimes the small things
that you don't see any reason he would do them
only to just keep reminding you he's a God of promises.
He always knows where you are.
He's always knows what you're doing.
He always cares for you.
He's singing over you.
He cherishes you, right?
And he cares.
You know, one sign and wonder as I was thinking about this,
which doesn't make a lot of sense,
but remember the early church
when they just started experiencing persecution
and it was their first sign of persecution.
Like, wow, this is really happening.
Like, we're really sharing the gospel
that Jesus Christ and the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, the scribes, the elders,
they don't like it.
We're about to head into it here
and they realize, Lord, we need boldness.
Lord, give us boldness.
And they're just praying.
And we read in Acts chapter four
that as they were praying, they said,
now Lord, look on their threats
and grant to your servants that with all boldness,
they may speak your word
by stretching out your hand to heal.
And that signs and wonders may be done
through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
And when they had prayed,
the place where they were assembled together was shaken
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Now think about this.
Did God need to shake the house?
Did shaking the house accomplish anything
except the sign and a wonder?
I hear your prayers.
I am going to empower you with my Holy Spirit.
I am with you.
You don't have to worry about them.
I have your back.
I am surrounding you.
We are going to do this thing together.
And that's what he does for us.
He sends us little signs and wonders.
And perhaps he's even using you
to bring signs and wonders to others
because signs and wonders are done
through the hands of the saints.
And it was so awesome recently.
A young man,
he had been pursuing,
sometimes I have to be careful
with the script I get.
He had been pursuing a career
that probably wasn't meant for him.
I've never tried to talk someone
out of a career path,
but it's just like,
this doesn't seem right to me.
Why don't you try this?
And I encourage him to try a trade.
And he had like,
I don't know anything about,
why would I want to do that?
Because it's making a good living.
You can raise a family.
It's a good thing.
Why not give it a try?
So I reached out to a friend of mine
who was in this trade.
And I said,
listen, would you consider
taking this guy on?
He doesn't know anything about any of it,
but maybe you can train him.
I'll give it a try.
And so almost a year later,
he's loving it.
I mean, he loves working with his hands.
He loves this trade of his.
And yet he never even contemplated it before.
And he was chasing after a dream
that was, I could see it.
Just give that up.
It's not you, stop.
But in a sense,
perhaps the Lord planted me
in that situation
to be that messenger,
that sign and wonder
to direct him away
from what he was pursuing.
And now he's thriving.
He loves it.
He's using you and me
in that capacity
to bring signs and wonders
even into other people's lives.
Now, we can't always
give our opinions on everything,
but sometimes we can shed
some light on things
that perhaps someone is blinded to.
And so this is the idea
of signs and wonders.
And I just wonder,
what sign and wonder
is the Lord trying to show you?
Perhaps there's something
that you've been seeing
again and again and saying,
Lord, I'm not ready for that yet.
No, I'm not ready.
He just keeps saying,
listen, you can see
what I keep doing in your life
for a purpose.
The Lord's done so many
of these little things in my life
as a sign and a wonder
and it was for something
so much better
than I ever thought
would be planned
for my own life.
I never thought
I'd be up here preaching the word.
I really didn't.
This was never like
a game plan for me.
Never even appealed to me.
I'm just being honest.
Don't tell anybody.
But really,
it wasn't like
I crave for this.
But the Lord gently
through various things
that would take too much time
to explain
in very small little ways,
even teaching
5th and 6th graders
a Bible lesson
saying, I kind of like this.
I can't make a living doing this
but I kind of like it.
And then the Lord just saying,
all right,
now I'm going to move you over to here.
And as I just kept going,
I'm saying, yeah, this is,
he's really changing my desires.
I really, I enjoy this.
I really, I realize that the Lord
is leading me
to somewhere I never fathomed
going before
because of these little signs
and wonders.
Like, why are people
inviting me to do this?
You know, I don't belong here.
Well, I guess I do
because the Lord
is inviting us into things
that he wants us to do
for his good pleasure.
Amen.
As the worship team comes up,
we're going to stop
with signs and wonders.
Next week, we'll talk about
miracles and gifts.
And I think gifts of the Spirit
really are very significant
for us to grasp
and for us to move in.
You know, we are a charismatic church.
We're not a cessationist church.
And that means we believe
that the gifts of the Spirit
are for today.
And that means we are anointed
to do things on behalf of God.
Like, when he was about
to send to heaven, he said,
wait until you are in dude
with power from on high.
Miracles, right?
And that's still for today.
We are anointed to do
the things that Christ would do
if he were still walking
on this earth, because he is.
He's walking in you.
He's wearing you.
Don, you're Christ's suit today, okay?
He has you on today.
He has us on today.
He's in us and he's wearing us
to demonstrate his glory.
And signs and wonders
are all part of that.
To experience, to see,
Lord, what are you guiding me to?
You know, these wonders,
is it really just about the fact
that my lungs are better?
I'm very grateful for that.
Let me tell you,
praise the Lord for breading his own.
I'm not ashamed to say,
I am grateful for modern medicine.
But is it really just about
me being able to breathe better?
No.
It's about everything else
he's going to do.
It's about everything else
he's going to do in you.
Because you are significant to him.
Because he's significant in you.
Amen.
We are the temples of the Holy Spirit.
We are a new creation.
We walk in the newness of life.
That means like the enemy
can have no hold over us
unless we let him.
And that's who we are.
So let's stand up.
If any of you would like
some prayer after the service,
please come up front.
Because we'd love to pray for you.
And perhaps there's some things that,
some thinking,
some blindness that you would like
to just shed, you know?
Perhaps the Lord will actually
remove the scales from your eyes
so that you could perceive
signs and wonders that are happening
all around you
that the Lord wants you to realize
so that you could step in all of his glory
that he has for you and himself.
So Father God, we thank you, Lord,
for being here today, Lord.
We thank you for this family, Lord.
And we thank you for the amazing things
that you have predestined us to do
both down here and beyond.
So Lord, may we live it out now
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
Praise God.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss his word.
Don't forget to join us
for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!