Signs and Wonders

I don't believe in Bigfoot. Oh, I've seen films and the plaster casts of his foot, but they are unconvincing. I've heard the eyewitness accounts, but they are debatable. Eyewitnesses can be deceived, pictures can be faked, footprints can become distorted with time. The reason I don't believe Bigfoot is because there are no real signs of his existence. A seven or eight foot tall animal cannot exist in the woods without leaving some trace of himself behind. Without better signs, I can't not believe in Bigfoot.


I do believe in skunks, though. I've never seen a skunk. I hope I never do. But I have smelled enough skunks to know they are real. I do not have the witness of my eyes, but I sure have he witness of my nose. A skunk leaves abundant evidence of his presence.

The same is true of the Holy Spirit. Is it reasonable to think that God can be active on the earth and not leave some sign of His existence? Whenever He appears in the Bible, things happen. We see signs of His existence.

We have utterly failed to reach the lost. We are not alone in this. Almost all churches in America, of whatever denomination, have also failed to make a significant impact on the lives of the Godless. Whatever we have tried in the past hasn't worked. We've had sports teams, ice cream socials, advertizing, door-to-door campaigns, and nothing has seemed to make any difference. No matter, what ever we are doing isn't working.

The first few generations of the church were fantastically successful. People came to Christ by the thousands, without outreach committees, purpose statements, or church planning consultants. They succeeded for one simple reason. The Spirit of God was at work. He moved in their midst, performing signs and wonders which gave evidence of His existence.

We have always been told that we are more blessed if we walk by faith and not by sight. But is that what we are really so? Are we supposed to believe that God exists in the spiritual world, but no longer ventures into the physical? That’s s Deism, not Christianity. Without evidence, is it any more reasonable to believe in Him than Bigfoot?

Jesus praised His disciples when they believed without seeing. But they had already seen many miracles. Jesus urged them to act upon the evidence they had already seen. Do we expect unbelievers to have more faith than the disciples? Before unbelievers can believe, they must see some evidence that all this is real. That evidence is called "signs and wonders."

"Signs and wonders" is used eleven times in the New Testament. Jesus used it once in John 4:46-48

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders ," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

This is often taken as a put-down by Jesus of their lack of faith, but I do not think it is. It is a simple statement of fact. They would not and could not believe until they saw some evidence of God's presence with Jesus. They wanted some hard evidence. They did not want to take someone's word for it. Nor would I.

49-53 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

Would they have believed without seeing some kind of sign? I don't think so.

"Signs and wonders" is used eight time in Acts. Each time we see signs and wonders, it is a time when God's people needed special assurance that they were headed in the right direction. Do we need them any less today? I am convinced if we are ever to persuade people this skeptical age that God is here, it will not be through reason, but through signs and wonders.

I will explain what I mean by signs and wonders later. Before I do, let me with a couple of misconceptions.

Signs and wonders are not ordinary events. Believers see proof of God in the ordinary joys of life, like babies and sunrises. Unbelievers do not see God there. Unbelievers are not less intelligent than believers because they do not see God in all things. They just do not think of beauty as a work of God. That’s why they are called unbelievers. These are not miracles, but the natural/ At best, it proves that God was once here, but it does not prove that He is still hear and still active now.

The second misconception is this--that God is no longer doing signs and wonders. Miracles were for ancient times, people say, not now. They were signs of Jesus and the apostles, not signs of His presence in the church today.

Signs and wonders have not ceased. Some people say that miracles ceased in the time of the apostles. I cannot accept that. A sign is evidence of God’s continued existence and work in the world. Is it reasonable to assume that a living God does not leave evidence of His work? The same God who made the world, raised Jesus from the dead, and began the church with miracles at Pentecost is the same God we worship today.

What are signs and wonders meant to show? Not someone’s qualification for office, but the presence of a living God. Jesus’ miracles were a sign that God was with Him, and therefore was the true Messiah. The Apostles’ miracles showed God was with them. Paul’s miracles showed that God was present with him. Hebrews 2:3-4 says this:

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Signs and wonders attest to God’s salvation. God’s salvation is still with us.They are also a witness of the presence of God today.

Now, what are signs and wonders? A sign is any definitive and extraordinary evidence—however great or small—that God is working today. Where do we find that evidence? Let me suggest three places/

A changed life. In all the universe there is nothing so hard to change than the human heart. How many times do we see a person completely turned inside-out, so much that he actually becomes someone new? Have you ever seen a drug addict get clean? A homosexual change sexual orientation? A drunk leave the bottle? A violent man turn gentle or a shy person turn bold? I have seen all these things happen through the power of the Gospel. These are signs and wonders.

A prayer answered Imagine you're playing driveway basketball. A man comes up and wants to join you. You don't know who he is, but you pass him the ball. He immediately throws a basket. Lucky, you think. But then he does it again and again. Now you know he is no ordinary player. He is a professional, or one who will be soon.

It isn't just hitting the basket that proves who he is. It is the consistency and the difficulty of his shots. It isn’t just one answered prayer. It is the consistency and the difficulty o those answered prayers that prove God’s existence. Most of our prayer are for nothing difficult, and not much, so we have little to report when we testify. But when we consistently see difficult prayers answered, we realize His power. Answered prayers are a sign and a wonder.

A love exhibited. "By this will all men know you are my disciples," Jesus said, "By your love for one another." In the eighth century, Irish monks evangelized Britain and Scotland by building monasteries right in the middle of cities. They lived lives of charity and love among the people. They opened their doors and took in those no one else wanted. They converted them by the signs and wonders of unusual love. Love can be a sign and a wonder, too.

But signs and wonders alone will not persuade the unbeliever. Those signs and wonders have to be told. Somehow the Devil has planted it in the hearts of churchmen that it is rude to talk about God, that a person’s religion is his own business. If we don’t open our mouths and tell about the evidence of God’s power in our own experience, how can the world benefit from it? The world must hear what God has done, and what He is still doing. Anyone who’s life has been touched by the power of God in anyway, no matter how great or small, has an obligation to tell others. You are the witnesses to God’s salvation.

I had a friend who was a walking miracle. He was a student at a Christian college that did not believe in modern miracles. He fell out of a top bunk and injured his head. They told him that much of his brain was damaged beyond repair that he would never see or walk again. He went into despair. Then a cleaning lady in the hospital prayed for him. Over time, he regained first his sight, then his legs. His doctor, who had been an agnostic, gave his life to Christ, along with twenty-six other people who heard the story.

But imagine if no one heard the story. Where would those twenty-five be? Imagine that that maid had not talked to him? Where would he be?

Tell of the great things that God has done. Don't be shy. Tell it over and over, tell it proudly. Don't worry that it may be too small or unimpressive.

We are a church with many difficulties today. Frankly, I don’t' know he answers. I don't have any plans, I can't recommend any programs, I don't think revivals or recreation is going to fundimentally change our situation. But I believe in the Holy Spirit, and I believe in signs and wonders. Signs and wonders will change our church.

How do we have signs and wonders? The same way they happened in Jesus' day--one person at a time. They greatest sign and wonder is you. Let Jesus change your life, then tell about it, and that will change not only our church, but the whole world.