God uses signs and wonders. He still does.

Steve Brown:
God used signs and wonders. He still does. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life, here to let Christians know that God isn’t mad at them. Keep listening and you’ll hear that because of what Jesus has done, you’re welcomed home into the family of God because of His radical grace, free from the penalties of sin, and never alone in your suffering.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at the final chapter in the Book of Acts, the 28th chapter. And yesterday we saw what happened at Malta, when the ship on which Paul was sailing was grounded and they had no choice. And then, we saw a semi miracle that took place. Paul was bitten by a viper and he survived and everybody judged Paul when he was bitten that he was a bad person, when he survived that he was a good person, and they made the mistake that all of us make. We believe the Bible teaches divine, earthly retribution. And sometimes it does, but not always. So, we saw that it’s important we not judge by the circumstances that we see in our lives or in the lives of other people. And then we saw that the apostle Paul was called to the home of Publius, who was the head man in Malta. And he had a child that was sick, and Paul prayed for that child, and got well, and then everybody else started following up on Paul and asking for his prayers, and Paul would pray for them, and God did something really important. In other words, signs and wonders. I don’t want to make too much out of this, but I think sometimes in the church we become bored with religion and God would give us so very much more. I was the pastor of a Presbyterian church in the Miami area for a lot of years. And during a prayer time with God, I became convinced that I was supposed to have healing services at that Presbyterian church. For those of you who don’t know, Presbyterians don’t do that, charismatics do that. Presbyterians do things decently and in order. And we figure if you’re sick, deal with it, it was a sovereign God who gave it to you for his reasons, not your reasons. But for some reason, and I couldn’t shake it, I decided to go ahead and on Wednesday nights, once a month, we were going to have healing services. We did it in conjunction with communion, people came forward and if they wanted prayer for any reason, they would back up and they would sit down in the pew next to the altar and a team of elders would come by anoint with oil and pray for their problem, more often than not sickness. The first service we had like that, every charismatic in South Florida came to that service because they couldn’t believe that Presbyterians were doing something like this. And we had good sized crowds for those services every time that we held them. And God did amazing things, and I never shared them with the congregation because I didn’t want people to start focusing on miraculous things instead of Jesus, but I knew all of them. And I’d heard the stories of people who had been pained for 20 years. And the pain was dissipated, where a man was dying and all of a sudden he was alive and the doctors couldn’t understand it and he was doing fine. We had a little girl that had a spinal problem. And was going for surgery the next week. And when they examined her before the surgery, they said, you don’t need it, something happened. And whatever it was, it was good, Jesus happened. Now, I’m not saying that the church ought to be built on signs and wonders, but I do believe that we as Christians have a supernatural faith. And that God is willing to do things that we never, never expected. One time Napoleon conquered an island nation. And the general who was primarily responsible for that victory, Napoleon asked him what he could do in return to that general. The general said, make me king of this nation. And the other leaders were shocked that he would say that of Napoleon, or ask that of Napoleon. And Napoleon granted him his wish and said this to his leaders, he has honored me with the magnificence of his request. Do you ever think that it would be a thing to honor God with the magnificence of his, of your request of him? I mean, if things are really hard, talk to him about it. If the doctor gave you a bad diagnosis, talk to him about it. If you have a friend who’s going through a really, really horrible time, talk to him about it, honor him with the magnificence of your request, because he’s a good God. And I honestly believe that he would do more for us, if we just asked. And I didn’t say that, James in his book said it, and we need to remember.

You don’t have because you don’t ask.

We live in a time when we’ve lost a lot. We don’t have the money and the power and the leverage that we one time had, but we have him. And this is a time when maybe we do it God’s way instead of our way. Instead of starting another program, instead going to Washington and getting our way, instead of using leverage, maybe we get on our knees, and God will answer our prayers. You think about that. Amen.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and sometimes when I have time on Wednesday, I take the time to answer one or two questions. As you know, Pete Alwinson will be in on Friday and we’ll spend the entire broadcast answering questions. And as I say and mean, we love to get your questions. You can ask a question by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE, 24 7, follow instructions and record your questions. Sometimes we put your voice on the air asking the question. Or you can send your question to

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or you can e-mail your question to [email protected] and we take you and your questions seriously. And by the way, if you can help us financially, please do. If you can’t, we understand, but if you can, you help so many others who are not able to help us financially. We’re a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And both of those organizations oversee the financial side of this ministry to make sure that we’re ethical. Now, we were ethical before they came along. And we are now, we’re just certified. So, we’ll squeeze every dime you give us for the glory of God. And if you can’t, say a prayer for this ministry. All right, let’s turn to a question.

What is your opinion on the predestination of God and His sovereign choice? Does every person get an invitation to salvation? Or has God already decided which individuals receive salvation? I have the most, so listen up, the most profound answer to that question, that is true, and you’ll think of it often. Are you ready? I don’t have the foggiest, I don’t have any idea. When you start talking about election, man, you’re moving into, does the Bible teach it? Absolutely. You know, God chose the Jewish people, God chose Israel. He didn’t ask anybody. He didn’t choose the Babylonians or the Egyptians. He chose Israel, Judah and Israel. And as you go through the Scripture, you find national choices. An election taking place everywhere. You find individuals coming to Christ because they were chosen. Those who were the elect came to Christ after Peter’s preaching the gospel. It’s taught everywhere. You say, I don’t like that. Well, I don’t like it either, it doesn’t seem right. But on the other hand, freedom and responsibility is taught also everywhere throughout the Scripture. I mean, why will you not turn, Ezekiel said, speaking for God. Human responsibility and freedom of choice is assumed. It’s a bedrock of Scripture everywhere you turn. And you say, that doesn’t make any sense. If God is absolutely sovereign, I’m absolutely not free. And if I am absolutely free, God is not absolutely sovereign. I know, but that’s Aristotelian thought. It is not Biblical Hebraic thought. If you talk to a rabbi, they don’t have any trouble with it because they don’t buy into the principle of non contradiction. If the Bible says that God is sovereign, they say, of course God is sovereign. If the Bible says that human beings are free, they say, of course human beings are free. And you say that doesn’t make sense. And they will say God is God, and he speaks truth, and you don’t have to understand it. My friend J.I. Packer wrote a book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, which is still in print and you ought to get it, but he talks about what an antimony is. An antimony is not a paradox, you can work out a paradox. An antimony are two truths that you know are true, but you don’t understand. You say, well, that’s not very helpful. The essence of Christian maturity is to have a high tolerance for ambiguity. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life’s Network.