Miracles Are for the Hungry: 5 Reasons God Still Does Miracles

Sermon outline

God wants His people to choose miracles over circumstances, because miracles reveal His power, the spiritual world behind our natural one, His love, the truth of the gospel and genuine spirituality, so expect them, keep reaching and live in an atmosphere of miracles.

1. How shall He not freely give us all things?

   His foundational scripture is Romans 8:32, read in the King James and Amplified versions: the God who did not spare His own Son will graciously give us all things. We are not children of a God who are beggars; we can come boldly before the throne of grace, unashamed.

   Illustration: A pastor friend from Johannesburg phoned him and they spent an hour sharing the Word and prophesying over each other; his friend reminded him that whether we stand or sit, we can still speak the word of the Lord. He also tells a Mother's Day joke about two brothers competing for their mother's approval: one gave her a portrait and the other a talking parrot, which she thought was an exotic chicken and said 'tasted just like chicken'.

   “It's not a sad scripture. It's a jump and shout scripture.”

   • Romans 8:32
   • Hebrews 4:16

2. What is a miracle?

   From his own experience of watching miracles again and again, he asks why God wants His people to choose miracles over circumstances. A miracle is a supernatural intervention of God in the problem of your life: we thank God for the natural, but we can tap into a higher dimension called the supernatural. Jesus said everything is possible to the one who believes.

   “At some point in your life, you will either be forced to live in the potential of your faith or with the consequences of your doubt.”

   • Mark 9:23

3. 1. God's miracles reveal His power as Creator and King of the earth

   Whenever God does miracles, He reveals His power as Creator, as the heavens declare His glory. He prophesies that the church will keep experiencing miracles, in their own lives and in the lives of others, and that everyone who comes into contact with them is blessed because God manifests His nature.

   “We serve a miracle-working God.”

   • Psalm 19:1-4

4. 2. God's miracles reveal the spiritual reality supporting our physical world

   Most people live by the five senses, but God's children go beyond them. God sustained Israel from Egypt to the promised land by miracle after miracle, and that is how He will sustain and promote you; salvation itself is a miracle, and every door opened or closed is God at work. Don't only expect a miracle: live in an atmosphere of miracles, organise your life around an expected miracle, and do what is natural and sensible while depending on a supernatural God.

   Illustration: People who knew where you came from and what you owned will ask how you got where you are, not seeing the invisible God elevating you behind the scenes.

   “Expectation qualifies you for receivership.”

   • Colossians 1:16-17
   • Hebrews 11:6

5. 3. God's miracles convey His love and compassion for His people

   God does miracles to bless and deliver His people, as when He told Moses He had seen their misery and was concerned about their suffering. God is love, and Jesus had compassion and touched blind eyes. When Jesus left the earth He gave believers the same power of attorney and mandate He had, so you are a miracle worker.

   Illustration: Those who have travelled with them over the years have seen the deaf hear, the blind see and the crippled walk.

   “You are a miracle worker. Act like it, talk like it, think like it, expect it.”

   • Exodus 3:7-8
   • 1 John 4:8
   • Matthew 20:34

6. 4. God's miracles promote faith in the truth of the gospel

   Many people came to Christ because someone in the family was healed at a crusade. But signs must not replace God's Word: don't run after signs and wonders; they should follow us. Never stop reaching, because warfare surrounds the birth of your miracle, and God answers reachers, not those who rely on religious performance.

   “Miracles are not for the holy, miracles are for the hungry.”

   • Matthew 12:38-39
   • Lamentations 3:25

7. 5. God's miracles distinguish genuine from false spirituality

   Signs and wonders must accompany our preaching, and no weapon formed against the believer will prosper. Jesus warned that false christs and false prophets will show great signs to deceive even the elect, which is why we must not chase signs but let them follow us.

   “Don't run after signs and wonders. Let signs and wonders run after us, follow us.”

   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Matthew 24:24