Signs - Pt. 2 Series

Signs

Pt. 2

I. Introduction

I have a sign situation. My situation is not that Jesus did signs! My issue is that Jesus, in John 14:11-14 and Mark 16:14-20, made it crystal clear that we would not only have signs following us, but even greater signs than He performed. My sign issue is that I see no signs following us!

You will also remember that I told you that we don’t see signs because we are too busy chasing what is supposed to be chasing us, we are afraid of the risk that are required to see them, and we assign them to superstars. We desperately need signs because they validate our testimony and the lack of signs reveals the lack of faith on our part.

So today I want us to begin looking at some of the miracles or signs that Jesus performed and see if we can’t learn something from them. I am not going to have time to deal with every miracle. Over the course of our years together I have already hit on some of the prominent miracles Jesus performed. I have dealt with His first miracle, turning water into wine (He uses ordinary things and do what He says to do), the blind man that Jesus took out of the village and touched twice, the woman with the issue of blood, and the man with the withered hand. So I want us to move forward in Jesus’ sign show. Let’s pick up at the 2nd miracle.

John 4:46-54

46-48Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king's court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: "Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe." 49But the court official wouldn't be put off. "Come down! It's life or death for my son." 50-51Jesus simply replied, "Go home. Your son lives." The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, "Your son lives!" 52-53He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, "The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o'clock." The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, "Your son lives." 53-54That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee.

50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (NIV)

II. Sign

a. Sometimes you have to go out of your way to get an answer to your need.

Apparently this man was desperate. He was so desperate that he was willing to go out of his way to get to Jesus. In order for him to gain access to the miracle of Christ he had to be willing to go the distance. It had to be a pretty good distance to his house because after the healing it took him at least 12 hours to get back home to find out that his son is healed!

How many of us are in dire need for the assistance of Jesus, faced with desperate need and yet we refuse to go out of our way to find a miracle? We won’t do anything out of our comfort zone. Attend another service . . . are you out of your mind? Praise a little harder? Are you crazy? Praise different? I am just not into that! Pray a little longer? You must be insane? Give my tithes or God forbid even above my tithes? That is nuts. Fast a meal? I think I might have to find a different church!

We expect Him to come to us. Our terms. It may just be that you need to do something that costs you. You may have to go out of your way. Too many of us won’t ever see any signs because we do the same thing, refuse to go out of our way, and demand that Jesus meet us in our time frame and in our preferred manner! I challenge you to go out of your way for your miracle! How far are you willing to go? How uncomfortable are you willing to be? When was the last time that you actually made an investment prior to demanding a withdrawal?

b. Don’t let a put off result in a walk off.

Have you ever prayed for a miracle and felt put off? You pray and pray and see no results. Too many of us allow the put off to cause us to walk off. We give up! Some of you have heard “wait” and mistook it for a no and you have walked off. There is something to be said for perseverance! Some of you have given up too soon and too quickly. You have walked off into despair and depression. You have walked off to try to find other solutions or to take matters in your own hands. Just because He put you off doesn’t mean you can’t trust Him or that you won’t see a sign. Wait for His timing. Wait for His touch. We don’t like to wait and our impatience often causes us to walk away from the only real solution we would have ever found! Our cultural is so impatient. We don’t want to wait on food, movies, service, and certainly not on God. Those that wait on the Lord see signs. He doesn’t wait on us . . . we wait on Him.