Character Trait: Seeing And Living The Supernatural Series

Intro: The supernatural is not always spectacular. Sometimes God works supernaturally in the natural. Some examples are marriages restored, addictions undone, attitudes remade. There is something that is very dangerous today. The supernatural has become twisted to be vampires, zombies, and other ideas that can distract us from what God meant to be one of the twelve characteristics of a healthy church. (Review)

A healthy church sees and lives the supernatural. However there are extremes that we need to avoid. We need to guard our hearts from fascination with the supernatural which overlooks testing the Spirits to see if they are of God. We also need to guard our hearts from exemption of the supernatural which if taken to the extreme would do away with the inward working of the Holy Spirit in Christians.

The incarnation of Jesus Christ was supernatural. The miracles of Jesus were supernatural. The death and resurrection of Jesus was supernatural. The point of living the supernatural is to show others the life of Jesus Christ.

5) A healthy church sees and lives the supernatural

A) External – Signs and wonders – Here God reveals (Acts 4:43)

Everyone who was in the city of Jerusalem saw that god was working through the early church. There was an element of the supernatural that was clearly evident. Something much more than human power was at work.

God was doing wonders and sings in miracles. There is a feeling today that what is necessary is to recapture this wonderful age and try to reproduce the marvelous miracles and signs. We do not need to recapture a God who doesn’t change we need to allow Him to capture us!! God begins with the visible when he is dealing with unregenerate men. Why? Those without a relationship to Jesus Christ are usually shut up to a world of the visible things. Many only believe what they can see. Even the unbelieving Jews said show us a sign Jesus. God in his condescending grace begins where people are. The visible is not where the most important work is done!!

B) Internal – Spiritual works – Here God renovates

What were the signs of immaturity in the church at Corinth? They were outward signs. They were following individual leaders when they should have been following Jesus. They were focused on the outward sign gifts and appeared to be proud of their gifts instead of the giver of gifts Jesus.

In the Muslim world today Jesus is coming to those seeking for truth in dreams visions and signs. God begins where we are and then invites us to go deeper from the physical to the spiritual.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:10-15 A non believer that has never received the Spirit of God cannot understand why we live and follow Jesus Christ. We as believers once lived without Christ and should understand and have compassion on those without Jesus.

Paul came to the Corinthian’s not with powerful presentation but with weakness and the cross of Jesus Christ and powerful demonstration by the Spirit. Why does God want us to move from the outward sign gifts to the inward working of the Spirit? The outward gifts of the Spirit can make us focus on ourselves and not on Jesus.

God wants our heart. He wants our inward life. If the inward life is transformed the outward life follows. Surface gifts and signs are for unbelievers.

Things were happening that were beyond explaining or understanding outside of God working in and through the lives of the Apostles and disciples.

God still desires to work through our lives in ways that baffle people.

I heard someone say on the radio this week they were more afraid of their children being around Christians than ______________. You can fill in the blank.

What is it that baffles people?

1) Life in common – 1 Corinthians 10, Acts 2:44

2) Love in the community – Matthew 22:37-40, John 13:35

a) Passion for God

b) Passion for people

When this begins to happen in our life we realize that we have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus. Sin doesn’t have to control or contain the supernatural life that God wants to plant in us and show as a pattern for the world.

A passion for God the things of God or those that don’t know Jesus come from the internal working of God’s Holy Spirit.

3) Life lived to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (quote) This is life that is concerned with the reputation of Jesus Christ not the reputation of the Christian. The disciples and apostles made themselves fools for Christ.

C) Eternal -- Here God elevates

It takes the humility we talked about last week to see the supernatural. We bend our knee before God and fix our eyes on Jesus.