Sermon preached by Christoph Lindner on Sunday 23 February, 10.30am service.

This sermon is based on Acts 4.5-13 and Luke 7. 11-23.

During our service and at the beginning and end of this sermon, we sang and prayed this hymn:

Here are the notes from page 1 of our news sheet:

Healthy Family: What we need is a miracle

“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.” (Acts 2.43)

Jesus and his disciples spread the good news in both proclamation (preaching) and demonstration (healings, miracles).  

For Luke, who wrote a gospel and the Book of Acts, signs and wonders

• bestow benefits (often physical) on those blessed by them.
• show that Jesus truly is the Son of God in whom ‘there is salvation’ (Acts 4.12)
• show that the Kingdom of God truly is among them.
• form part of the Christian witness and produce faith.

Wherever signs and wonders are done in the name of Jesus today, they have the same potential. God works through the regular rhythms and rules of creation (e.g. modern medicine!), in response to faithful prayer and through specific acts of grace, sometimes miraculous.

Healthy Habits

From Pentecost we will explore and practise healthy habits of Christians. When we grow in Christlikeness, that itself is a gift of God’s grace. The more we practise healthy habits, the more signs and wonders we will see, with the habit of prayer playing a prominent role. And there is no greater miracle than the transformation of the human heart!

When we follow Jesus, the initiative always lies with him! It is important to remember this when it comes to miracles: we cannot produce them ‘to order’ and sadly the realm of God’s supernatural intervention can be misused for human manipulation and deceit. We need to humbly recognise that there will always be an element of mystery as to why we see some signs and not others. Many questions beginning with ‘why’ will remain. But as followers of Jesus we are already part of the greatest miracle of all – Jesus’ resurrection and our firm hope of overflowing and eternal life as we follow him.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)