Sermon Central
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But He Heals People!
Contributed by Pastor Jeff Hughes on Feb 1, 2014 (message contributor)
Deut 13:1-3 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ’Let us go after other gods’ — which you have not known — ’and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Matt 24:24-25 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
But He Heals People!
I have had the misfortune--yes, misfortune--to be audience to some people that rant about all of the miracles a televangelist does. One former member of our church (a church hopper who lasted about 2 ½ years, a personal best for him) got angry and left (stomped out, actually) when I mentioned from the pulpit one of the televangelists that he follows. His reasoning was this: they do miracles and have a huge church or huge following. Our church, by comparison in his eyes, was dead because we are quite small in size.
Well, let’s look at the last charge first. We are small, that is true. But God has blessed us, and He will grow our little church in the wildwood on His timetable, not mine. And second, since when does size mean that a church has spiritually arrived? Yes, there are large churches that are quite in tune with God but also some (including some of the televanglists’ churches) that are way, way off target.
Back years ago, I heard a well known salesman that regularly competed with the number one company in his industry. Those competing against him from the big company would regularly tout how big they were and how small his company was. His response still makes me laugh: "If size were everything, elephants would rule the world and Miss America would weigh 400 pounds!" So, then, size is not necessarily a proof of the working of God in a church.
Secondly, and this is the emphasis in today’s devotional, is miracles. Some people are all about the "signs and wonders". This is not to discount healings and real, true signs from God. They do exist; I have experienced a healing of my wrist (long story but definitely true) and also have met and know people that God has healed miraculously. However, we have all heard stories about fake healers. One well known televangelist was exposed in the late 80’s as a fake when it was revealed that his wife was feeding him information in an earwig radio device in his ear.
The key Scriptures for today speak of those that actually do miracles, but those miracles are not of God. In other words, just because a miracle occurs does not mean it is of God. It all comes down to this, according to this according to these two passages: What do they do with Christ? Do they point toward Christ? The question always comes to this with any teacher: What do they do with Christ
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