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Acts 19:8-12: Do You Believe In Miracles?

Acts 19:8-12: The Miracle

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Do miracles still happen?

There was a fellow who decided to go parachuting with his friend. As neither of them had ever been parachuting before they needed to be trained. They spent the day at the airport studying wind trajectories, physics, the speed of acceleration of a free falling object, as well as what to do if your parachute fails to open. The one friend did not understand it at all and even when they practiced with a mock parachute, he didn’t get it. He couldn’t even get the mock parachute to work. He didn’t get it.

Then they went to the plane. Flipping a coin to see who would go first, the friend lost and was supposed to jump first. Discovering, however, at about 850 ft in the air that he was afraid of heights, he convinced his companion to jump first.

They were jumping from 3000 ft. As this was their first jump, cords were tied to their parachutes so that they would open automatically upon exiting the plane because you never know if someone new will be able to pull the cord to release the parachute or not. The companion climbed out on the wing (as he was supposed to) jumped, counted to five (as they practiced), looked up saw that the parachute had opened beautifully and enjoyed one of the most peaceful experiences of his life noticing the miracles of God’s creation while drifting to the ground on this perfectly windless day.

The friend, emboldened, does the same: climbs onto the wing, jumps, counts and looks to see the parachute; he reaches to grab the steering toggles on his parachute…they aren’t there. His parachute isn’t there (most of it anyway). It isn’t working. He has to take it off his back and pull the emergency chute all the while following faster and faster towards the ground. As he pulls the cord, he prays: “Lord, please save me.” He pulls the cord, looks, and the emergency chute didn’t open properly either. It isn’t catching any wind. It isn’t slowing him down. He falls beneath the trees towards the power lines and highway below.

It is at this time that the Lord’s hand reaches out and actually lifts the parachutist up in the air, opens his parachute and gently sets him on the ground without a scratch. This is a true story; I am that parachutist.

Miracles do happen.

When have you experienced a miraculous encounter with our Lord?

Miracles do happen because God is real and there is even more to this story too:

When I was without a parachute and about to pull the emergency cord, I prayed. Now, I was a smoker back then and when I pulled my emergency cord, I remember praying, “Dear God, if you save me I’ll quit smm… - never mind just please save me!” And He did. And I knew that as He did the first thing that I would want after I landed would be a cigarette. And it was, so it was a good thing that I didn’t make the vow. (I did eventually quit smoking; but that’s an unrelated story.) I know that God takes covenants, oaths, and vows very seriously and I didn’t make one then that I wouldn’t keep.

Mind you, as an Officer in The Salvation Army now, I don’t smoke anymore anyways – God has delivered me from that addiction, just like he has delivered me from other addictions and just like he can deliver you from anything. Honestly, truly, when I was a Salvation Army soldier serving on Vancouver’s DTES I saw people actually cured of AIDS, actually cured of cancer, actually cured of diabetes. I have seen people delivered from demons. I have seen entire lives transformed – sometimes in deliverance from these things and sometimes in being given the ability to live through these things so that they can be used to help others who must themselves live through the very same things.

That is a key point of Christianity, I think. Life is hard and life is going to be hard but when God is with you, no matter how bad it gets, it will be okay because you will never be alone. God is with you… and when we really need it, when we are really at the end of our rope, and there is nothing you can do, more often than not I think we will find God opening the parachute of our life and placing us firmly on the ground on salvation.

Let us pray
   
www.sheepspeak.com
Originally presented to Maxwell Meighen Centre, 21 April 2016, and is based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, Do Miracles Still Happen? Nipawin Journal (September 2008) On-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#miracles
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