How Jesus Speaks Through the Supernatural
Series: Hearing Jesus Speak Today
September 5, 2010
Today’s message is a 2 parter. This morning, I just want to give you the introduction and maybe a little more (depending on time), and then next week we’ll finish up…so I hope you plan to be here both weeks. Otherwise, you’re only going to hear ½ a message.
I want to start out with a statement of fact…God is supernatural, and so He does things in a supernatural way. Do you believe that statement? The word “supernatural” means that it goes beyond our natural way of seeing and doing things. That it supersedes the physical laws of nature. There are a lot of people today in the world that don’t believe the things they read Jesus doing in the bible because “they’re impossible!” “There’s no way a person can walk on water, turn water into wine, heal paralyzed people with the touch of his hand. That’s impossible!” And they’re right! There’s no way a man could do those things… IF he was just a man! But what if that “man” was God in flesh? If He really was in fact… God… wouldn’t you almost expect Him to do the kinds of things Jesus did? Otherwise, you could say, “Well, Jesus can’t be God…if He was God, wouldn’t He be doing some miracles?” See, you can’t have it both ways!
Now, because God made the laws of nature, He’s not bound or restricted by them, right? He’s not a prisoner of His own creation. And so when He temporarily supercedes a law of nature… that’s called a “miracle”. Now, unfortunately, in our western, rationalistic mind-set, we’ve been conditioned to read the Bible in terms of our experience rather than in the experience of the people who were actually living it. In otherwords, if I don’t hear God’s voice today in supernatural ways… I assume that He’s not speaking in supernatural ways anymore. If I don’t personally SEE miracles being performed, then I naturally conclude that God doesn’t do miracles anymore. But nothing could be further from the truth!
The bible is filled to the brim with supernatural events and ways that God communicated with His people. Dreams, visions, impressions, angels…even His audible voice. What you may not realize is that the way God communicated with people in the bible… is the WAY He communicates with us now… if not more so! The bible says that Jesus Christ is the same… yesterday, today and forever! (find vs.) In otherwords, He doesn’t change His tactics and His methods. And just because you ‘personally” haven’t experienced it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening! Again… if God is a supernatural God… then wouldn’t you expect Him to act and communicate in supernatural ways?
I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book of Acts before, but it’s a fascinating study of how God wants to work through His people. In it we find stories of what it was actually like to be a Christian in the early days of the church, (directly after Jesus was resurrected). It doesn’t deal in theories or doctrines…it deals in the real life experiences of people (just like you and me) who lit. heard and felt the living Lord Jesus acting in their lives! Maybe that’s why it’s called the “book of ACTS” and not the book of theories.
At the beginning of Acts, the resurrected Jesus and his disciples are standing on the Mt. of Olives. Jesus had just gotten done telling them to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. After promising them power from the Holy Spirit, He was taken up to heaven before their very eyes! But instead of returning to Jerusalem (like He told them to do)… they stood there staring into the sky. YOU WOULD TOO! They couldn’t believe their eyes! (STAND AND STARE AT CEILING)
This must have gone on for quite a while, because God had to dispatch a couple of angels to shake them out of their stupor! They said in Acts 1:11…"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." In otherwords…”There’s no time to waste, He’s coming back…so get off your buns and get moving to Jerusalem!”
So right off the bat, at the beginning of the churches history God begins by communicating in a supernatural way. God is showing us that if the church is going to be successful, it’s NOT going to be because of our superior intellect, or cleverly devised programs and gimmicks. It’s going to be built through the supernatural revelation and power of God! Jesus HIMSELF would be directing the growth of His church, All the disciples had to do was listen and obey! In case you wondered…NOTHING HAS CHANGED! So, off they go to Jerusalem, to wait for directions and power to be given to them. And they’re going to need it, because they don’t have a CLUE about how to build Jesus’ church! And neither do we!
Acts chapter 2 begins with an explosion of God’s supernatural communication. In Acts 2:2 we read… “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting”. Now, in the bible, wind is a symbol of the power of the H.S. to produce life. For example, in Genesis, God breathed the “breath or wind of His Spirit” into the 1st man to bring him life. In Ezekiel’s vision of a valley filled with dry bones in Ezek.37:9, “a mighty wind” was used to symbolize the H.S. coming to bring them back to life. Where the Spirit of God goes, there is life! In the same way, in Acts 2, the Spirit came “suddenly, from heaven” to breathe new life into the infant church. He didn’t come because they’d planned Him to come for years… no… He came because God sent Him! We need a “wind of the Spirit” so desperately to breath life into the church today, don’t we? The “tongues of fire” represented the Holy Spirits power not only to purify them, but to move their tongues to proclaim the wonders of God. We need that too!
The sound of the wind attracted huge crowds. Obviously something was going on! Like all crowds, some people were amazed, some were dumbfounded, and some made fun of the disciples by accusing them of being drunk! (Not much has changed today!) They were having a good time of it, until, Peter got up in 2:14 and began to preach. Peter began his sermon by quoting and ancient prophecy from Joel 2:28,29 (READ). (see also Acts 2:17-21)
Now prior to this pt. in history, during the O.T. days, there were only a few prophets in each generation. God would speak to them in dreams and visions (Jeremiah, Elijah, Isa.) But Joel was saying that someday there are going to be lots of prophets speaking, and performing the acts of God! He said “your sons and daughters would prophecy"…EVEN ‘your slaves would prophecy”! Age, gender and economic status… it would make no difference! The Spirit was coming in such a powerful way that now visions and dreams would be normal for the people of God. I know lots of people who go through their entire lives without ever consciously experiencing a direct communication from God. But the bible is telling us that should be the
In fact, every chapter in the book of Acts (except for chap 17) contains an example of, or a reference of Jesus speaking and acting in a supernatural way to his followers. And that’s only because in chap.17 Paul encounters a group of rationalistic “Egg-heads” in Athens who are too proud and too sophisticated to even consider the idea of something supernatural like the resurrection. Athens is the birthplace of Western civilization, where if you can’t see it or touch it, it doesn’t exist! No wonder you don’t find any examples of God working supernaturally here. Jesus himself couldn’t do any miracles in his own hometown because there were so few who believed in Him! So is it any surprise that we don’t see many miracles in our churches? They were a lot like we are today, unbelieving, unreceptive and as a result …unseeing. But every other chapter in Acts shows God working in His church in amazing ways! We’ve already seen it happen in chapters 1 & 2….
In Chap.3… a lame man sitting at the temple gate was healed by Peter.
In Chap.4… Peter’s defense of the gospel to the Pharisees so powerful, that they were amazed because they knew that they were unschooled, ordinary men. The only difference was…they’d been with Jesus! See the difference being with Him makes?
Chap.5… Peter prophecies the death of Ananias and Saphira because they lied to God and an angel frees him from jail.
Chap.6… Stephen performs miraculous signs and wonders, and he was just a ordinary laymen in the church!
Chap.7… Right before Stephen is stoned… Jesus reveals Himself to him, to the point that he could actually see Him standing at the right hand of the Father!
Chap.8… An angel from heaven gives directions to Phillip and the Spirit carries him from one place to another. Check it out!
Chap. 9… Jesus appears to Saul on the Road to Damascus and blinds him. It makes such an impression on him that he goes from persecutor to preacher overnight!
Chap.10… An angel appears to a gentile named Cornelius and then to Peter who had a powerful vision. Jesus is announcing to him that he’s no longer bound by Jewish dietary laws and he should go to Cornelius and preach salvation to his gentile household.
Chap. 11… The prophet Agabus correctly predicts a famine.
Chap. 12…An angel visits Peter and breaks him out of jail
Chap.13…The H.S. speaks to the church at Antioch and they set Peter and Barnabas apart for a world missions trip.
Chap.14… Paul looks at a lame man in Lystra and supernaturally discerns that he has faith to be healed. So he heals him!
Chap.15…the H.S. communicates to the apostles in Jerusalem to accept the gentiles into the church
Chap.16…the H.S. directs Paul away from going into Asia and he sees a vision of a man from Macedonia begging them to come over and help. (By the way, this critical crossroads is the reason that Western culture heard the gospel 2000 years before Eastern culture. You may be a Christian today, because Paul went left instead of right!
Chap.18… the Lord speaks to Paul in a night vision, and told him he was going to be alright.
Chap.19… 12 believers in Ephesus are filled with the H.S.
Chap.20…The H.S. warns Paul about the suffering he’s about to endure.
Chap.21… a number of believers “through the Spirit” warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
Chap.22 … Paul retells how the H.S. called him on the road to Damascus
Chap.23…The Lord appears to Paul while he’s being held as a prisoner.
Chap.24… Paul gives a speech before King Felix inspired by the H.S.
Chap.25…Paul gives another speech before Govener Festus again inspired by the H.S.
Chap.26… Paul witnesses to King Agrippa, under the power of the H.S.
Chap.27… Paul accurately predicts the destruction of the ship taking him to Rome, and an angel of the Lord appears during the night to assure him that he and everyone on board will come out of the storm alive.
Chap.28… Paul is miraculously bitten by a poisonous snake and lives, which leads to a series of miracles where he heals all the sick on the island of Malta.
The book of Acts is filled with incidences of Jesus doing the miraculous through His church! The reason I took the time this morning to go through each chapter, was to help you see that God working in supernatural ways is a normal part of His church. Can you see how involved Jesus is in guiding, directing and communicating to His church? The church of Acts shows a church that thrives because it hears and obeys the living voice of Jesus! Shouldn’t we be experiencing the same thing today? You say, “Well those things are abnormal.” O really? Well, what if what we’re experiencing is abnormal, and what they were experiencing was normal? If I had a choice, I’ll take their brand of Christianity over mine! After-all, God chose to use THEM as the example of what true Christianity is... not us! Maybe if we were more open to the Spirit of God & spent more time trying to hear Jesus speak to us…we’d see the same things happening today!
I think the evidence is clear…the 1st century Christians heard Jesus speaking to them, and that should be the normal experience of Christians today! He’s speaking today…but if that’s not your experience, then maybe it’s because you’re not believing or listening. Reminds me of an American Indian who had left the reservation to visit downtown New York. Walking down a busy street with his friend, he suddenly stopped and said, “I hear a cricket”. His friend said, “You’re crazy! There’s no way you could hear a cricket in all this noise!” The Indian persisted, “No! I hear a cricket… I’m sure of it!”
His friend said, “It’s noon! There are thousands of people bustling around, cars honking, taxis squealing…I don’t believe you can hear a little cricket in all this!” The Indian listened again and walked slowly across the street where he found a large cement planter with a shrub in it. He dug beneath the leaves, and sure enough…there was a cricket!
His friend was stunned, “You’ve got amazing hearing!” But the Indian said, “No. My ears are no different from yours. It simply depends on what you’re listening to. Here, let me show you.” So he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change – a few quarters, some dimes, nickels and pennies…and dropped it on the concrete. You guessed it… every head within a block turned! “You see what I mean? It all depends on what you’re listening for.” Folks, the reason we’re not hearing Jesus speak, is because we’re listening to the sounds of this world, and we’re not tuned to the sounds of heaven! So let me begin to describe to you the supernatural ways that God speaks and how you and I can hear him if we will. The 1st way that God speaks is…
1. God speaks AUDIBLY
Ancient Israel was living in a world of impersonal gods. It was common for people to worship the sun, the stars, the moon and different idols. But when God raised up the nation of Israel, he spoke to them in an unmistakable way… in an audible voice (and they hated it!). It was so powerful and so loud that it struck paralyzing fear into their hearts every time He opened His mouth! But because they heard Him speaking in an audible voice, they realized that they served a personal God. Dt.4:33-35 tells us that “because they heard His voice, they knew that they were unique among all the peoples of the earth.”
When He gave them the 10 commandments, He spoke in an audible voice in order to instill a godly fear in them, so they would obey. Which brings us to 3 important points about the audible voice of God…
1. God speaks outwardly to ASSURE CLARITY.
When God wants to make sure that we get it…He speaks very clearly, in an audible voice. Jesus was the ultimate example of how clearly God wanted to communicate with us. He actually clothed Himself in human flesh and spoke His words of life! Jesus was “God in a Bod”, and when He spoke, He made it very clear what He wanted. Here’s the principle… the clearer the revelation, the harder the task. The reason God gave the 10 Commandments with the clarity of His audible voice was because keeping them, was going to be the most difficult thing the Israelites ever tried to do. All the powers of hell would come against them. So, when (and if) God speaks to you in an audible voice, you can bet that what He tells you to do, is going to be extremely difficult. Believe me, you’re going to NEED the clarity of His voice so you can remember it when you go through intense testing.
Is it any wonder that at Jesus baptism, God spoke to Him outloud…saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased”.-Mt.3:17 Jesus needed to hear those words of affirmation, because right after that He was led into the desert for 40 days of testing…and after that a LIFE of testing! Again, right before his crucifixion, in Mt. 17:5, on Mt. of Transfiguration…God spoke audibly to Jesus, saying basically the same thing. Affirming Him, establishing His authority. And again, Jesus needed to hear the audible voice of God because of the intense suffering He was about to endure.
Others heard the audible voice of God too! As I mentioned earlier, Paul while on his way to murder and imprison Christians, lit.heard the voice of Jesus on the Road to Damascus and it changed the course of humanity. His traveling companions heard it too, but it was indistinct to them and they couldn’t understand it. John heard God’s voice, and wrote down what he heard in the book of Revelation. Here’s a few more things you should know about hearing the voice of God outwardly…
2. God speaks outwardly at TURNING POINTS.
In otherwords, when Jesus wants His church to make a sharp turn, either to the right or left, He yells out the directions so that we can’t get them wrong. Kind of like a driving instructor to an immature 15 year old driver!
3. God speaks outwardly to DISPLAY HIS GLORY
Every time God speaks audibly, He displays His mercy and glorifies His Son. That’s why in the N.T. we hear it at Jesus’ baptism, His transfiguration, and before He dies on the cross. In John 12:28-33, Before Jesus was about to die on the like a common thief, it would have been difficult to believe that this was the Messiah. So God spoke out loud- with a crowd of witnesses- to show that His honor rested on Jesus. (READ) Here it was, clear as a bell, so that people would believe in Jesus as the Son of God, even when their physical eyes couldn’t see His true glory. Interestingly John says that some of the people standing there didn’t understand it… they explained it away as “just thunder”. So why did some hear the voice of God and others only hear thunder? I think it has a lot to do with the condition of their heart. Were they ready to believe or not?
So…does God still speak in an audible voice today? Well, let me ask you… does He still assign impossible tasks to His people? Are there still dramatic turning points left in the history of His church? Is God still showing mercy to weak people? What do you think? The answer is…YES! Who knows, maybe one day Jesus will decide to grant you the privilege of hearing his voice audibly. If He does, is your heart at a point where you’d recognize it, or would you just pass it off as a little thunder?
Well that’s as far as we’re going to go for today… next week…how God speaks through dreams, visions, impressions…even other people! In the meantime…you can ask Him to speak to you. He’s not playing “hide & go seek”. He wants you to hear and understand His voice, whether He speaks through His Word, your experiences, or supernatural ways. He wants you to know and obey Him.
(2 weeks from now… Ru and I will be speaking… Encourage you to be here!)
Pray…
Sing…OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART GOD
