The Dynamics of Prayer

00:01 Greet you this morning in the name of Jesus. Would you turn in your copies of the Scriptures to the book of Acts, the fourth chapter? Continuing our messages in the book there, which records the early days of the Christian church. 00:16 And we thank God for this record that has been given to us of their experiences and the pattern for our lives as witnesses, witnesses of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here this morning we want to look at, review the chapter. 00:36 In chapter 4 we would look at the healing of the lame man. And we understand this man was 40 years old and it was a miracle that caused quite a stir. You have the healing of the lame man, which set in motion a whole series of events, including many new believers that were added to the church. 00:56 In verse 4, "However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000." So God is on the move and He is calling forth a church for His holy name. 01:09 And then we have the fact that these men were then hauled before the Sanhedrin, which was a politically corrupt organization. It was supposed to be the leaders of the Jewish nation, but they were under the auspices of Rome at this time. And to moderate between Rome and the Jews, 01:31 these men set themselves up as experts and authorities in how to do that. These were the same men that called for Jesus' crucifixion just days before and weeks before this event. And they really fully, fully could have called for the execution of Peter and John. 01:51 But God was again on the move. And they had nothing that they could charge them with except preaching in the name of Jesus and preaching forth the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 02:05 And that didn't stop them, however, from forbidding them, attempting to forbid them in their work as early church leaders in making Christ known. 02:14 And so at the end of this little session that they had with Peter and John, they not only opposed the name, but forbade that they should preach anymore or teach anymore in the name of Jesus. And verse 19, "Peter and John answered and said to them, 02:33 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge? We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.'" And so then immediately following this in verse 23, which is where our text begins this morning, "Being let go, they went to their companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 02:55 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord." That's what we need to do in times of trouble, times of difficulty, is raise our voice to God. Now I know we do silent prayer and we oftentimes have a background of silent prayer. But this was not silent prayer. 03:14 This was raising their voice to God "with one accord and said, 'Lord, You are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said, 'Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, 03:35 and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.' For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever Your hand determined before to be done. 03:54 Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, 04:15 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 04:17 and they spoke the word of God with boldness." We have here a prayer that is prayed by the early church that would give us a reason to look at the dynamics of prayer this morning and see what is it about this prayer that was so effective and so effectual that even the place 04:36 where they were assembled was shaken and they were all filled with the Spirit. Remembering that this group of disciples, even though much bigger than it was when Jesus led them, the 12, but this group of leaders were the ones that said to Jesus, "Teach us to pray!" As John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray, 04:57 "Teach us to pray!" And so then He taught him to pray. They taught them, He taught them to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one or from evil. 05:19 For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." That was the prayer Jesus gave them to pray. We see some similar things in dynamics in this prayer here this morning. So the first thing that we notice here in the prayer, the dynamics of prayer, is they were worshiping the sovereign Lord. In verse 24, 05:39 they address Him, "Lord," or God, "with one accord," they said, "Lord, You are God." Now if you have an ESV or some other translations, it may say that they addressed Him, "Sovereign Lord." That's a good translation. It means absolute ruler. The absolute ruler of the universe. We heard about that this morning. 06:00 Some translations translate that, "Master." Master, sovereign Lord, ruler of the universe, absolute ruler, "Our Father, who art in heaven." Now you just stop and think about that when we pray, when we approach prayer. We oftentimes lose short or lose sight in our shortsightedness. 06:20 We lose the vision that we are talking to the God of the universe. The God on the throne forever and ever. The great I Am, the holy One of Israel, the Lord of the church, the Savior of the body. We are talking to the One who is in all things in and of Himself, who is the self-sufficient One, 06:41 Jehovah Yahweh, who is the self-sufficient One who needs nothing and has everything. And we are approaching His throne, the throne room of heaven. And according to the Old Testament types, we can go right into the holy of holies. 06:58 We are told in the book of Hebrews that we can enter into the holiest place of all by the blood of Jesus, right into the throne room. Now what would it be like if we could do that in the United Nations and all these ambassadors and important people that have control of much of the political structures of the world? 07:20 And we could go in there and ask them for something. Or the President of the United States, or the President of the European Common Union, or the Premier or whatever your country would have, and say, "We'd like to have an audience with the King." And here we have the sovereign Lord of the universe giving us audience. Now how can that be neglected? 07:42 And yet so often I'll be the first to confess that I neglect the opportunity of prayer and of approaching the sovereign Lord. But they call Him the sovereign Lord, "Our Father, who art in heaven." So we seek an audience with the control center of the universe. Let that sink in. 08:01 Let that thrill your hearts this morning that when we come to God, we don't come to a man. We don't come to just any human dignitary. But we come to God Almighty. And so we remember that this morning. And they started their prayers with worship. They started their prayer with worship, 08:20 with ascribing to God ultimate worth and value, which is what worship is. The ascribing to God and declaration of God and to God that He is the Almighty One of the universe, the most valuable person, the most valuable thing, the most valuable entity in the world, 08:41 in our lives. He is ultimate value and worth. 08:45 And so when we come to God, whether it be in a corporate worship service or whether it be in a private closet prayer or in a small group of people or around the table, we approach Him with honor and reverence and dignity and ascribe to Him ultimate worth and value. 09:04 Give to Him our worship and to adore His holy name. The second thing that we see about this prayer is the declaration or that they were declaring the word of God. 09:16 The reason I had this read this morning, Psalm chapter 2 by Brother Ryan, was to connect the Old Testament Psalm there that they were quoting with this New Testament prayer. "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing or plot a vain thing? 09:34 The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers have gathered together." Can you imagine now the difference in approach here? We're approaching as the church, the people of God, we're approaching the Lord, sovereign Lord, Master of the universe, absolute ruler. And these kings of the earth are gathering together against Him, 09:57 against the Lord and against His anointed Son, the Christ. And so here you have the two kingdoms. You have the two kingdoms in conflict. And this chapter 4 represents those two kingdoms, the two kingdoms of conflict between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God, 10:17 the children of darkness and the children of light. And so we approach God as the children of light. But what they're doing is they're recognizing the word of God. There is nothing more spirit-ordained in prayer than to pray the word of God. 10:36 There is nothing more spirit-ordained in prayer than to pray Scriptures. Because they proceed from the mouth of God, the heart of God. And they are that which declares His promises to us. And so when we connect our prayers with the Scripture, 10:56 we are declaring back to God His promises and reflecting His glory back to Him of who He is. And so to pray the word of God is an expression of our faith in the promises of God. 11:11 And this is why we want to, in our praying, pray the Scriptures back to the Lord and remind Him of what He has said. Not that we need to, that He needs to be reminded, but that we need to be reminded. 11:24 We need to remember that God has a cause and a purpose and is very much in control both of them by means of knowledge and ability. He is in control of this whole world by the fact that He knows it all and has all power and all authority. 11:44 And so when we declare to Him the word of God, we're reminding God and us, most importantly us, but we're declaring back to Him our faith, our faith in His word, our faith in His promises. If you want to really grow in prayer, seek the whole, get a hold of the promises of God and pray them back to Him. 12:05 Sometimes people wonder, "Well, what do I pray?" Well, get the promises of God. Get a Bible promise book if that's what it takes. Or the promises in the book of Psalms, the book of the Epistles. They're all the way through the Bible, the promises of God. And just remind God and yourself about the promises of God that relate to the problem that you're facing. 12:28 And God responds to His word and He responds when we acknowledge His knowledge and ability and authority. The third thing that we notice in this prayer is that their desire was to advance the purposes of God, to declare the word of God, 12:47 to advance the purposes of God, verse 27 and 28. "For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed..." By the way, they're reminding Him of what He did. God, this is Your problem. This is Your issue. This is Your will, Your purpose. 13:06 "Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, who were those kings and rulers standing up against God and His Christ, 13:15 and the Gentiles and the people of Israel being gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done." And so they're acknowledging the purposes of God. In this case, the purpose of God was the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 13:37 And it all really comes down to that when we're talking about persecution, when we're talking about opposition, when we're talking about difficulties. We're talking about, do we serve a risen Lord Jesus Christ who has been ordained by God as the authority in our lives, the all-powerful One, the all-sufficient One? 13:57 And He has all power and ability and a plan for the things that we face. And that He allows us to come in, to allow us to come into our life. Or do we not? And so we are declaring the purposes of God. Not for our sake, for His sake, but for ours. This would correspond with what Jesus taught them to pray. 14:19 "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The kingdom of God to come and the will of God to be accomplished and experienced. And someone has said, not that we need to introduce our circumstances to God, but that we need to introduce God to our circumstances. 14:42 And I like that. I kind of like that. Well, God already knows about our circumstances. But as we come under His authority and worship Him and declare His word and seek to know and advance His purposes, we introduce God into our situation. And that is a powerful way to pray. 15:02 God, this is the situation that we're facing. And God, we introduce You to this situation. We bring You, we invite You, we beseech You, we, we, we, we urge You to come into our circumstances and make a difference to accomplish Your will and Your plan for our lives. 15:25 Someone has said that prayer is not so much about telling God about our problems, but telling our problems about our God. Yes, telling our problems about our God. One thing that impresses me as I read through this prayer, and, and, and there was obviously opposition coming. 15:47 And that opposition was inspired by the enemy because it represented, it was coming from His pawns, the pawns of the kingdom of darkness under the authority and control of Satan. Yes. 16:00 But it amazes me and, and, and intrigues me that and impresses me that so little time was spent rebuking the enemy for inspiring the opposition. And now the great amount of time they spent aligning themselves with the eternal purposes of God. 16:21 Now that is amazing. Especially when you hear people pray today. And I pray this way at times when we know that we're being attacked by the enemy. 16:30 And so we focus on the attack rather than saying, "God, what is Your purpose that is going on here?" And we don't give the enemy any, any, credit at all in this situation. We want to declare, "Thy kingdom come. 16:47 Thy will be done in these circumstances." And put our faith and trust in the One who can make that happen. And it's a different way of praying than what we oftentimes hear today. When we pray, we do not focus on the enemy. We're talking to God, not the devil. Amen? 17:07 And so where our focus is when we experience our difficulties and opposition is to God. 17:15 And our purpose is that we might be strong and be faithful and be bold and see His kingdom extended and expanded and built in the name of Jesus. Now I hesitate to share this, but I think I'm going to. 17:36 The Lord laid it on my heart to share a personal experience. 17:43 About a year ago, maybe a little bit longer, with my Parkinson's, as my tremors get more and more pronounced... By the way, I appreciate those of you that said, "We don't even notice it anymore." Praise God. It's just grown on you. 18:04 But I was in a couple settings where it just seemed unusual that strangers or even people that I know would ask if they can pray for me. And of course, I'll take all the prayer I can get. I want to, I need to be prayed for. 18:24 But I've come to the conclusion if somebody asks me in relation to my Parkinson's, "What are you going to pray about for me?" Because I've prayed for healing. And I've been anointed in this very church for healing. And I believe in healing. And I would love healing. 18:44 And yet I don't want to focus on healing so much that I miss the prayer for faithfulness. Faithfulness. 18:55 So I'm ready to tell people, "If you want to pray for me, pray that I will be faithful to God through whatever His purpose is for my life." I feel much at peace about praying that way. Now yes, I'll take anybody to pray for healing. 19:17 Praise the Lord. But sometimes I think I just get a little bit, I get a little bit nervous when somebody says, "Can I pray for you because you have Parkinson's?" Well, I'd like you to pray for me if I have Parkinson's or I don't have Parkinson's. I just want you to pray that I'll be faithful to God. 19:36 And that's what they were praying here. "Lord, look on their threats and grant Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word." With all boldness. That's what we want. Well, let's move on. And then we were praying for strengthening the believer, verse 29. 19:56 "Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word." Look on their threats. That's the things that threaten God's people. "And give us boldness to proclaim Your word, to stand for truth, to stand for Christ, to stand for God. 20:12 And stretch forth Your hand to heal and do wondrous things in the name of Jesus." We are not opposed to God doing wondrous things. In fact, we want God to do wondrous things. We even pray that He would give us our daily bread, if you go back to the Lord's Prayer. And that He would forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 20:31 And that He would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now I guess one could say that that's a little bit focusing on the enemy. But I think the focus is still on our Father. Our Father. It's not His will that we should be ensnared or captive to the enemy. 20:50 So we pray for victory over temptation. And then finally, in verse 30, we have the displaying of God's glory. "By stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." Now what this would be similar to the prayer there, 21:10 "That Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." To make God's name great among the nations. And to declare His goodness, His mercy, His faithfulness, His steadfast love, and all the character and attributes of a God who we know and have His full attention and access to His throne. 21:30 Now what were the results of their prayer? In verse 31, "God moved among them." God moved among them. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. God was on the move. And when God moves, things get shaken up. And we see that in the world around us, 21:51 that they are getting shaken up. God is moving. "They were filled with the Spirit," verse 31. Now if you go back to our messages from Acts chapter 2, we said there's the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happened on the day of Pentecost and happens in the lives of those who come to Christ and are baptized by one Spirit into one body. 22:10 "And then there are many fillings of the Holy Spirit." This is interesting to me because these same people, some of them were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, not too many weeks before. And here they are again being filled, being filled with the Spirit. 22:30 And so this is an example of people being filled with the Spirit who were previously baptized by the Spirit into Christ. Here again, they were in need of a fresh endowment of power from on high. There's a fresh problem, there's a fresh power. A fresh problem, a fresh power. A fresh difficulty, a fresh resource. 22:52 And that is the way that God's people meet the challenges of the day. And then finally there, they were made bold. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of God with boldness. If there's ever one thing that is needed today, it is boldness to speak God's word. 23:10 There is a word of God that would go forth in power and accomplish that it was sent out to do. Even the great Apostle Paul, with all of his spiritual knowledge and power and authority as an apostle, as a missionary to the Gentile church, he even prayed in Ephesians chapter 6 that in putting on the armor of God, 23:29 he said, "And then prayer that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." Two times there he says it. If you want to pray for me, pray. Not that I don't get persecuted because he said, 23:50 "The Holy Spirit tells me everywhere I go, I'm going to be persecuted." But pray that I may be bold and speak the word of God without compromise and without fear of man or fear of failure. Now I want to just give for the next few minutes an understanding, a little bit of understanding of this thing of signs and wonders. 24:10 Signs and wonders. What is the purpose of signs and wonders? Verse 31, verse 30. "They prayed for signs and wonders." Now we live in a day where there are many people who pray for signs and wonders. And I'm not sure, I wonder sometimes what signs they're looking for. 24:30 I wonder sometimes what they are looking for and why they're praying for. But nevertheless, the early church prayed for that God would reveal Himself. So to understand the purpose of signs and wonders, let's just first of all talk about what signs and wonders are not. The purpose of signs and wonders is not to glorify man. 24:50 It is not to glorify man. The gifts of the Spirit are not tools for display. They are tools for ministry. They're not tools for display. Someone has said that the gifts of the Spirit are like power tools. 25:09 And what do you do with power tools? You don't hang them on a wall somewhere and say, "Look at all my power tools. They're all shiny and..." No, they're clean and... No, they are for use. You use your gifts. You don't display your gifts. You use your gifts. 25:29 You don't display your gifts. To display our gifts comes very close at times to wanting attention for who we are and what God has done through us and for us. "We are not to labor for the meat that perishes," Jesus said. 25:45 "But for the food that endures to everlasting life." He always tried to take people's eyes away from the sign and put them on Him. That was one of the purposes of the signs and wonders. And we'll get to that in a minute. 26:02 So we don't want to be made king any more than Jesus wanted to be made king of the nations. We want to serve. And the gifts of the Spirit are for the purpose of serving, not of glorifying man. 26:18 The second not purpose thing that is not a purpose of signs and wonders is to replace Scripture. It is Scripture that God wants us to focus on. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. 26:35 Wherewithal shall the young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereunto according to Thy word." And I will also say this. It is not signs and wonders that produce maturity. Maturity is produced by Scripture and by character that is built by Scripture. 26:55 In fact, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect or mature, fully mature, 27:11 thoroughly furnished unto all good works." What is it that thoroughly furnishes and matures the believer is the word of God in the heart and lived out in the midst of testing and trials. And so it is not signs and wonders that build maturity. 27:29 It is the Scripture that builds maturity as we embrace it and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. The third thing that is not a purpose of signs and wonders, and that is to raise money or pursue selfish ends. "Come and let us show you some signs and wonders, 27:49 and then we'll take a big offering and you can help finance our lavish lifestyle." That's not the purpose of signs and wonders. Now where do we find that? This is not... 28:05 Is this not what Simon the Sorcerer was doing? In the book of Acts, where we'll find later on in the book, that he saw that the apostles had special power, that whoever they laid their hands on, that they would receive the Holy Spirit. And there was a great move of God at the hands of the apostles. 28:27 And Simon says, "Here, let me give you some money so I can have this same power and ability." And so he thought with money that he could buy the power of God. Well, now this is a little bit different what we're talking about here. But sometimes people want to buy the power of God, get money. But it's all the same. 28:46 The equating of spiritual power with physical filthy lucre. That's not the purpose of signs and wonders. The fourth thing that is not a purpose for signs and wonders, and that is to become an end in itself. Not to become an end in itself. 29:06 Now I want you to go with me to a couple of Scriptures here. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. This just blessed me when I discovered this yesterday. And the Lord pointed it out to me in my study. 29:20 Luke chapter 2, verse 34 is the account where 29:31 Mary is giving birth to the Lord Jesus. Chapter 2, verse 34. It's to Simeon. "Simeon came to the temple and discovered that Mary was there with Jesus. And he said this. "Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, 29:52 his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against.'" He is declaring here that Jesus Himself is the sign. Jesus is the sign. 30:13 Now go over to chapter 11 of Luke, verse 30. And we'll have this another sign in relation to Jesus. 30:22 Jesus was asked by His disciples on several occasions, "Show us a sign. Show us a sign." And this time He was again being asked to show a sign. And He said in verse 29, "This is an evil generation. 30:39 It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah, the prophet. For as Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation." Get this. Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites. 30:59 Jesus is a sign to the nations, to this generation. "And," He said, "the Queen of the South will rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And indeed, greater than Solomon is here, the men of Nineveh will rise up." They had their sign. 31:18 "And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here, a greater sign than the sign of Jonah." Man being swallowed by a whale, by a large fish, being spit out and going down to Nineveh and preaching and testifying to what God had done in his life. This is a greater sign, the Lord Jesus Christ, than that. 31:38 Now go over to Luke chapter 16, verse 31. Luke 16:31 is the account with the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in hell. 31:48 And he was trying to negotiate with Abraham to send someone, Lazarus, to tell his brothers back in life to repent. "Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, 32:09 they will repent.'" Now how many of you know that would be quite a sign? If somebody came back from the dead and said, "By the way, it's not good where we're going. And it's not good where you're headed. And I've seen it. And I've been there. And I'm going to tell you, you need to repent.'" That would be quite a sign. Because especially if they saw Him dead and then saw Him alive. 32:30 But that sign isn't enough for many people to believe. Because guess what? It's already happened. Jesus came back from the dead. And He told us, "You don't want to go there. You do want to go there. And I am the sign that that is the truth. 32:52 Trust me, believe me when I tell you all these things. I am the sign that you are looking for." So the thing that impresses me is the greatest sign has already been given. And that is the sign of the crucifixion, death, burial, 33:11 and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the sign that we need to be promoting. That's the sign that will cause people to come to faith. And if they won't believe with that, they won't believe with anything else. Because that's the greatest sign. 33:31 That's the greatest wonder, that Jesus Christ came back from the dead. This is why resurrection evangelism is one of the most powerful forms of evangelism. 33:42 Resurrection apologetics, reasons why the resurrection is true and why the resurrection makes a difference in people's lives. 33:53 Now very quickly, because we have a special feature here at the end of the service that we want to walk you through. The purpose of signs and wonders. Number one, to make Christ known. What is the purpose? Well, Jesus said in John chapter 9, verse 3, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus said, 34:14 "Neither this man nor his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." That was the purpose of the healing of the blind man. That was a sign. That was a wonderful sign and a wonderful miracle that Jesus did. And we're not opposed to signs and miracles when they're authentic. 34:34 But the purpose for them is to make Christ known, that the works of God should be revealed, and that people would come to know Christ. John also said it in his Gospel, "That truly many other signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 34:55 the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." That's the purpose of every miracle that God presents, is that people would know the Lord Jesus Christ and give Him glory, which gives us the second reason. And that is to declare the glory of God. "In the raising of Lazarus," John 11:4 says, 35:15 "This sickness is not unto death," Jesus told His disciples, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." That purpose for signs and wonders has not changed. And of course, Jesus being the ultimate sign, the ultimate wonder, the greatest miracle, the death, 35:34 burial, resurrection, the Gospel, is believing through Him that God may be glorified through that is the most powerful sign, of course, as we've been saying. John chapter 2, verse 11, "This beginning of signs," the marriage of Cana, turning the water into wine, "did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory. 35:56 And the disciples believed on Him." And so we have to declare the glory of God. And then thirdly, to introduce and confirm the Gospel. 36:06 "As the Great Commission pushed forward, new territories were impacted by miracles." Mark 16:17 says, "These signs will accompany them who believe." And notice, I think it's significant. The King James says it will follow them. Many other translations said it will accompany them. 36:25 That as the apostles pressed into new lands, the sign gifts followed them. 36:34 And not just followed, but accompanied them to confirm the Gospel, especially in places that did not have written copies of the Scripture. They had not yet heard the authenticity of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 36:49 "And these signs will accompany those who believe." Many signs and wonders were done by the apostles to substantiate the power of Christ's name in the introduction of the Gospel into that people group. "As the message took root, the Scriptures were made available. The miracles seemed to lessen, 37:09 for they had fulfilled their primary purpose." The primary purpose, again, would be to introduce people to Christ, 37:18 to confirm the Gospel, and to declare the glory of God. And then one other purpose of signs and wonders that I can find, and that is just simply to bless God's people. To bless God's people, to respond to the brokenness of the creation, to respond to those broken by sin's curse, 37:40 to preach deliverance to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. Acts 10:38, "How that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil." God loves His people. 37:58 And at times He will step in and do miraculous things. And we're talking truly miraculous things. Something that only God could do because He loves His people. It doesn't mean that if He doesn't do that, He doesn't love His people. 38:14 But there are times when, as a special blessing, God sets people free in a marvelous way. Whether it be physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, God is a good God. And so we have here that God today is still in the blessing business. He's still in the miracle-working business. 38:35 But He is also in the business of pointing people to Christ, so that the glory of God is revealed, so that we might know Him and His Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe those are four of the purposes of signs and wonders: to make Christ known, 38:56 to declare the glory of God, to introduce and confirm the Gospel, and to bless God's people from time to time with very special touches. But also the greatest sign, you've heard me say it before, the greatest sign, the greatest wonder, is a changed life. And God will do that for anybody. He will do that for anybody. 39:17 And that's why when we hear the testimonies of God at work in in people's lives who the rest of the world had given up on, and maybe sometimes we've given up on them too, and yet God transforms their lives, oh my, no greater sign than to see the death, burial, 39:34 and resurrection of Jesus Christ transforming the lives of His people, of all those who will come to Him.