Introduction:

We read in I Cor. 12:10 KJV,

“TO ANOTHER IS GIVEN THE WORKING OF

MIRACLES.”

1. And the word MIRACLES comes from the GREEK WORD – DUNAMIS, meaning POWER (dynamite comes from DUNAMIS).

2. So, what it is really saying is that at first reading jolts people,

“THE SPIRIT GIVES TO CERTAIN FOLKS THE WORKING OF POWERS, 

THE WORKING OF MIRACLES.”

3. If you will, BELIEVERS who for just a few brief moments,

“ARE ALLOWED TO FEEL WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE THE CHANNELS OF

GOD’S OMNIPOTENCE!”

4. BELIEVERS through WHOM, through their PRAYERS, THEIR HANDS, THEIR HEARTS, THEIR FAITH, THEIR LOVE, FLOWS SUPERNATURAL, TRANSCENDENT POWER OF GOD, ACCOMPLISHING THAT WHICH SUPERCEDES ALL KNOWN LAWS OF NATURE.”

5. BELIEVERS through whom, by the SOVEREIGN CHOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, others ARE POWERFULLY IMPACTED IN THEIR LIVES!

6. The WORKING OF MIRACLES, as with all the GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, are done by the SOVEREIGN WILL-CHOICE OF GOD, and not by the WILL OF MAN. (I Corinthians 12:11)

-Hear it:

“WHILE MIRACLES ARE THE PREFERENCES OF MAN, THEY ARE IN ESSENCE

THE PREROGATIVES OF GOD.”

And again:

“MIRACLES ARE NOT SCHEDULED BY MAN, BUT ARE CARRIED OUT BY GOD

ON HIS TIME TABLE.”

We must also make the following points very clear at the outset:

1. The WORKS OF POWER/MIRACLES ARE never ever done for SPECTATOR SPORT SENSATIONALISM!

2. The WORKS OF POWER are never ever done by THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH MEMBERS OF THE BODY SIMPLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT, or TO PUT ON A THREE RING CIRCUS!

3. The WORKS OF POWER are never ever done by THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SATISFY CURIOSITY SEEKERS!

THE PURPOSEFUL MIRACULOUS

Hear it now:

“THE WORKING OF MIRACLES IS DIVINELY PURPOSEFUL, AND GOES BEYOND

THE MIRACLES THEMSELVES!”

-We read in Eph. 1:11 these awesome and Divinely sovereign words,

“…ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKETH ALL THINGS AFTER THE

COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL.”

-Notice there the words:

“AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL.”

BAM!:

“GOD IS THE ONE WHO IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS, INCLUDING SPIRITUAL GIFTS,

AND NOT MAN.”

-The Lord Jesus by the Spirit doesn’t do miracles by the WHIM OF MEN, or simply to DAZZLE THE DOUBTFUL!

-The Lord Jesus by the Spirit does MIRACLES, WORKS OF POWER, TO ACCOMPLISH HIS GLORIOUS, PERFECT, PURPOSES.

I. MIRACLE PURPOSE #1

There ARE 9 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN I Cor. 12:1-11, and there are SEVERAL PURPOSES FOR ALL OF THEM.

FIRST PURPOSE:

“THAT GOD LOVES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF HIS CHILDREN BY MEANS OF HIS SUPER­

NATURAL POWER!”

-Hear it:

“WHEN YOU READ, HEAR OF TODAY, AND EXAMINE IN SCRIPTURES, THE WORKINGS

OF MIRACULOUS POWER, WE COME AWAY FEELING THAT THEY

MANIFEST GOD’S LOVE FOR US, MORE THAN THEY

DO GOD’S POWER.”

-I come away from the miracles saying:

“NOW THAT’S THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT’S JUST LIKE OUR LOVING GOD.”

Example – John 2:1-11:

-Be careful what you think about the living Jesus Christ as a CHARACTER, as a PERSON!

-Our Lord Jesus is no RECLUSE, nor IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR SOME KIND OF KILL-JOY.

-Jesus is NO GLOOMY, MOROSE PERSON, BUT REALLY IS QUITE THE LIFE AND JOY OF THE PARTY!

-Oh, true, He is characterized in Is.53:3 as A MAN OF SORROWS!

-He was THAT IN LIGHT OF THE INCALCULABLE BURDEN HE BORE AS THE WORLD’S SAVIOR FROM SIN!

-YET JESUS is a popular dinner guest, loves to mingle with people, AND HE IS MOST ENJOYABLE!

-In fact, to know Jesus is to know as Peter says in I Peter 1:8,

“JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY.”

Jesus WAS INVITED TO A WEDDING IN CANA OF GALILEE MANY YEARS AGO:

-His disciples were invited too, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, James, John, to name a few of the fellas.

-Jesus’ mother, living in NEARBY Nazareth, was present also, no doubt AS A FRIEND OF THE BRIDAL COUPLE.

-And, in the PROCESS OF THE WEDDING CELEBRATION, they ran out of WINE – THE SETTING FOR JESUS’ FIRST WORKING OF MIRACLES.

(I have often said:

“IF JESUS WERE A GOOD PENTECOSTAL, HE WOULD HAVE TURNED WINE INTO WATER!”)

I mean, this is the OPENING MIRACLE, the first WORK OF DUNAMIS in the life of Jesus Christ!:

-Really though, FOR STARTERS, FOR OPENERS, HE SURELY COULD HAVE HAD A BIGGER AND BETTER CHOICE FOR A BIGGER SPLASH.

-My, my there were and are certainly better openings available with a bigger bang for your dunamis.

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF:

-Jesus turned “WATER INTO WINE IN CANA OF GALILEE AT A WEDDING FEAST? Why?

-Because A COUPLE OF KIDS WHO WERE GETTING MARRIED JUST HADN’T PUT THEIR ACT TOGETHER PROPERLY, THEY WERE IN A FIX! (Out of wine)

-And, HERE THEY STAND, just minutes before everyone hears about it, SERVANTS ARE TALKING ANXIOUSLY!

-Servants are going up to the groom and the bride and telling that that we are really in trouble!

-And Jesus PERFORMS HIS FIRST MIRACLE, THE MOST UNLIKELY MIRACLE OF HIS MINISTRY!

-WHY? Because A COUPLE OF KIDS WERE IN TROUBLE, NOW THAT’S LOVE, THAT’S JUST LIKE GOD!

-GOD LOVES TO MEET OUR NEEDS, big or small, even IF IT TAKES THE MIRACULOUS TO DO IT!

OBSERVATION:

-Oh no, this wasn’t a big miracle, LIKE THE DIVIDING OF THE RED SEA. This was really small in comparison.

-But it’s in the eternal word of God, just to let me know how God helped out a couple of newlyweds at their wedding reception!

And YET:

a. The greatest things that God does in our life SOMETIMES ARE IN THE SMALLEST, TINIEST CIRCUMSTANCES.

b. Little miracles flash WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF GLORY, AND DIVINE LOVE AND MERCY!

c. You look outdoors:

-And there, way across the yard, there is a brilliant FLASH OF LIGHT, LIKE A BURST OF GLORY!

-All it was WAS ONE TINY SNOW FLAKE, yet, IT REFLECTED THE SUN, IT MADE ME BLINK YARDS AWAY!

-Some of the tiniest MIRACLES OF GOD, and yet they blaze, full of HIS ETERNAL LOVE AND GLORY!

-It’s just like God, WHO LOVES TO MEET OUR NEEDS, big or small, anyway HE PLEASES!

II. THE SECOND GREAT PURPOSE OF THE MIRACULOUS:

“TO PROVE JESUS CHRIST TO BE GOD THE SON, GOD HIMSELF!”

-Do you remember that incredible happening of Jesus and the blind man in John 9?

-We read in John 9:1,

“AND AS JESUS PASSED BY, HE SAW A MAN WHICH WAS BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH.”

-And the disciples ASKED JESUS IN John 9:2-3,

“AND HIS DISCIPLES ASKED JESUS SAYING MASTER, WHO DID SIN, THIS MAN, OR

HIS PARENTS, THAT HE WAS BORN BLIND? JESUS ANSWERED, NEITHER

HATH THIS MAN SINNED, NOR HIS PARENTS, BUT THAT THE

WORKS OF GOD SHOULD BE MADE MANIFEST IN HIM.”

Now then:

-To put this in the proper setting, it may be well for us to recount what Jesus had done earlier.

-We read in John 5 that Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years. It was later after Jesus had healed him that He met the well man in the temple, and said to him in John 5:14,

“Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that

nothing worse may befall you.”

-I believe that the disciples may have universalized that event, and determined that all sickness is always due to sin.

THE DISCIPLES HAD MADE A JUDGMENT:

1. They figured THAT EITHER THE FELLA, OR HIS PARENTS, HAD DONE SOMETHING EVIL, and the blindness was Divine judgment!

-First of all, the disciples’ prejudice is totally irrational, as is the prejudice of all people.

-Why? Because:

“IF EVERY SICKNESS FALLS UPON MAN FOR THEIR SIN, HOW COULD THIS MAN’S

BLINDNESS BE SIN-CAUSED SEEING THAT HE WAS BLIND BEFORE HE WAS

BORN AND COULD NOT THEREFORE HAVE COMMITTED ANY SIN?”

-Shazaam!

-Second, given the disciples completely airtight but faulty line of thinking that all sickness must be caused by someone’s sin, the disciples knew Exodus 20:5 where God says that,

“He would visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto

the third and fourth generation.”

-Yes, that had to be it. They had God and man all figured out as do so many of their kind today who always say:

“IF THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG IN THE BODY, IT IS ALWAYS BECAUSE OF

SIN-SICKNESS IN THE SOUL.”

2. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, for JESUS said,

“NO, NO, NO, BUT THAT THROUGH THIS, THE WORKS OF GOD WILL BE MANIFESTED.”

3. People make huge mistakes in this regard, but we must not make their mistake with them:

a. If someone HAS A CATASTROPHE, someone with the disciples’ faulty mentality says,

“YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING REALLY BAD! NOW YOU GOT YOURSELF

IN TROUBLE WITH GOD.”

b. As if God is saying:

“I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOU, YOU DID IT! NOW BANG FOR YOU, GOTCHA!”

4. NO, NO, NO:

a. This is AN ABSOLUTE SCANDAL ON THE NAME OF GOD!

b. God is NOT UP IN HEAVEN TRYING TO CLOBBER PEOPLE AS HIS CONSISTENT RESPONSE TO EVERY WRONG DOING!ALWAYS

c. And more than that, THE MOST SAINTLY WOMAN THAT EVER LIVED FOR GOD MAY HAVE CANCER!

d. And, ONE OF THE FINEST MEN OF GOD, MAY GROW OLD, HAVE SOFTENING OF THE BRAIN, LOSE HIS REASON!

e. A child of Godly people MAY BE BORN AS A DOWN SYNDROME!

5. Rather:

a. Instead of making OURSELVES NASTY LITTLE JUDGES, and saying:

“WELL, POOR PITIFUL THING, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?”

b. We should say:

“THIS WILL BE THAT THE WORKS OF GOD SHALL SOMEHOW BE GLORIFIED IN HIM.”

NOW THE MIRACLE ITSELF:

1. Really, what a strange miracle, JESUS HEALED MANY BLIND PEOPLE, but this one SO DIFFERENT!

2. THE PEOPLE WHEN THEY SAW HIM, THE NEIGHBORS, in John 9:8 after the miracle,

“THE NEIGHBORS THEREFORE, AND THEY WHICH BEFORE HAD SEEN HIM, THAT

HE WAS BLIND, SAID, ‘IS NOT THIS HE THAT SAT AND BEGGED?’

SOME SAID, ‘THIS IS HE.’ OTHERS SAID,’HE LOOKS

LIKE HIM! HE SAID, I AM HE.'”

3. WHAT’S ALL THAT CONFUSION ABOUT?:

-Remember John. 9:6,

“JESUS TOOK DUST, SPIT, MADE CLAY, PUT IT ON HIS EYES.”

-Remember, John 9:7,

“JESUS TOLD HIM TO GO WASH HIS EYES OF THE CLAY IN A NEARBY POOL.”

-Remember, they did not recognize him at all after HE RECEIVED SIGHT!

-WHY? I suggest TO YOU THAT JESUS DIDN’T JUST HEAL BLINDNESS, HE CREATED EYE SOCKETS.

-How DID GOD CREATE MAN IN GENESIS 1? We read in Genesis 2:7,

“Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust from the ground and breathed into

his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”

a. FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH, JESUS PUT DUST BALLS INTO THE MAN’S EYES, OR WHERE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

b. NOW GO AND WASH, AND THE MUD IS WASHED OFF, AND UNDERNEATH EYES APPEAR.

c. HE WENT BACK TO HIS NEIGHBORS who didn’t recognize him. YOU CAN IMAGINE THE HUGE TRANSFORMATION.

And the BYSTANDERS made the comment in John 9:32,

“SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN WAS NOT ANYTHING HEARD LIKE THIS MAN BORN BLIND

AND HEALED.”

a. You see, THIS WAS A MIRACLE, A WORK OF POWER OF CREATION ORDER!

b. Only GOD CAN CREATE EYES FROM DUST, AS HERE JESUS CREATES EYES WHERE THERE WERE NONE!

c. HERE JESUS is revealed to BE GOD HIMSELF:

-He who stooped down, formed MAN OUT OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND!

-Here Jesus, that same God, does it again, as THE EMPTY EYE SOCKETS NOW HAVE EYEBALLS.

If you will:

“JESUS DID NOT SO MUCH REMOVE BLINDNESS, BUT HE CREATED SIGHT.”

Or more exactly:

“JESUS DID NOT SO MUCH HEAL BLIND EYES, BUT HE CREATED EYEBALLS.”

-Man, I’ve HEARD OF NU-VISION, D.O.C., and all the REST, BUT THIS IS CREATE-A-VISION!

-Here Jesus REVEALS HIMSELF TO BE GOD, GOD THE CREATOR, THAT VERY GOD WHO SAID IN Gen. 1:3,

“LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT.” 

******

FOR THAT MATTER, THE MIRACLE FIRST WORKED BY JESUS:

I mean, WATER INTO WINE, that too points TO GOD THE CREATOR, GOD HIMSELF!

That happens EVERY YEAR, WATER INTO WINE:

a. You have a vineyard, the WATER COMES DOWN, AND GOES UP IN THROUGH THE VINE!

b. And, inside THE GRAPE, WATER IS TURNED INTO GRAPE JUICE, THEN INTO WINE!

c. Right? Sure, read a FEW GARDENING BOOKS, THAT’S HOW IT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR.

d. But, what HAPPENED AT THE COMMAND OF JESUS IS THAT PROCESS IS SPEEDED UP INCREDIBLY!

e. JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF TO BE:

“GOD, THE GOD OF ALL POWER, THE GOD OF CREATION, WHO CREATES AND

UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.”

And in this INSTANCE OF WATER INTO WINE, HE SPEEDS UP HIS IN-CREATED PROCESS BY ANOTHER CREATIVE MIRACLE!

IT SHALL LIVE WITH ME THROUGHOUT ALL ETERNITY:

But a few years ago in NEW JERSEY, a woman in the church I was pastoring, HAD HEART TROUBLE, CLOGGED ARTERIES, ENLARGED HEART!

-She was just being renewed in the HOLY SPIRIT in her life, and one day she read James 5:14-15,

“IS ANY SICK AMONG YOU? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH,

AND LET THEM PRAY OVER HIM, ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL IN THE NAME

OF THE LORD, AND THE PRAYER OF FAITH SHALL SAVE THE SICK, AND

THE LORD SHALL RAISE HIM UP.”

-She asked for THAT, and ELDERS IN THE CHURCH MINISTERED JUST AS JAMES SAID TO DO!

-She was not only TOTALLY HEALED, for all pain ceased, and medication stopped!

-But, x-ray tests revealed the CREATION OF A BRAND NEW BYPASS ARTERY, where THERE HAD NEVER BEEN ONE BEFORE.

-God, THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN JESUS NAME:

a. Not ONLY did closed CHEST SURGERY, but A CREATIVE MIRACLE BY-PASS SURGERY OF HIS OWN!

b. ONLY GOD, THE CREATOR, can CREATE A HIGHWAY FOR BLOOD WHERE NONE OF US HAVE ONE!

c. And EACH KATHUMP, KATHUMP OF HER HEART SAID,

“JESUS IS LORD, JESUS IS LORD.”

AND AGAIN:

-Our dear daughter Jackie Dawn recently was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She went through six months of torturous chemotherapy which the Lord mercifully used in her life.

-When the vast cancer had been greatly reduced, Jackie had massive de-bulking surgery in her abdomen which in her weakened condition was a great trauma. 

-Jackie after surgery slipped into a coma and we thought that we would lose her. The doctors were very concerned as well and began to talk to the family about hospice.

-Entire churches, friends, and families were praying for her. We had anointed her with oil, prayed, and sang praises to God around her comatose mind and body day by day.

-On a Sunday morning, I  had to preach in a nearby church where the congregation prayed for her, and when my wife and I walked into her hospital room later that day, Jackie was sitting up in a chair, looked at me and said, “Hi Dad!” God Almighty the Creator and Redeemer had visited our daughter with a powerful miracle.

-The surgical doctor told us this:

“I DON’T KNOW WHY SHE WENT INTO A COMA, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT BROUGHT

HER OUT. WE SEE CASES LIKE THIS WHERE THEY DON’T COME BACK. WE DID

THE SAME FOR THEM THAT WE DID FOR JACKIE.”

-I said:

“Doc, we know Who did it, and we give all praise to our Lord Jesus.”

-Jackie was pronounced cancer free. We continue to pray, for we know this contagion, like the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness, will  try again at a more opportune time.

FOOTNOTE TO THIS:

-NOT ONLY DO MIRACLES PURPOSEFULLY SHOW HIS GOODNESS, BUT PURPOSEFULLY SHOW HIS ONLY GODNESS!

-They PURPOSE TO PROVE WHAT THE LORD SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF IN Is. 44:6,

“I AM THE FIRST, AND I AM THE LAST, AND BESIDE ME THERE IS NO GOD.”

That’s what ALL THE MIRACLES IN EGYPT ARE REALLY ABOUT IN Exodus 7:12,

1. WHEN THE TEN PLAGUES swept throughout EGYPT, each ONE WAS A MIRACLE OF GOD’S DUNAMIS/ POWER!

2. And each one was PURPOSEFULLY DESIGNED TO SHOW GOD’S ONLY GODNESS, AND TO DISPROVE EVERY EGYPTIAN FALSE GOD.

III. THE THIRD PURPOSE OF THE WORKS OF POWERS/MIRACLES!

Not only does God carry out the sovereign gifts of the miraculous to manifest His DIVINE GOODNESS and his DIVINE GLORY, but,

“TO BRING MEN TO FAITH.”

Remember the beautiful conclusion to the story of the man born blind:

-Jesus later on met him again and asked him in John 9:35,

“Do you believe in the Son of God?”

-He answered Jesus in John 9:36,

“And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him.”

-Jesus said to Him in John 9:37,

“You have both seen Him, and He is the One Who is talking to you.”

-Then the grand conclusion of the miraculous in John 9:38,

“And he said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped Him.”

In short:

“THIS MAN HAD HIS SIGHT RECOVERED THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE DISCOVERED.”

After all:

“WHAT GOOD WOULD IT HAVE BEEN TO HAVE HIS PHYSICAL EYES RESTORED, ONLY TO

HAVE HIS SPIRITUAL EYES BLINDED IN DARKNESS AND UNBELIEF?”

God is always after something that goes way beyond the physical and the temporal. I mean, think of it:

“TO OPEN HIS PHYSICAL EYES BUT NOT HIS SPIRITUAL EYES WOULD BE LIKE

OPENING THE WINDOWS OF YOUR HOUSE AT NIGHT-TIME. IT WOULD NOT

CHANGE THE DARKNESS WHATSOEVER, AND IT WOULD

BRING IN NO LIGHT.”

And what is more, this dear and blessed man had reason to thank God for his blindness, for without it, he would have been like the rest of the Jews:

“HAVING EYES BUT NOT SEEING, AND HAVING EARS BUT NOT HEARING.

HAVING MINDS BUT  NOT PERCEIVING.”

And so, we must thank God not only in everything, but for everything, because in these calamities and trials, somehow, someway, the works of God are manifested for good. Just ask God’s Son! Why not with His sons and daughters?

If you will:

“IN ALL OF GOD’S WORKING OF MIRACLES/POWERS, HE IS NOT ULTIMATELY AFTER

MAN’S RELIEF, BUT AFTER HIS BELIEF.” Amen!