Miracles Introduction
DL Moody said, “I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible.”
So, you need to take what you hear in Church, what you hear in Sunday School, and in any other way of studying the word of God, and apply it to your life.
That’s why we do what we do. That’s why every preacher, every teacher that stands before you, pours their heart out, is trying to help you have a closer walk with our Savior Jesus Christ
Ceylon Plemons said this morning in Sunday school that preachers and teachers are held to a higher standard, and what we do and why we do it is because we have to. Because God’s put a call on our life and it’s not to be dogging you or getting onto you it’s we’ve got to warn you what God has told us to warn you if we don’t we’re going to be held accountable before God We’re the ones standing on the wall with the bell ringing out the warning and that’s what God’s called us to do Now I asked you just to apply it to your lives
If you chew your food but never swallow it, you’ll starve. The same applies to God’s word: if you read it but never apply it, you will starve spiritually.
Alistair Begg says, “Without a daily diet of the word of God, we will find ourselves living a life of immaturity.”
So, I encourage you daily to get in the word of God. I encourage you every morning to seek God’s face. Pray for this church, pray for the preachers here. And the leaders, and I can assure you God can do a mighty work here if we just truly humble ourselves and seek Him and ask Him; I believe He will do a Miraculous work here
We’re getting on the right track, I believe, with a 24-hour prayer vigil. Let’s take these burdens, these heartaches, these problems to the one that can handle them, the one that can send the right man of God to fill the pulpit.
And if anybody’s close to me, they know my heart for who I think should be the pastor of this church.
What we’re going to be looking at in the coming weeks when I fill this pulpit will be the miracles of Christ and how they apply to us.
If we present the gospel to you can apply it to your life today, what good is So that’s what we’re going to try to do in the coming weeks
mir·a·cle mir·a·cle [mírrək’l] (plural mir·a·cles) n
- act of God: an event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God
- amazing event: an event or action that is amazing, extraordinary, or unexpected. It’ll be a miracle if we get there on time.
- marvelous example: something admired as a marvelous creation or example of a particular type of science or skill. a miracle of modern engineering [12th century. Via French < Latin miraculum “object of wonder” < mirari “wonder at” < mirus “wonderful”]
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
We use the word miracle to a lot of things that are not miracles. What I want to look at are the miracles of God; the very existence of man is a miracle in itself
So, what we’re going to be looking at are the Godly miracles of Christ.
We have miracles from Genesis all the way through to the Revelation of John.
I believe every single word written in the Word of God from Genesis 1:1 all the way through to the end of Revelation 22:21, where it says Amen.
But not everybody believes that, and the world itself is always trying to discredit God and His Word and His miracles.
I believe in the Big Bang theory. I believe God looked and He said, “Let there be,” and BANG! There was.
I’m willing to bet that at least one point in your life someone will tell you that the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea in the book of Exodus is explainable by way of an earthquake and a heavy wind, and that it’s just a natural phenomenon.
Some even suggest that the water wasn’t that deep when Moses and the children of Israel crossed; well, then I’ve got a bigger miracle for you: how in the world did it drown Pharaoh’s army and his horses if it was shallow enough to cross?
You know, there was once a Discovery Channel special in which the authors tried to link all of the 10 plagues on Egypt to a single eruption of a volcano in the Mediterranean.
First, the ash would cause greater rainfall, which then increases the supply of algae for the frogs, which causes certain bugs to hatch, which bring foot and mouth disease, which transmits to the humans, and so on…
They even speculate that these famines would bring about a mold spore in the rooms, which, when inhaled, would kill very quickly.
If the food supply were low, only the firstborn children would get the food, which explains why only they would be opening up the food store and hence dying.
There is this tendency among modern man to understand or even force a scientific understanding of each of these miracles.
I don’t have a problem with that, per se, but we lose something if we feel that every miracle must somehow have a “rational explanation.” God is a mystery, and He can choose to work however He wishes.
I truly believe in miracles, but we don’t follow God for the miracles; for the signs and wonders, He never does anything else for us. He’s already done more than enough.
The story of going to Sweet Spirit Church.
I have worked with Sweet Spirit Ministries for years and saw God do miraculous things and how God used that ministry to have hundreds of young people make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
Years later, after Eddie Rogers left here, he called me one day and said I will be leaving. Going overseas, and He said God told me to call you, and I wanted you to come and have a time of prayer with me like we used to do. That was the Wednesday night after his church service let out; that he called.
His church was in Paulding Plaza across from the McDonald’s across from 360 and Old 278
That night I saw some miraculous things happen that only God himself could have done. As I’ve said in the past, I have a friend that calls me Baptacostal, I think sometimes the Baptists have thrown the baby out with the bath water. We miss out on a lot of things because we’re afraid that God doesn’t still do what God has always done. He says in his own word, He changes not; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and I take Him at His Word
That night Eddie wanted to anoint me with oil and pray over me, and He did, and we had a good prayer time.
At that time, this was in the 1990s, I was running a Thursday night prayer meeting here every Thursday at 7:00. Sometimes it was just me, and sometimes I’d have as many as 20 to 25 people coming down here for a time of prayer.
I was supposed to meet a man at 7:00. He was dying of cancer, and he wanted to talk to me and wanted a time of prayer. When I walked out of Sweet Spirit Fellowship Church in Paulding Plaza in Dallas, the time was 8 minutes till 7. There’s no way I’m going to make it here by 7. There’s no way I can get a hold of Him and tell him I’m running late. Without any traffic, it takes about 20 minutes to get from Paulding Plaza to this church.
So, I got in my truck, cranked it up, looked down, and then I realized I was out of gas. I know that little red S-10; I know when it’s low on gas, and I know when it’s just all but out of gas. And it was all but out of gas.
So, I placed my hand upon the dash of the truck, and I asked the Lord if he would please give me enough gas and help me to make it to Calvary Baptist Church by 7:00.
I watched the gas gauge physically go up to a little over ¼ of a tank. We will see that God will supply our needs, not my wants.
When I pulled into the parking lot of this church, it was 7:00, and he was sitting in the parking lot.
There’s no way you can make it from Paulding Plaza in Dallas, GA to 3988 Marietta Rd, Powder Springs, GA in 10 minutes can’t be done.
To this day, I have no recollection of coming through the city of Hiram.
As I have said, I believe in miracles.
This church being here is a miracle for us to move in it when we did and not owe any money on it was a miracle. God still does miracles
I have seen miracles. There’s no other way to describe the events than with the word “miracle.” The act of God
The man I talked to that night, as I stated, was dying of cancer, but he felt like God wanted him to preach. We prayed about it and talked about it. The next Sunday he announced a call to preach. He preached only one sermon, and a few months later he was gone to see the man he had preached about. They used his sermon at his funeral. He made a difference even here tonight for me to share this with you
In that Discovery Channel thing, what I heard at the end was very interesting.
The scientists were all debating the relative merits of this chain of events, but in the end, one scientist made what I think is the best observation.
He said, “Let’s assume this is all true for a minute. What does this tell us about God?
It tells us that God could set about an amazing chain of coincidence that resulted in His purpose, of His freedom for His people.
No scientific explanation can ever account for that.”
The point of all these miracles is that God chose to be the savior and to show his power here. A miracle is when God decides to temporarily alter the laws of science He established in order to remind people of that which He did.
Miracles by Newsong lyrics I never saw a man that walked on water I never heard a voice that could calm the sea Raise the dead or feed five thousand, But in my heart, I do believe I was in a desperate situation Drowning in a sea of my own sin And it would take a miracle to save me That’s when I reached toward heaven Felt someone touch me I looked up, and I saw Him chorus And I believe in miracles I’m a miracle myself And I believethe good Lord hears The ones who cry for help; And after all that He has done for me I believe, I do believe in miracles
I love what Brian said Wednesday night: Sometimes we just need to shout help!
Introduction:
There are some 40 separate miracles of Christ recorded in the Synopsis of Gospels, and they can be divided into four separate categories
- One is healing miracles, where Jesus healed the sick. Causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the Leprosy to be cleansed
- The next are miracles of nature, where Jesus said Peace be still and the storm stops; walks on water; or turns water into wine. Feeds thousands with just two pieces of fish and five little biscuits
- Next is casting out demons
- Then the last is raising the dead.
All the miracles of Christ point to the future; they point to truths that are listed in the book of Revelation.
They weren’t just given to us to show us God’s power, which it does. But it was to show us a better day coming, which will happen
- And the healing of the sick
Revelation 21:4 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
There’s not going to be any more sickness; there’s not going to be any more cancer; there’s not going to be any more heart attacks; there’s not going to be any more dementia anymore Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s; I won’t need a cane. Or a Walker or a wheelchair. Mary Rich will be able to outrun me without her cane.
- The next are miracles of nature,
There’ll be no more tornado sirens, no more earthquakes, no more hurricanes. The provision of food tells us that someday all hunger and suffering will be done away with.
My mother used to tell me she hated pumpkin. The only way we were allowed to bring pumpkins into the house when I was growing up was to make Jack O’lanterns at Halloween.
But we couldn’t have pumpkin-flavored stuff because she was raised on pumpkin one year. That’s all they had; she said she made pumpkin bread, she made pumpkin soup. She sounded like Bubba on Forrest Gump with the shrimp, but everything was about pumpkin. If it could be made out of pumpkin, she made it, and they ate it because they were hungry. There’s going to be no hunger there. And now she’s in glory eating whatever she wants whenever she wants it, and I promise you it ain’t pumpkin, and Knowing Her, she’s in the kitchen telling them how to do it and showing them a better way.
Revelation 19:7-10 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” This was an Angel telling John 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
- The casting out of demons signals God’s invasion of Satan and his ultimate defeat.
Revelation 20:10 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:14-15 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Listen, hell was not designed for us. If you die before you die then when you die you won’t die.
Hell is an eternal separation from Sovereign God. That’s a worse tragedy than the fire and brimstone
Jesus Himself said this. It was designed for the devil and his angels, his demons, his followers, and it’s so simple not to end up in hell; all you have to do is accept the free gift that Christ has offered.
Jesus did all the work. All you have to do is take it!
Matthew 25:41 41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
- The raising of the dead tells us that all death one day Death will be done away with,
Revelation 21:4 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Heaven is the place that we will dwell forever. It’s not just a city; it is the very presence of Sovereign God himself. That’s what heaven is.
My small group just finished a series on heaven by Dr David Jeremiah
David Jeremiah said on July 6 in his devotional:
The Best Thing About Heaven
In 1964, singer Dionne Warwick recorded one of her hits, “A House Is Not a Home.” The lyrics say that an empty house—no matter how beautiful—is not a home if the one we love isn’t there.
I preached this text for my dad’s funeral upstairs,
John 14:1-6 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
The example of Tim Plemmons when he bought Stock in a bank: he said one little square foot of that bank was his; it was his place. But Jesus goes on, and he says:
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Think of the glories of heaven! The Bible speaks of its mansions, its streets of gold, its foundations of jewels, its luminescent glow, its river of life, its endless fellowship untouched by sorrow, death, pain, or tears. But think of this—what if Jesus were not there?
What would heaven be like without the Triune God?
Our priority after death isn’t so much heaven as it is our Lord—being with Him forever!
When we think of heaven, we should consider all the biblical descriptions of the wondrous environment. We should think about our blessed reunion with our loved ones. We should enjoy thinking about the endless riches we’ll enjoy.
But most of all—there is Jesus! As you go through your day, think most of all about Him—and pray: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
Billy Graham: “The most thrilling thing about heaven is that Jesus Christ will be there. I will see Him face to face.”
In these miracles we see Jesus supplying a need. This also tells us that God will forever have power to supply our need.
Philippians 4:19-20 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
All means all, and that all, all means. He said all.
Not our wants but our needs.
And my story about Sweet Spirit Ministries: I wanted a full tank; He gave me what I needed. To make it here and then to a gas station
Acts 2:22-28 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; Our sins did that 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25 For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
But it also speaks to us for today:
Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Jesus didn’t do miracles to emulate; he did them to authenticate
But He was baptized before He started His ministry.
Representing the death, burial, and resurrection.
Buried with Him in death, raised to walk again, a new life, or as the Atlanta Christian Curcio movement calls it; “walking wet”.
The Bible does say to go and baptize, but does not say to go and do miracles.
Acts 2:38-39 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
He’s talking about us there, talking about the believers later on, and when we accept Christ, we are indwelt with the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:40 (HCSB) And with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”
See, it’s about getting the word out. Paul said;
1 Corinthians 1:17-19 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize (see, it’s not about baptism; it’s about presenting the gospel and accepting Jesus), but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
And as we’ve said before, baptism is just like a wedding band; it does not save you any more than a wedding band gets you married.
It’s just a symbol to show you are saved, just like a wedding band shows you are married.
You can have a wedding band and not be married.
You can go to church and not be saved.
I heard an example one time: a man had a cat that had kittens in an oven. Didn’t make them biscuits; just because you go to church doesn’t make you a Christian.
This is the easiest place on the planet to be a Christian.
It’s not hard to be good here inside the walls of a church.
It’s really difficult outside those doors.
The acid test of Christianity is inside your home.
Your husband, your wife, your kids, your mom, your mother-in-law, your family sees what you are.
It’s an outward appearance of obedience.
Jesus himself did not perform any miracles or public service until he was baptized. If you have been saved and you want to serve Christ and have never been baptized, I encourage you to talk with Ceylon or Brian and get that resolved.
After Jesus’s baptism, we see:
Before Jesus began his public ministry, he attended a wedding in Cana of Galilee with his mother Mary and some of his disciples.
During the wedding banquet, Jesus performed a miracle that involved changing water into wine.
Cana is in Galilee, which is a region within the Biblical land of Israel. It is near Nazareth, where Jesus spent much of his childhood. He knew the people there when he was invited, and he brought his disciples with Him.
God does not mind us having a good time.
John, the author of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Bible, indicates that this was the first miracle of Jesus, or at least the first that was witnessed by his disciples.
As I said, Jesus didn’t do miracles to emulate; he did them to authenticate
John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
God is real, but he will never be real in our lives until we put our faith in Him.
Our faith can be increased as we fellowship with Christ and see his mighty hand at work in our lives
NOW they saw that He was invested with almighty power, and their faith was established.
In the movie “Bruce Almighty,” I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve seen this clip where Jim Carry blows his soup and parts. This illustration is well worth mentioning.
It has a key scene in the movie with Jim Carrey, who is Bruce, and Morgan Freeman, who plays one of the most Biblically correct Gods in Hollywood.
Morgan Freeman is trying to tell Jim Carrey about what a failure Bruce is at playing God. He says, “Parting your soup? That’s not a miracle; that’s a magic trick.
A single mother working two jobs still finds time to bring her kids to soccer practice. That’s a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs, and yes to an education – that’s a miracle.” To that I add Jim Carrey, without a hint of sarcasm, declaring “I surrender all.” That’s a miracle.
Again, I still have a hard time thinking how close Hollywood got it. But the movie goes on to preach that we all “have the power.” And in a sense, they’re right. But do you want to know why we have the power?
It is never about looking at me look at my power. It’s always about looking at Christ and His presence!
We have the power because we are Sons of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because of the sacrifice made on Calvary’s cross with Jesus Christ Himself.
When God has his hand on you, and people tell you you’re doing a good job or whatever, and when people applaud you give God the glory.
When lives are changed through your ministry, give God the glory.
When prayers are answered through your faithfulness, give God the glory.
When the Holy Spirit moves through you in ways you never expected, stay humble enough to remember who made it possible.
You are the vessel.
He is the power.
You are the Instrument.
He is the source.
As we’ve said in the past, you may plant, you may water, you may serve, you may speak, but 1Corinthians 3:6 says But God is the one who gives the increase
Never allow spiritual gifting to become spiritual pride.
Never let the platform become more important than the presence of God.
Never let people celebrate you so much that you forget to bow before Him.
That’s why humility matters.
Because the moment we start believing that the work is happening because of us, we forget that it was always happening because of Him.
So. Stay teachable. Stay prayerful. Stay grateful. Stay dependent.
And whenever God does something amazing through your life, don’t take the credit
Point people back to Jesus.
Let your greatest testimony never be Look at what I can do but ” Look at what God can do through a surrendered life.
Because without Him. We have no power.
Without Him, we have no purpose.
Without Him, we can do nothing.
All the glory belongs to God.
So, remember, when the Holy Spirit does amazing things through you, remain humble; never confuse being used by God with being the source of what God is doing.
God may use your gifts;
He may use your words;
He may use your testimony;
He may use your hands to serve, your voice to encourage, and your life to point people towards Jesus.
Remember the power was never yours; it was always His.
Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Back to our song when we started this message by
Newsong, the song Miracle said:
So many people look for signs and wonders They miss the greatest miracle of all Well, it’s the miracle of sweet salvation That’s when the God of heaven Comes down to live inside of someone’s heart When it feels like my strength is almost gone And my faith is weak Lord, You’re always there for me You make it easy to believe chorus And I believe in miracles I’m a miracle myself And I believe the good Lord hears The ones who cry for help And after all that He has done for me, I believe, I do believe in miracles
I’m a miracle myself. I often wonder where I would have been during my teenage years if I was not down here helping build this church, because at that time I was running with some pretty rough people. But as a result of coming down here and helping to work on God’s house and getting to have Lifelong friends like Ceylon Plemmons, Lloyd Grizzle, Harold Dolph, Paul Carroll, Charles Sprayberry, Ben Turner, and even Snyder Turner, AB Swanson, Randy Bailey, Ken Maxwell, and many others wandering in and out of this building. I even had a closer relationship with my own dad, Elvin Swann. While we were here, I thank God that he protected me those years. That’s a miracle in itself.
We don’t know how many miracles daily that God is protecting us through our everyday walk, and as I say often, maybe we’ll find out when we get to glory, but I just don’t think, honestly, when we get there, we will really care.
If God gives me the freedom, I’ll share some other miracles I’ve seen happen on this very property and in my life.
So, a breakdown of miracles: it’s like this:
The first miracle that happened involving Jesus Christ on this earth was the conception of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit (1)
- One is healing miracles, where He healed the sick.
Healing (22)
- The next are miracles of nature, where He said Peace be still and the storm stops; walks on water; or turns water into wine. He feeds thousands.
Nature (8)
- Next is casting out demons.
Demons being cast out (4)
- Then the last is death.
Raising of the Dead plus Jesus’ Resurrection (4).
And then in Acts we have the Ascension into Heaven (1)
And one day soon, the miracle we’re all looking for is the return of our Savior. The trumpet sounded, and we will be called out here.
Let’s pray.
Calvary Baptist Church August 23rd 2026 PM
