Miracles, signs, and wonders are intended to be part of the Christian life in the spiritual church. These events are first private in the life of the Believer, then public to the world demonstrating that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life to Father God.
Over the last three
- As a Believer in Jesus Christ, you are a miracle because when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you were Born-again. You were changed on the inside as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. How awesome is that? You get a do-over in life!
- As a Believer in Jesus Christ, you are a sign because the Holy Spirit of God came to live in you. You now have available to you the Holy Spirit’s comfort, help, guidance, power, and authority. These attributes are visible to everyone and all will know that something wonderful has happened in your life. You will now be able to point them in the direction of Jesus.
- As a Believer in Jesus Christ, you are a wonder because you have “eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to comprehend” spiritual things given to you by God. As a result, you are walking by spiritual faith and not only by physical sight and understanding.
Miracles, Signs and Wonders in the public arena.
Before we can look at miracles, signs, and wonders in the public arena we must lay a little foundational groundwork in regard to what the term “church” means.
What is the Church?
The word “church” is a word that has a variety of meanings. The word “church” is used to describe, a building, a denomination, a profession, or a group of people. Because there are several definitions of the word church it is very important to understand what the inspired writers of the New Testament meant by the word church!
The Natural Chruch and the Spiritual Church.
Today we understand that there is a natural church and a spiritual church. The natural church is composed of people who call themselves Christians because they identify with a religion- Christianity. On the other hand, the spiritual church is made up of people who have been “born-again” a spiritual event, and identify with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The natural church is made up of people who don’t necessarily look or act any differently from the people of the world. The spiritual church is made up of people who are different from the world. As a matter of fact, the Bible uses the phrase that Christians are a peculiar people! We are meant to be different. Not different for the sake of being different! But different because we see life in a spiritual light.
The word church in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, “Ekklesia”, and is translated as the “called out ones”. The obvious question is, what are we called out of? Look at what Peter had to say in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”.
Now, what does this verse of scripture mean? Let’s look at the key phrases to see if we can understand what Peter meant.
- Chosen generation – just as the Jews
were the chosen people of the Old Testament (or the Law) the Born-again believers in Jesus Christ are a “chosen people” of the New Testament. This means you, as a disciple of Christ, have a special status with God! You really are special in God’s eyes. - Royal priesthood – royal means that you represent the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. In the Old Testament Priest were those who went before God representing the people. Now you don’t need a priest to represent you because you can come before God on your own.
- A holy nation – as a group of believers, His Church, we are called to fulfill His purpose of Sanctification and Holiness. As the Body of Christ, we are called to live our lives for the good of others. That is what true love is. This also means that we don’t act like those who are not Believers of Jesus Christ.
Now this is a hard one because there are many who are hypocritical in their relationship with God. They want Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. That is tosay they want the assurance of Salvation and God’s blessings but are unwilling to accept that they must obey Him to receive His blessings. They may look like Christians on Sunday morning, but act no differently from the world the rest of the week. - His own special people – A true Christian is one who accepts and lives by the teachings of Jesus Christ. We are special in that we are God’s children, Brothers, and Sisters of Jesus and that Jesus calls us friends.
- Proclaiming the praises of Him – by our words and our deeds we are not ashamed of Jesus and desire to share the “Good News” or Gospel of the goodness of God and the free gift, or grace, His salvation, and deliverance.
- Called out of darkness into His marvelous light – before accepting Christ we were “blinded to the truth” that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life and there are no other way to God the Father except through Him. At some point, you had an encounter with Jesus and came to “see” this fundamental truth.
The early church of the New Testament was a dynamic spiritual group of born-again believers who saw miracles, signs, and wonders as everyday experiences.
For over 2000 years the church has experienced the move of God in the form of revival. When the church would lose its direction God would show up in the power of His Holy Spirit to put them on the right track again. This is called “revival” literally to make alive again. God is in the business of producing individual revival in His people as well as corporate revival in His church at large.
In our next post we will look at
- The progression of a revival.
First there is. A Move of God, then a Movement of God’s people then the movement becomes a Monument to God! - What the church looks like today… Has the glory of the Lord passed in the church?
