In this message we’ll bring an array of New Testament evidence to the question, “Are miracles for today?” By the time we are finished we will be able to answer a resounding “Yes” to the question.

As we close our series on the major miracles of Jesus there is a question some people have, “Should we expect miracles today?” Before we can answer that question, we have to answer another, “Why did Jesus perform miracles?  “What was the purpose behind the miracles that Jesus performed?” This actually isn’t a difficult question to answer. The gospels provide the answer for us. In this message we’ll learn the five purposes Jesus had for performing miracles.

On the storm-tossed Sea of Galilee the disciples learned another lesson about Jesus when he came to them walking on the water. Boldly, Peter asked Jesus to invite him out of the boat, and he, too, briefly walked on water. Then his faith faltered and Jesus had to rescue him from sinking. The disciples knew from their Hebrew scriptures that only God walks on water, so realized that Jesus was the Son of God.

God has always provided food for his creatures. Most of the time this is done through the normal working of nature, but on some occasions God intervened directly to provide or multiply existing food. It was something only God could do. As we open to the scriptures for this message we discover Jesus had the power to do what only God previously could do: miraculously produce or multiply food. We’ll try to learn what the disciples were slow to learn from this miracle of feeding 5,000 people using five small loaves and two small fish.

On his way to heal a sick young girl, Jesus was interrupted by a woman who’d been sick for 12 years. In different ways Jesus restored two people’s lives that day, one older and one younger. Jesus restored one from a debilitating physical condition, and the other from death. As we’ll see Jesus is still restoring lives today. Can your name be added to the list of lives Jesus has restored?

Jesus’ perplexing response to a need for healing led to one of the most dramatic evidences of who he was. The raising of Lazarus from the dead after four days showed that Jesus really was who he claimed to be, the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus is still raising people from spiritual death to spiritual life. Believing in him will bring you rich spiritual life now, and life for eternity with God. 

Never in his life had he been able to see. Most people even had the reason he had been born blind completely wrong. In giving sight to this blind man, Jesus not only taught us about God’s hidden purposes, but created a powerful and undeniable witness of who he was. Spiritually blind eyes could have been opened by this miracle, but many were not. Are your eyes open to who Jesus really is? Give him a chance to help you to really see.

Nature responds to the command of Jesus. By his word winds cease and waves calm down. The story of this dramatic miracle challenges us to consider how ready we are to face crises. Will we face them with fear or with a faith that has grown enough so we can face them with calm and confidence?

One of the first individually reported miracles of Jesus was done for a surprising person who turned out to have insight and faith severely lacking among most Jewish people. What is special about this man, the miracle he asked for, and the lessons for us today will emerge as we examine this account of one of Jesus’ major miracles.

In this introduction to a series on the major miracles of Jesus, we see the evidence that we cannot have the Jesus of the gospels without his miracles. They are inseparable. We’ll survey the miracle-working ministry of Jesus, creating an FAQ of Jesus’ miracles along the way. Listen in as we kick off a new series on the miracles of Jesus.