Thank you for tuning in our Bible Studies for Life. I'm Darrell Bay, Servants for Christ. As we get into our next Sunday School lesson is we're dealing with a series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions. Here in our second series, are miracles revelant? You know, miracles are acts of God that point to Jesus and it glorifies him. We'll be reading out of John chapter 10, verses 22 down to verse 26 and John chapter 14, verses 8 through 14. We'll be talking about how miracles point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. Also, how miracles point to the divinity of Jesus. And then Jesus continues to work through us for God's glory. Here in our Sunday School, October the 22nd, 2023, the 7th of Chesvon, 5784 of the Hebrew calendar. And so, you know what? There was a nine-year-old boy, Joey, that was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. And mom, he said, well, mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And when he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineer build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. He used his walkie talkie to radio headquarters and call in an airstrike. They then began to send in bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved. And his mother, with a look of surprise, asked, well, now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you? And. Well, no, mom, but if I told it the way that the teacher did, you'd never believe it. And so for the record, I do believe that what the Bible says is when the Bible says that God used a strong east wind to divide the Red Sea, I believe it. When the Bible says that the children of Israel crossed on dry ground, I believe it. I believe everything that the Bible says about miracles and the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea. In fact, I believe everything that the Bible says about every miracle in the Bible. God has not changed. God has not changed none according to Malachi 3.6, and he's the same yesterday, today, and forever according to the Hebrew writer. we look and realize that Vivian Green has a wonderful saying. She says, life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain. You shouldn't let the negativity of the world get to you, is what she's trying to say. Nor should you allow a bad day or a bad moment to overshadow all of the good days and the moments that you have. To dance in the rain, that metaphor, it means that a person has learned not to allow the circumstances to deter them from reaching their full potential. You know, don't wait for bad things in life to go away because we've got to trust in God and we've still got to believe in miracles. And so here, the confidence in the face of hard questions, as it talks about in today's second lesson, are miracles revelant out of John chapter 10. Now, when we know what we believe and why we stand with assurance in the truth of Christ, consequently, we speak with confidence as we have opportunities to talk to others about Christ. Questions, even objections about our faith can arise. But you know what? Our witness for Christ is not hindered because we know how to respond. You know, we look at six prominent questions some people in secular society use to attack the Christian faith. But in this study, it gives every one of us born-again believers a way of understanding why biblical beliefs are true along with apologetic for standing strong against all of the untruths that are hurled against us. And so, As we get into our miracles, Revellant, I want to invite every one of you to come and be with us on behalf of our Pastor Keith Dempsey at Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church. What are you doing Sunday? I'm glad that Hebrew writer says, and let us consider one another to provoke and stir up unto love and good works, not forsaking the symbol of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting, in other words, encouraging one another, so much the more as you see the day approaching. And so come and be with us for Sunday school at 10 o'clock, Sunday morning worship at 11, kids for Christ Wednesday night and adult Bible study at 7. And so we're located at 450 Iron Hill Road, Taylorville, Georgia 30178. Come and be with us if you're not in worship somewheres where you're already going in and giving glory and honor and praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's get started as we get into the scriptures. Father, help us to understand the petition of your son's heart. Lord, that we understand, Lord, everything, God, that's designed to give and in which grace that you have determined, Lord, to bestow on every one of us as we look at the lesson this morning on miracles. We know, Father, that you're still in the miracle saving as always. You perform miracles. And sometimes, Lord, there's times when we're looking for miracles that we don't get them. But Lord, we know, God, that nothing is impossible with you. And Lord, we know that there is some miracles right now that need to be in the making. When we come up again for another Sunday today, as the pastors get up and stand, as the Sunday school teachers teach, as the singers get up and sing, as the musicians take their fingers in giftedness and glory, touch the ivory keys and make beautiful sounds that every breath and everything can give glory and honor to Jesus Christ. Now, Lord, I want to thank you for another day like you've given us. Take this lesson and Lord, restore back the faith and hope in someone's life. That Lord, that you're still in giving us miracles. And it's a miracle that we all get up each and every day. Lord, we just take one step at a time. We thank you for our family and Lord for our church. And we ask God that you'll intervene into the many prayer requests. Every name that's been spoken, maybe we may not be aware of it, but I pray on behalf of those needs and necessities in our church. and for our families. And Lord, for all of our families and churches from past days, over at People's Valley, we pray for them. And we ask God that you'll just bless each and every congregation across America, that we send blessings their way. In Jesus' name, that you'll save the lost before it's too late. Lord, send us workers. and witnesses and soul winners that can go out and share the gospel with the world before it's too late in Jesus' marvelous mighty name. Amen. All right. We start out in John chapter 10, verses 22 down to verse 26. And here we see miracles point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. And so as we look at this, we're reminded that the Lord is always good to us because miracles point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. And so we see the Feast of Dedication that is here. In verse 22 of John chapter 10, and it was at Jerusalem, the Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter. John noted that Jesus' confrontation with the Jews occurred in the Jerusalem temple during the Feast of the Dedication. And it was relatively a new Jewish holiday, a holy day. You know, it commemorated the cleansing and the rededication of Jerusalem's temple in 164 BC. And we know that the celebration of lights by Jesus's day, that the festival symbolizes the hope of the Jews that a new ruler would come who would drive out the foreign occupiers of the Romans and reestablish Israel's independence. But Jesus visited Jerusalem often for some of the special days. He goes on, he says, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Here the temple, here the great had remodeled the 6th century BC temple, and it was built after the Jews returned from Babylon's exile in around 586-538 BC. The first Jewish century temple was covered about 36 acres that consisted of a structure containing the holy place, the Holy of Holies, surrounded by multiple courtyards. And then we also know that Solomon's porch that was in the covered area stretching around the east side of the temple complex, having pillars holding a roof, Jesus and his audience would have been sheltered from the weather. The religious leaders and the scribes sometimes taught their students on the porches, and the disciples met in these areas after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. Here we see, he says, then came the Jews round about and said unto him, how long doest thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Here is our question. How long doest thou make us to doubt? And if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Here is the Jews. Because in John's gospel, references to the Jews refer to the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sanhedrin, and the Sadducees who opposed Jesus and they were associated with the temple and the synagogue. But also not only we see how the Jews were here in this time, but Christ is the equivalent to the Hebrew term for Messiah, that he's the anointed one. And so Jesus is God the Father's Messiah, sent into the world to redeem humanity from all sin, and I'm glad that he goes on, he says, Jesus' antonym, and I told you, and ye believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Here, as the miracles point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah, The word believe, as Jesus answered them, I tell you, you believed not the works that I do in my father's name. They bear witness of me. And so he means to have an inner conviction to be convinced that something is true. And so the belief is not merely intellectual. It involves the conviction that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God sent by the Father to redeem the world. And it expresses the believer's obedience to the teaching of Jesus Christ. He tells us about the works. He said, Jesus has an enema told you and you believe not the works. And I'm glad that the works are the miracles he's talking about here. It's the events that unmistakably involve an immediate and a powerful action of God's design to reveal his character, his deeds, his actions, praise God. It means the manifestation, the practical proof, hallelujah. And so Jesus' works, as we look at them, and as he begins to tell us some of the things that's needed here, in the scriptures, amen, as we go forward. Here he's beginning to tell us that they bear witness of me is what he said. And so I'm glad that as we look and realize that everything of the works and the miracles that he's doing, praise God, Jesus, he says, he goes on in verse 5, in my father's name, I thank God, that he says, Jesus answered, I told you and you believe not the works that I do in my father's name. And here is what he did was he done according to the father's will. He did only what he saw the father doing. Jesus's works, his teachings provided the evidence that he was who he claimed to be a man. And so the incarnate son of God sent to reveal the father in the world to redeem all humanity from their sins. And so the Jews chose to reject Jesus because what? He did not conform to their theology and all of their traditions or fit their idea of who God's Messiah was supposed to be. And so he says in verse 26, But you believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Here are the miracles that point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. He says, basically, my sheep. I'm glad here that Jesus identifies the reasons that the Jews have a disbelief. They're not the sheep. I'm glad that when my mother would holler out in a crowd or if she was in the church, I knew exactly where she was when I heard her voice because I knew that voice from my from a young age. Jesus knows his sheep and they know him. And I'm glad that Jesus is true. Disciples have a genuine saying a relationship with him. And I'm glad that Jesus promised his sheep safety and security that would be safe because he gives us eternal life. of John 10, 28, that we're secure because we remain in Jesus' hand and that no one can take us out of the Father's hand from which no one could remove us. Hallelujah. And so I thank God that when you're in Jesus' hand, in the hand of God the Father, that as culture often dismisses miracles and events that they may not understand, but which have rational, natural explanations. Even some in the church dismiss the reality of miracles claiming that they're symbolic or that they serve as a metaphor for God at work. But to discount the possibility of miracles is to discount the power and the character of God Himself. Miracles are possible because of who God is and we see in the miracles of Jesus that they point us straight to Him. Here in John chapter 10 it focuses on the identity of Jesus who is God the Son sent by God the Father to do the works of the Father to redeem the world and so Jesus works, shows, miracles that he came from the Father. and is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. Jesus is that Good Shepherd that lays down His life for His sheep in obedience to the command of the Father. Jesus gives those who believe in Him, who'd I say? His sheep. Praise God. Eternal life. and no one can break the bond of that relationship. His teachings, his signs, his miracles, as John, every time miracles are talked about, they're referred to in the book of John as signs that he performed that many refused to believe. And so in John chapter 14, Jesus' discord to his disciples in chapters 13 all the way up to chapter 17 on the night of the Passover before he was betrayed, before he was arrested, before he was crucified in chapters 18 and 19. Jesus told his disciples not to be troubled, that he was going back to the Father to prepare a place for them, that he would return and take them to himself so that they would be together. And I'm glad that's one of the most beautiful scriptures of John chapter 14, verses 1, 2, and 3. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also. And so Thomas's reply that they did not know where he was going. And so Jesus said that I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also. And so here we see that miracles are revelant. Jesus is who he says he is, and then some must see it to believe it. But you got some Downton Thomas's that are out there because they weren't there. They didn't see it. And so, you know, that's how life is a lot of times. But when we look at how our miracles revelant and John chapter 14 verses 8 through 11 here, you know, as he's talking about, he says, basically, have I been a long time with you and yet has thou not known me, Philip? And so he goes, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it suffice us. And so that's how Jesus answered Philip, whose question was an honest one, because Philip had been following Jesus for the past three years. And yes, Philip had seen Jesus do some incredible miracles. But somewhere along the line, Philip had missed the fact that Jesus and his father are one. Philip wanted some concrete evidence you know when it came to God the Father Jesus was quick to respond to Philip that if he had seen Jesus he'd seen the Father everything said Jesus said and all of the miracles that he performed were from him but weren't from him but from the Father. I love how Jesus wrapped up all of this because in the conversation with Philip that he's talking about. He goes on, he says, Believest thou not that I am the Father, the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. But he wrapped this up, he says, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. Wow! You know what? While we may not see Jesus perform miracles today, Some of us that are doubtful, firsthand like Philip and the other disciples, it doesn't take much evidence to see him. God's handiwork is everywhere. When we stop and when we look, it's impossible to miss the evidence that's there. God's, all of the things in culture that we dismiss miracles and events. We may not understand, but we look at the rational, natural explanations. And even some in the church dismiss the reality of miracles, claiming that they're some kind of symbolic metaphor for God at work. But to discount the possibility of miracles, I said it a while ago, is to discount the power and the character of God, because miracles are possible because of who God is. And we see in the miracles of Jesus that they point us straight to him, praise God. And so I'm glad that we see all of this, that what he's given to us, amen, that he's given us the greatest blessing that anyone could ever have, amen, in all of our lives, amen. And so here Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him because the miracles point to the divinity of Jesus. Amen. And so as we go on in John 14 verses 12 through 14 are miracles revelant. He goes on and Jesus continues to work through us for God's glory, because he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And so this is a translation of what Greek is. Amen. And so the Greek is the transliteration of the Hebrew term, which emphasizes something is certain, something is sure, something is truthful, something is faithful. Jesus was emphasizing that what he, listen, was about to say was truthful, that it was trustworthy. And when Jesus spoke, he spoke with the authority of God the Father. And he goes on, he says, he that believeth on me, amen. I'm glad the word believes here means that a person knows and puts his faith in Jesus as the chosen Messiah from God the Father sent to redeem humanity, hallelujah. To believe is to acknowledge, to have full confidence that Jesus is who he said he is and that what he taught is completely true. And then it requires choosing to commit oneself, one's life completely to Jesus. his teachings, his mission. And I'm glad that it means given Jesus first place in our life, above our family, above our friends, above our careers, our possessions, our personal desires. And I'm glad, I'm glad that each and every one of us, he says, greater works than these shall he do because I go under my father. And so Here Jesus's return to the father was through his atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary hung high spread wide followed by his resurrection and his ascension in heaven that there is no greater works that the post-resurrection activities of the church that Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be sent to end the world every born-again a believer praise his holy name all believers. Amen. Jesus stated that he would be in his disciples and he remains in us. He continues to work through us as his disciples because we're the temple of our Lord and Savior. The greatest work of believers. being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the spread of the good news of the gospel throughout all Judea, throughout all Samaria, to the other ends of the earth. Amen. The redemption of the lost souls through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. He goes on, he says, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Here is one of the most misunderstood verses in the New Testament. Jesus is not offering some kind of blank check to his disciples. He said, here, you go write $100,000 and I'll sign it. Now, the purpose of what believers are to ask from Jesus is that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And so for the prayers of Jesus' disciples is to join in fulfilling the mission. which the Father has sent the Son, just as the Father sent the Son into the world to glorify the Father through Jesus's sacrificial death on that cross. Jesus would soon be sending his disciples out into the world on that same mission to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples, and I'm glad he says, That will I do. He emphasizes that Jesus will continue to act in the furtherance of the Father's mission, which he gave to Jesus and Jesus gave in turn to his disciples. He goes on, he said, in verse 14, if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. You know, in their prayers, the disciples are to ask Jesus for what they need to further the spread of the gospel. Pastors, what do you need to further the spread of the gospel? Sunday school teachers, what do you need to further the gospel in your class, amen? By the repetition of what he said in the previous verse, that Jesus emphasized the certainty, amen? Because he said, and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And so he emphasizes the certainty that what the disciples asked for in his name, for the furtherance of the mission, for the glorification of the Father, it will be given. It's a promise that Jesus will do it. And so as all the culture that dismisses the miracles and the events that we may not understand, all of the explanations, all of the things that take place, amen, I'm glad that out of all of the miracles, we don't have to discount the power and the character of God. Miracles are possible because of who God is, as I said a while ago. And as we see in the miracles of Jesus, he points every one of us straight to him. Jesus continues to work through us for God's glory. Amen. And the followers of Jesus will do greater things. And so, I'm glad that Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21, there's a slogan used by the army recruits for many, many, many years. Be all that you can be. And Paul used that similar phrase with the followers of Jesus in Ephesians chapter 3. Because now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask our thing according to the power that worketh in us. Woo! Boy, if that ain't powerful. Paul wanted believers to know that they had the power given to them by God to go above and beyond because Christ went above and beyond. Boy, I'm going to tell you, the power of Christ is beyond what any of our human minds can ever comprehend and understand and measure. But that power is given to each and every one of us as we live, as we serve Jesus every day. Whoever you are, wherever you're at, ain't nobody got more power than you can have. You can have just as much power. You can be just as much a prayer warrior as anyone else, praise God. And when we allow his power to go beyond what we think, then we can accomplish it. It brings glory and honor to the church, to God for all eternity. And it's an amazing power to tap in, hallelujah. And I'm glad that here as we look and realize that all of us, as we can change our thermostat to a smart device, we can control it with a way that even when we're away from home, I can cut lights on when I'm somewhere else with my phone if I want to. I can carefully follow the instructions and make sure I put all the wires in the right places, amen. But I've discovered that later that there was some things maybe that wasn't correct. But you know what? We hadn't needed to run the heat for a while or whatever. And so, you know what? We can knock the chill off. People can reach in a pocket and start their car up nowadays and get to air conditioning and go on without even walking out and getting in there. And so every one of us, it turns out that as we look at all of the things that technology does today through the proper connection, the same is true when it comes to tapping into God's power. That power is only available when we make the connection, listen to me, to the Holy Spirit and the power that comes from Him. And so, under Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. We can do above and beyond because the power of God is with us. And so miracles are acts of God that point people to Jesus and glorify him. As we choose one of the following activities, I'm glad each and every one of us that we can confront doubt no matter what. This affects our faith a lot of times. I'm glad that I've been forgiven of my sin. I've been resolved of conflicts. These are all miracles that I've experienced in my life. The Lord's helped me get well. He's healed me. He's completed me. He's provided me opportunities. He's met my financial needs. He gives me a job every day that we have, amen. He brings income into our house. And I'm glad that he's called me to service. And so we've got to be able to confront that doubt. If you struggle with believing miracles are possible, then consider what your doubts might say about your belief in God. Be willing to trust. that the all-powerful God is capable of doing the miraculous things that we cannot even explain. I saw God do things in my life. I saw him save the most rugged, wretched men and women on this earth that were the fatherest, but God's love was so gracious and merciful that he's had me go after some of the most rugged people Some people might say they don't deserve a chance. You and I don't either. But I'm glad that we've got to embrace the miracle. that's in our life because the greatest miracle that God performs is the spiritual transformation that he carries out through Christ in our lives. When he gave us the promise of eternal life, when we stepped out on faith and took him at his word and he saved us to the other most, hallelujah. And when we put our faith in him, when we trust God and let him work the miracle of making us a new person. Boy, I'm going to tell you, we can share that miracle. We can let people say the miraculous work God has done in our life, then we can be prepared to share that miracle with them. And so I'm glad that every one of us, as we go through life, that we have miracles that we could put stars by each and every day, no matter what. And so it's known that faith is a human response to the word of divine revelation. The miracles that we look at, the word of God is the revealer, the sign of his presence, the action of striking of all that he does, the explanation of which exits between Christ is miracles and his signs that he's done for all of us. Amen. Boy, I tell you, I've got more stars to put by more things other than these, because God, I'm going to tell you something, he's done more for me than I could ever say that anyone else has. But I'll tell you what, he loves me more than I love myself. I'm going to tell you something. Many of you are pretty selfish with it. You love yourself more than you love anyone else in the world. But I'm going to tell you, the Lord loves you more than anyone could possibly love you. Are miracles reveling? Miracles happen all around us every day. Babies are born prematurely. People survive horrible accidents or healed unexplainably after receiving word that they only have a short time to live. And so when it comes to what people consider a miracle, they usually want to see it to believe it. But in our society, People, they'll believe in aliens. They'll believe in vampires. They'll believe in Bigfoot. They'll believe in other creatures without seeing them. So what makes miracles so hard to believe? Because miracles can really only be explained by considering them to be supernatural acts by God. And when we view miracles from that standpoint, knowing that God is behind every miracle, there's no need to see it to believe it. And so, Boy, years ago when I was at Atlantic Steel, man, there was a guy that got out of prison, and I was a rigger at the time, at the end of a rail car, high up on hot steel. This guy that got out from robbing a bank, got out of prison, they gave him his job back, and while my crane man went on vacation, they brought this guy by and stuck him right back up in the crane, and hadn't even had any training since he'd been in prison. I was the rigger. He come down through there, had a 40-foot yoke on. He hit some of the upright lumbers that we put up against the rail boxcars for the hot steel to be in there, bundled up with the tons of it that's in a bundle. And he was helicoptering, coming down to me at the end of the bay on the end of the last car where I had nowhere to go. All of a sudden, he kept coming. He went down there and knocked the brakes off of the bridge train. I was trying to get out of the way. When I did, I fell over the end head first. I come out of there. My shoulder hit a nail container that all the nails, these nail machines put the nails in. And I come down and hit on my head with that helmet and rolled down with my eyes in there. And a guy saw me come, got my radio that was on me and radioed for help. You know what? That could have just killed me right then. but it felt like an angel caught me. Oh yeah, it did. For years, over and over in my mind, I say, Lord, how am I alive today? How did I survive that? How am I still here? And as if that angel caught me and slowed me down, and as I come down, I come down so hard, it took the skin off my kneecaps. That's how hard, buddy, when I come, and boy, They took me to the hospital and I dislocated my shoulder. That was it. You know what? I had a stick shift, so I really couldn't drive it. Going all the way from Cartersville to 14th Street on Mascaslin working at Atlantic Steel. But there you have it. A miracle that here I am still today. I could go one after the other of the military times that it came very close. Very close. I know Don Poindexter, our courier at GNTC, had been shot down at least eight times in Vietnam in a helicopter, and he's still around today. He's a walking miracle. You don't believe in miracles or miracles revelant? Listen, you need to go with this today. Thank God, Jesus promised to continue working through his followers for God's glory. Spend time today, this Sunday, thanking God that he still chooses us to continue his good works to others. Not only that, but we also see we need to talk about God and look for opportunities to share the marvelous things that you see God do in the world today. And then lastly, but not least, not only thank God, not only talk about God, but share God. Visit a local homeless shelter, visit a food bank, listen to their stories, pray with them and offer them the miracles that Jesus gave us through the cross of Calvary, because miracles are revelant. Now, I hope and pray that as we close out, that you realize that we are tremendously blessed each and every day of all the things that we have God is better to us than we are to our own selves. Remember, God has not changed. And so Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so there's confidence in the face of hard questions because miracles are acts of God that point to Jesus and glorify him. Miracles point to Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. Miracles point to the divinity of Jesus, and Jesus continues to work through us for God's glory. Father, thank you that we know for a fact of all the miracles through the years. We may never even be able to explain it, but we know, God, that you're the miracle worker in all of our lives. May there be a miracle in the making going on for someone across America that has a great need right now. I send this out to them in the name of Jesus, in his power, because Lord, you said that we can do all things through you. Lord, as we are on your mission, we're in your purpose for going out to the uttermost parts of the world, of the Samaria, of the ends of the earth, to tell people about the good news of the gospel. Save that old lost sinner right now, Lord, before it's too late. Make a believer out of them. Oh, Lord, I thank you for the many that I've saw saved over the years and that you just use little old bitty me, Lord, that's a nobody, to be able to go out and to reach them and you brought them out of the depths of hell. And Lord, I want to thank you for your mercy and your grace and for your salvation and for your sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. Oh, Lord, as old David Boggs sings a song, you paid too high a price. Thank you, Father. Thank you for the miracles that are revelant in Jesus's mighty name. Amen. God bless you.