{"id":684,"date":"2015-10-06T17:43:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/?p=684"},"modified":"2015-10-06T17:43:30","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:43:30","slug":"miracles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/?p=684","title":{"rendered":"Miracles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Miracles<\/p>\n<p>Part #1 of a 2 part series<\/p>\n<p>Scripture: Mark 16<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Does Miracles still happen today?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wrong use of the term miracle:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A purely unusual event<\/li>\n<li>A simple coincidence<\/li>\n<li>An everyday occurrence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Defining a Miracle<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A supernatural <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Intervention<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li>Supernatural \u2013 God is the cause of true miracles<\/li>\n<li><b>God, who is continuously active in the world, breaks His usual pattern and does something extraordinary.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A miracle transcends natural laws (but doesn&#8217;t break natural laws).\n<ul>\n<li>A miracle <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">overpowers<\/span> the law of nature \u2013 It is an <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">exception<\/span> to a natural law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A miracle has a special <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">purpose<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li>Purpose \u2013 Confirm someone or something was truly God. They authenticated the message and the messenger, and demonstrated God&#8217;s love by relieving suffering<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A. God empowered Moses to perform miracles as evidence that God had <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">sent<\/span> him \u2013 Exodus 3:1-4:9<\/p>\n<p>B. God used miracles to show that He had sent Jesus and to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">reveal<\/span> His identity \u2013 John 10:25; John 14:11; Acts 2:22, John 20:30-31<\/p>\n<p>C. Miracles <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">verify<\/span> that the Apostles and their message were from God<\/p>\n<p>D. God used miracles to bring people to Jesus \u2013 Acts 9:40-42<\/p>\n<p>E. Miracles were used to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">reveal<\/span> God (His love by reviving suffering) and bring <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">glory<\/span> to Him \u2013 John 11:40<\/p>\n<p>A closer look at Biblical miracles<\/p>\n<p>With Biblical miracles there was always clear order and purpose to them<\/p>\n<p>Miracles cluster around Four Periods of Biblical History:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Exodus<\/li>\n<li>The Prophets<\/li>\n<li>The Ministry of Christ<\/li>\n<li>The Apostles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Importance of Miracles Actually Occurring:<\/p>\n<p>If there is no such this as Miracles, then much of the Old and New Testaments are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">false<\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">unreliable<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Are Miracles Possible?<\/p>\n<p>Consider Creation \u2013 In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If God created and designed the universe, He can be involved in His creation anytime He chooses<\/li>\n<li>If God is the source of natural laws, He can supersede them at any time<\/li>\n<li>God who created time, space, stars, planets, moons, and all the variety of life on earth can intercede in more simple acts than these like healing or helping in time of need<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Miracles do not as widely occur today as a basis of faith because we have extraordinary records of superior accuracy to show God&#8217;s truth<\/p>\n<p><strong>The question, claim, and the Answer:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Question &#8211; \u201cIf God performed miracles then, why does He not do them now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claim &#8211; \u201cIf I saw a miracle I could believe!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Answer &#8211; <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u201cThey have the Word of God\u201d Luke 16:31<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is interesting that those opposed to Jesus didn&#8217;t deny the fact of the miracles He performed.<\/p>\n<p>They either attributed them to the power of Satan or tried to suppress the evidence<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next Week &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Authentic miracles are part of the means of establishing the true religion.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Are all miracle claims alike? Or are Biblical miracles different?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miracles Part #1 of a 2 part series Scripture: Mark 16 Does Miracles still happen today? Wrong use of the term miracle: A purely unusual event A simple coincidence An<span class=\"excerpt-ellipsis\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/?p=684\" itemprop=\"url\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunnight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":685,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csbcva.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}