This is Part 8 of an 8-part series, which was originally developed for a 13-week adult class, with some of the parts taking more or less than a 45-minute class period.
I developed a set of slides on PowerPoint for use with the series and will be happy to share the PowerPoint files. The prompts reminding me to advance slides and activate animations are embedded in the sermon below. If you want to request the slides send me an Email at sam@srmccormick.net specifying what part(s) of the series you are requesting. Be sure to include the word “slides” in the subject line of your message; otherwise I am likely to miss it. I would find it interesting to know the location and a few words about your personal ministry if you will include it in your message. Allow several days for me to respond.
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Outline of the series:
I. Introduction to the series
II. God’s Plan from the Beginning
III. God’s Plan Now and Our Problem with It
IV. Justice vs Mercy and the Plan of Salvation
V. The Only Way to Eradicate Sin
VI. Providence – What God Provides in Earthly Life
VII. Providence and Civil Governments
VIII. Providence, Miracles and Phenomena
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VIII. Providence, Miracles and Phenomena
*Click for outline of the series
(Quickly run through what was covered up to this point in the series.)
There are countless ways divine providence “provides” what we need, which is an eminently biblical perspective of providence.
*Start scrolling list
Pause while list scrolls
Peace - Romans 5:1
The incarnation - John 1:14
An anointing - 1 John 2:20,27
Never forsaken - Heb 13:5
All things pertaining to godliness - 2Pe 1:3-4
Great and precious promises 2 Peter 1:3-4
Understanding - 1 John 5:20
Way of escape from temptation – 1 Cor 10:13
Burden bearing – Psalm 55:22
Path-straightening – Prov 3:5-6
Discipline – Prov 3:11-12, Heb 12:6
Spiritual gifts – 1 Cor 12 -14
Lifting up the fallen - Psalm 145:14
Protection from enemies - Psalm 120-121
Restoration of the soul - Psalm 23:3
Hope, the anchor of the soul - Heb 6:19
Indwelling Christ/Holy Spirit/God - Gal 4:6,
1 Jn 4:12-13, Romans 5:1-5
High Priest who understands our trials - Heb 4:15
Healing for broken hearts - Luke 4:18
Living water - John 4:10
Abundant life - John 10:10
Victory – 1 Co 15:57
Rest – Matt 11:29-30, Heb 4:1-16
A vision of the Father - John 14:7,9
Righteousness revealed - Romans 1:17
The gospel – Romans 1:16
The church - Matthew 16:18
Mercy - Matt 18:28-30
Physical provisions - Matt 6:25-34
Spiritual provisions - 2 Pet 1:3-4
A Father’s Love - 1 John 3:1
A Mother’s Love - Prov 31:24-31
Civil Government - Romans 13:1-7
Miracle and Phenomenal Acts - Matt 4:24
Divine love – Romans 5:4
Caring - 1 Pet 5:7
Hearts of Compassion – Col 3:12
Healing – physical, emotional, and spiritual - Luke 5:31
The Good Shepherd - John 10:11,14
Angels ministering - Heb 1:14
Model for a perfect life - 1 Pet 2:21
Prayer, the avenue to his presence - Heb 10:19-20
His abiding presence - Psa 139:7-13
Power to become children of God - John 1:12
Times of refreshing – Acts 3:20
All needs supplied Php 4:19
Way of escape from temptation - 1 Cor 13:10
Abundant pardon - Isaiah 55:7
The truth that makes free – John 8:32
Armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-17
“Beauty for ashes” – Isaiah 61:3
“The years the locust ate” – Joel 2:25
The Holy Spirit - Jn 3:34, Acts 2:38, 1 Th 4:8,
1 Cor 2:12, 2 Co 1:22
The seal of guarantee 2 Cor 1:22, 5:5
Wisdom - James 1:5
Intercession when words fail - Romans 8:26
Redemption - Ephesians 1:7
Reconciliation - Romans 5:11
Assurance of victory - Revelation
Joy - John 16:20
This series – or any series – of studies cannot identify and examine all that God does to provide for our needs. Many important ones have been mentioned fleetingly, or not at all.
But God provides for us in ways we see and ways we don’t see or understand.
His providence is sometimes against our wishes, but always for our good.
Wait until scrolling finishes…
Today we will conclude the series on Divine Providence by looking at one of the things God has provided for people.
*Click for Miracles and Phenomena
*Click when ready for picture of Anne Sullivan & Helen Keller
Mark Twain said the woman on the right, Anne Sullivan, was a “miracle worker.”
He gave that moniker to Anne because of her astounding accomplishment with the woman on the left, Helen Keller--blind and deaf at 19 months, and in this photo fully grown.
Anne Sullivan, herself nearly blind from untreated trachoma as a young child, her mother dead when she was 8, and raised by an abusive father in a dilapidated home. Anne herself did not learn to read and write until age 14. After college, at age 20 Anne accepted the Keller family's offer to tutor their blind, deaf, mute, angry, out-of-control daughter.
Anne became Helen Keller’s teacher and lifelong friend.
You know the story--many have seen one or more of the movies based on it.
Anne was able to break though Helen’s anger and frustration and teach her not only to communicate by hand signs placed in the palm of Helen’s hand, but to speak intelligibly!
Eventually Helen received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe college, and gained international recognition as an educator and goodwill ambassador, visiting 35 countries on five continents. She met with world leaders such as Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Golda Meir, and in her lifetime, every president from Grover Cleveland to President Johnson—13 presidents in all.
We’ll return to Anne Sullivan in a few minutes.
*Click for definition of miracles
Miracles
Vines’ New Testament dictionary defines miracle as power, inherent ability used of works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means.
“Power” speaks of the source of the miracle, the supernatural power of God, and acts that are performed either by God himself or by a human agent so empowered by God.
Purpose of miracles
In the Bible, the purpose of miracles was to prove that God himself was speaking or acting, or that a person spoke and acted upon the authority of God.
They are called signs and wonders in the bible:
• Signs - the word sums up their purpose
• Wonders - describes the reaction to the ones who experience or observe it
God attested to the authenticity and validity of Jesus’ words and acts by miracles:
*Click for Acts 2
Act 2:22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
An apostle was empowered to perform miracles:
*Click to add 2 Cor 12
2 Cor 12:12 [Paul, writing about his earlier work in Corinth] The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.
The signs and wonders confirmed the apostles’ message:
*Click to add Mark 16
Mar 16:19-20 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
These and other miracles of the bible were used to produce belief in God and the messages of and his emissaries. Sometimes people believed - sometimes not. If they disbelieved it was in denial of signs proving beyond a shadow of doubt that the message could only be from God.
• Sometimes a miracle proved that God himself was speaking--the bush that burned but was not consumed proved to Moses that it was God who was speaking to Moses. (Exo 3)
• Moses was sent on a mission, empowered to call down miracles, to persuade Pharaoh to release the Hebrews.
Exo 3:20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
• Pharaoh was forced to recognize that Moses was from God, acting for God, although Pharaoh did not obey.
• After the plague of locusts he said to Moses and Aaron:
Exo 10:17 I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the LORD your God only to remove this death from me.
• The walls of Jericho fell, and the Hebrews had to know that the instructions they heard through their leader Joshua were God’s words (Josh 6).
• As 850 false prophets watched on Mt. Carmel, Elijah called down fire from heaven to burn up the water-soaked bull, saying:
Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God…(1Kings 18)
• At Elisha’s instruction to a widow, a small amount of oil became an abundant supply - plenty to sell and pay her debts and provide for herself and her two sons. (2 Kings 4)
• Prophets miraculously foretold the future as clearly as if it were the past.
• Jesus turned water into wine, healed the sick, walked on water, stilled a storm, and called Lazarus from the grave.
• The apostles also performed signs and wonders
These aren’t merely “amazing things.”
They are miracles. They didn’t occur naturally. God provided each one for a purpose, and in the end they accomplished his purpose.
The miracles of the past are signs for us, providing certain knowledge of who God is and his awesome power to act for the good of his people.
*Click for John 20:30-31
John 20:30-31: Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“That you may believe” again sums up the purpose of miracles of Jesus for our time.
There is a rumbling conflict in the church about whether miracles occur now.
I’ve been told:
“if you don’t believe in miracles you will never see one.”
“If you don’t believe in them today, then you don’t believe in them at all.”
“If miracles don’t happen now then they never did.”
Others redefine the word “miracle,” applying it to any intervention by God--that God intervenes only in human life ONLY through miracles, and any act of God is supernatural and therefore by definition miraculous
Under this redefinition, if we say that there are no miracles today then we are saying that God does not act in any way in our world today.
I believe these conflicts—though vigorously debated--are largely a matter of semantics—the way words are understood and used.
Any wonderful thing may be called a miracle in today’s parlance, even if it demonstrably occurs within the laws of nature.
*Click for Anne and Helen
We return to Anne Sullivan and her student, Helen Keller.
*Click to activate Miracle Worker?
Was Anne Sullivan a miracle worker?
What I have to say in this study expresses my belief that while the supernatural means exercised through human agents certainly occurred, they have ceased, their supernatural source--in ways unseen by human eyes and defying human explanation--continues to act as he wills on behalf of his people today.
Let me emphasize that the foregoing statement of my belief is in the context as stated - “through human agents.”
*Click for 1 Cor 13:8
1 Cor 13:8 tells us prophecy and tongues were to cease, suggesting that the same is true of all supernatural acts by humans.
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
(Knowledge here is supernatural knowledge, with which some were endowed as spiritual gifts as described in the preceding chapter v8.)
Beyond that, proving that miracles ceased in the first century is outside the scope of our study on divine providence.
Phenomena
I - and we - all here today have said we believe in God’s special providence today.
God’s special providence operates when God acts in our lives and our world.
These things occur within the boundaries of natural law, but they are nonetheless events that would not have happened without God’s intervention.
An example is the healing of a deathly sick person in answer to prayer (James 5:16).
We ask God to intervene all the time.
Someone may pray, “Lord, we need a miracle!” and of course God knows what we’re asking.
While a person may not get well without God’s intervention no one can say the healing exceeded the boundaries of the body’s natural means of healing, along with treatments applied.
*Click for Phenomenon definition
A phenomenon is an action or situation observed to exist or happen, whose cause or explanation is unaccountable, or not understood by the known laws of nature.
A phenomenon looks like a miracle only because it involves laws we don’t understand.
I’m convinced that God no longer perform miracles through human agents to prove the agent’s words are God’s words. Still things happen for which there is no explanation apart from God’s intervention.
Stunning and wonderful things happen that we cannot explain by the normal operation of natural laws--
• things strongly desired and needed
• actions that are only within the power of God
• escapes from calamity
• that occur against all probability, that we speak of as “miracles,” according to popular word usage.
We believe a power works to cause these things.
While in the bible God sometimes used miracles to accomplish his purpose, on other occasions he used natural means, often unseen by man, to bring about his purpose.
The fact that something doesn’t transcend natural laws doesn’t mean God didn’t do it!
How did God accomplish the deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt?
Through plagues (miraculous) and crossing the Red Sea on dry land (miraculous).
But much more was involved. As far as we can tell:
• Moses was born--naturally.
• He was put in a basket and set on the Nile river--naturally.
• His sister followed along the bank until it was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh – as far as the information takes us--naturally.
• Pharaoh’s daughter loved the baby--naturally
• His sister offered to find a nurse among the Hebrew women—naturally
• Pharaoh’s daughter said “Go” and offered wages—naturally
• Miriam brought the baby’s own birth mother—naturally
• Jochabed raised her very own son—naturally
• When the child grew older he was brought to Pharaoh’s daughter—naturally
• She named him Moses, which means “drew him out of the waer”--naturally
• He killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian--naturally
The fact that these parts of Moses’ story occurred –as far as we can tell – in obedience to natural law doesn’t mean they aren’t the outworking of divine providence!
God has acted both through miracles and natural laws.
We need to recognize our inability to know how God directs the affairs of this world, and accept that he does, even if we never know HOW he does it.
Rom 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
God was not then – nor is he now – limited by the bounds of nature and its laws.
But even today, man has not reached a full understanding of natural laws and how they all work, or whether their working is in response to divine intervention.
A childbirth is awe inspiring and is “of God” no less because of being consistent with natural laws.
Natural law does not compete against God; he is its author.
*Click for Louise Joy Brown
When the first “test tube baby”--Louise Joy Brown--was born 38 years ago there were articles saying that now man has created life in the laboratory, bringing into question the claim that life comes from God.
(Here Louise is holding the glass container (not a test tube) in which she was conceived.)
The problem with that conjecture is that the only way they could get IVF (in-vitro fertilization) to work was by using God’s materials and replicating God’s natural process as closely as possible.
Man didn’t create Louise’s life! God did!
Louise Brown was conceived and born by God’s natural laws.
If not for God’s natural laws she would not have been conceived or born.
For man to create life, he must get his own egg and fertilize it without use of human donors – or use an entirely different method from God’s, and not try to “create life” by highjacking God’s natural method.
Something may seem miraculous to us because we are not acquainted with the natural laws in operation.
Just two generations ago, my grandfather, John William McCormick, almost certainly never saw an automobile, much less rode in or operated one.
Experimental steam-powered and electric automobiles had been around for about 50 years in Europe, but not available to the common people in America until Henry Ford, by introducing mass production, made the Model T somewhat affordable to the middle class.
*Click for Model T
My grandfather and grandmother were not by any stretch middle class.
If he could have seen a Model T moving along without being drawn by horses, mules, or some means of power, he would have thought he was seeing a miracle.
Could he have experienced the speed and comfort of a modern car it would have seemed to be a miracle.
And to travel in a modern airplane (even though many commercial airliners are decades old)!
To travel from coast to coast in about 5 hours! A miracle!
Television would blow his mind. A remote control with no attached wires would blow it again.
And the smartphone! A tiny bundle of miracles!
He would have no idea how it worked.
Now you can watch the news, a movie, or a sport event on your smartphone.
You can even use it as a phone!
And talk to someone across town or in a foreign country.
Nothing the smartphone does is a miracle.
God does amazing things—sometimes in response to our prayers—sometimes not.
*Click for Psa 121
Read Psalm 121
Phenomena are not for the same purpose as miracles.
Miracles were a sign that a human agent was acting on God’s authority.
Although phenomena may involve actions by others--Christians or not--they are not for the purpose of indicating the credentials of God’s messengers.
God has a plan. His way of realizing it is often unknown and mysterious to us, but his power is sufficient to accomplish every part of it, and his wisdom is sufficient to know the way.
