Jonathan Bernis - Do Miracles Still Happen Today?
Jonathan Bernis: Shalom and welcome to Jewish Voice. It's great to be with you today. I'm Jonathan Bernis and I'm joined again by my co-host, Ezra Benjamin. We live in a rapidly changing world that's filled with uncertainty. Now, perhaps more than any time in our lifetime, we need the power of God, the good news. He is still doing miracles today. Ezra, I'm so glad for that, that God is still at work doing miracles.
Ezra Benjamin: Amen, amen.
Jonathan Bernis: Just as he did 2,000 years ago.
Ezra Benjamin: It's good news and we need it. I think, you know, if we can take a step back and think, "We need the Lord to intervene in our circumstances, don't we? Both in our day-to-day circumstances, but also in supernatural ways". And maybe, Jonathan, you can define that for us. What do we mean when we say "Supernatural"? What does that mean?
Jonathan Bernis: Well, my friend, Sid Roth, is famous for saying it's natural to be supernatural.
Ezra Benjamin: Hmm-mm.
Jonathan Bernis: So, sometimes we take for granted things that happen as a coincidence, when really, it's a God incidence. That it's God really orchestrating something. You know, there's times where a car just stop short of hitting me and I just know that God is protecting me, that there's, sometimes it's very obvious, sometimes it's not that obvious unless we have eyes to see. But the idea of the supernatural is that God is working in the unseen realm and things are manifesting into the natural realm as a result of what happens in the unseen realm.
Ezra Benjamin: Okay.
Jonathan Bernis: There are laws, there are principles. Gravity is one of them. If you jump out of a window, no matter how much faith you have, you're still gonna fall.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: But God does intervene and sometimes in very significant, very tangible ways that are absolutely unexplainable.
Ezra Benjamin: God intervenes into the natural doing things that only he could do.
Jonathan Bernis: Right. And again, I think that it runs a spectrum from being explainable unless you have eyes to see that God is really orchestrating something. Yes, you can explain it away to something that's absolutely unexplainable.
Ezra Benjamin: Hmm-mm.
Jonathan Bernis: Like, some of the stories that we're gonna be sharing from the field.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: Where people are, I think of a story that will live with me the rest of my life, where someone that was deaf and dumb, that was mute from birth and grew up in a community where they knew that he was deaf and mute from birth, and he heard. After prayer, he heard and the whole community was confounded by this because they knew this boy, who is now a teenager from birth.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure.
Jonathan Bernis: That is just unexplainable.
Ezra Benjamin: And so much of the context or so much of the meat of the gospel accounts, right, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John are... The point of those accounts is to say, "This is how we know Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew is the promised Messiah, the one we've waited for". But so many of those chapters, Jonathan, are about miracles being performed in the sight of the Jewish community.
Jonathan Bernis: Yes.
Ezra Benjamin: And what's the spiritual principle going on there? Why was so much of Yeshua's ministry centered around miracles, around the supernatural?
Jonathan Bernis: Well, he came to proclaim in word and deed that he was the promised Messiah. And the Messiah is a miracle working redeemer, who sets the captives free, who heals the sick. So, Jesus had to demonstrate according to the prophecies that were written about the Messiah. That he in fact was the one that came to fulfill, in detail, all of these prophecies, which we have talked about before. The other thing is something that Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1. I wanna put it up on the screen because this is so important. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 says this, "Jews demand signs and gentiles look for wisdom, but we preach Messiah crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but for those whom God has called, both Jews and gentiles, Messiah the power of God and the wisdom of God". The power of God. Paul says this, he says, "I didn't come with cunning speech. I didn't come with eloquent speech. I came in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the power of the Ruach".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: This is from the most learned disciple, the most learned apostle in the New Testament, in history.
Ezra Benjamin: And what he's saying there, I think, is that the death of Jesus, right, the Messiah promise to Israel was supposed to be the ruling, conquering king, who would banish injustice and who would restore the kingdom to Israel. And then, he's dying naked on a tree in a Roman execution. And Paul's saying, to Jewish eyes, maybe to any eyes before the scales are removed, that looks like weakness not power.
Jonathan Bernis: Right.
Ezra Benjamin: And yet, in that, we see the resurrection power that actually Jesus, the Messiah triumphs over death.
Jonathan Bernis: Repeatedly in the gospels, what's his defense or what's his answer to the question, are you the Messiah? And the response is, "The lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear".
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Those were the creden, and the news is proclaimed.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: Those are credentials for the Messiah, for the Mashiach, for the anointed one. Ezra, I really wanna make sure that this is in the context of, how do I share my faith with a Jewish friend, or co-worker, or neighbor? It's in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ezra Benjamin: It is all about the power of the Holy Spirit, Jonathan. I think sometimes we get into this space where we think, "Well, how do I share the good news? How do I share the gospel with a Jewish person, a Jewish co-worker, extended family member"? And we try to come up with all these convincing arguments about why they should believe Jesus is who he says he is and here's the scriptural proof. And there's certainly a place for that, but at the end of the day, it's a spiritual reality that blinds or cover the eyes of the Jewish people. And so, it's gonna take a supernatural intervention of God and even a demonstration of his power to remove those blinds.
Jonathan Bernis: That's exactly right. Apologetics can only go so far. They're, apologetics are great at strengthening our faith, but it begins with a heart transformation, with the heart. This is really critical. With the heart, not the mind, we believe unto salvation. With the heart, we believe. If we believe in our heart that Yeshua is Lord, that God raised him from the dead and the confession is made. It's the combination of believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth. And you know, this is the, I think that the pattern for or the recipe for miracles. We build up our faith and we proclaim that miracles happen from faith. When we're in a position of faith, we've built up our faith, we can speak that which is not into reality as though it were.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And I have shared the gospel with thousands and thousands of Jewish people and when the power of God starts to manifest, people's lives are changed.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: People respond. But I've also sat with Jewish people for hours on end in discussion and just haven't been able to push them over the line. So, this is really important because you have a Jewish friend, or a co-worker, or neighbor that's not there by accident and the first thing you need to understand is that there's a spiritual blindness that has to be spiritually removed. So, pray, pray, prayer, prayer. Prayer brings us into a supernatural realm or the people we are praying for, into a supernatural openness. You know, without even being aware of it, I walked into a Bible study where people had been praying for me and something changed. I wasn't even aware of what was going on until after the fact.
Ezra Benjamin: Wow.
Jonathan Bernis: But I had a supernatural encounter with the Lord. I didn't even know it at the time, Ezra.
Ezra Benjamin: Right, 'cause somebody was praying. Somebody had faith that the power of God, that the gospel, the good news, just the proclamation of it is the power of God. There's something supernatural about the proclamation of the gospel.
Jonathan Bernis: You're right and signs and wonders follow.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: You know, in my case I had a lot of people praying and God won't violate our freewill, but I like to say it this way, "He will stack the deck". He stacks the deck. We've just got into this topic, and we've only scratched the surface, but we have more to discuss when we come back. We're gonna take a quick break though and let our announcer share how you can partner with Jewish Voice monthly to see supernatural healings, and salvations, and transformations of life around the world. More on the supernatural when we return.
Jonathan Bernis: Welcome back. Before we look more at the supernatural, we wanna take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for your commitment to help us share the good news with Jewish people around the world. Your ongoing support of this ministry is so valued. We always say this, "We could not do what we do without you". So, thank you. Thank you, thank you. We're talking about the supernatural and connecting it to the Jewish people. Which we're told in 1 Corinthians 1:21, "Demand the sign. Seek a sign". Jewish people are hungry for the supernatural realm. They want to see miracles. Ezra, there is a wiring that Jewish people are born with and it's because I think of the calling of the children of Abraham to be a light to the world. So, we have, it's in our DNA.
Ezra Benjamin: Right, as my grandma used to say, "It's in our kishkes". That's the word for in our guts. In the deepest part of our being to be wired, to be in relationship to the living God. That's actually wired into you, into your family as well, right? There's something in us that needs to be in relationship with God. So, we're wired to be supernatural, to experience the supernatural. Jonathan, I think sometimes we make the mistake of saying the supernatural was for Bible times and maybe I read in, kind of books I don't understand, like, Revelation that the supernatural will be around again before Jesus comes back, but we cancel it. There's a cancel culture element of the supernatural today. And yet, in places where we travel, serving Jewish communities and their neighbors, those communities are still wired to see the supernatural.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, I think we live in such a materialistic society, and I use that in a wider sense, that we're looking for proof to satisfy the mind...
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: When other cultures are totally open to the experiential realm.
Ezra Benjamin: That's right.
Jonathan Bernis: Which is what existed in the time of Jesus.
Ezra Benjamin: What do we mean by that? I mean, we've travelled to places like Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe, to northeast India, other locations serving Jewish communities and their neighbors, and these communities are wired to look for the supernatural because there's so much, we can say, counterfeit or even demonic supernatural. There's witchcraft all over Africa, there's people casting spells and pronouncing curses. And so, people understand there's supernatural things at work, but when the Kingdom of God breaks with the real, the genuine supernatural, the power of God, what an incredible thing it is.
Jonathan Bernis: Incredible. You wanna cut through months, years of arguments from your Jewish friends or co-workers that you've been trying to share with? Pray for them. Pray for the supernatural. Pray for miracles and watch what happens. Ezra, I think God wants to do far more miracles in this country, in the west, in America, in north America, in Europe.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: We've seen it though in places like, Africa and India and we have a few clips. I want you to set these up for us.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure. There's two we're gonna look at real quick. The first is from an outreach we had a few years ago in Ethiopia. You can see it on your screens. And this woman here who's on the ground, actually came into our prayer and counseling tent right at the medical, dental, and eye care outreach we were holding, and she was deaf. She couldn't hear and you see her on the ground almost she's trying to kiss the shoes of these prayer partners, because she had just, seconds before we turned on the camera, she just regained her hearing. She was prayed over, nothing other than a prayer of faith in the name of Yeshua, in the name of Jesus. And this congregational leader from one of the Ethiopian-Jewish Messianic congregations here who's speaking to this woman, is telling her... Well, we don't have the translation on the screen, but what he's saying is, "Don't think we did this. Don't kiss our shoes. It was the power of Yeshua. It was the power of Jesus, the Messiah, who gave you back your hearing". And there was great rejoicing in the prayer room that day.
Jonathan Bernis: Yes.
Ezra Benjamin: It was awesome. And we've seen that dozens even hundreds of times. There's another clip, Jonathan, also remarkable. This was on very recently, our first outreach to the Lemba community in Zambia. And this gentleman, as you can see here, he's carried in by these men on his left and his right. His name is Isaac. He told us very quickly through translators, that he felt he was under demonic oppression. And our prayer and counseling team discerned that that was true. And it was so strong that he couldn't stand up. He couldn't stand up on his own, he had to be carried in as you saw. Here he is being prayed over by a team of volunteers from the U.S. and then other Messianic Jewish leaders in that area, Jewish believers in Jesus, in Yeshua. And then, just a minute or two later, he's able... You can see him here, he's standing. He's in his right mind again. And what happened? God broke in with deliverance and healing, rebuking demonic influence over this boy's life in the name of Yeshua and flooding him with new life and hope, and even the ability to physically get up and stand again.
Jonathan Bernis: Beautiful.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: God is good.
Ezra Benjamin: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: And he's the same God yesterday, today, and forever.
Ezra Benjamin: That's right.
Jonathan Bernis: He wants to do miracles in your life and through your life if you let him. Ezra, we see so many miracles in Africa.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: So many miracles in India, so many miracles in developing nations. What do you think it's going to take for these miracles to manifest more regularly in America and Europe?
Ezra Benjamin: I think it's three things, and the third thing is maybe the hardest pill to swallow, if you will. The first is faith. I think we have to believe that God is able. And I hope the videos we just shared with you show you that God is able. It's the evidence of things unseen, right? Faith is the evidence of things unseen. Here is some evidence that God is able to break in with physical, supernatural, healing and deliverance. The second, Jonathan, is expectation. Do you expect to see God break in with power? If you don't, I wanna encourage you to expect it. And then, the third, like I said the most difficult I think is desperation. People in developing nations and other areas that are just undergoing hardship, where there's tremendous poverty, they expect to see God break in because they have no other choice. And what's it gonna take for us in the west to get to the point where we have no other choice but to need God to break in supernaturally? I hope it doesn't have to get too difficult.
Jonathan Bernis: Great, great points, Ezra. Here's the good news, God wants to intervene in your life. Many of you are praying for family members to be saved, for co-workers, for friends, for neighbors. God is willing and able. It's going to take a supernatural breakthrough. Listen to me, it's gonna take a supernatural breakthrough but we serve a supernatural God, who wants to do something above and beyond, exceedingly, abundantly beyond all you can ask or think. So trust him and let's... We're living in a society that is becoming growingly turbulent and uncertain, now is the time for the power of God.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, Jonathan, miracles and visible signs and deliverances aren't the only manifestations, if you will, of the supernatural. And I'm thinking of the passage in Joel where God says, "I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh and your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions". Dreams and visions are examples of the supernatural as well.
Jonathan Bernis: Absolutely.
Ezra Benjamin: God breaking in. And I'm thinking of a story now. This happened over ten years ago actually in our long history of ministry among the Ethiopian Jewish community. There were these old men, I mean, in Ethiopia, 50 is old. But you know, these older men in the community fiercely resistant to the gospel, to the message of Yeshua. Openly, openly telling people, "Don't come to the prayer tent. They're gonna try to convince you of something that's not true". And then one day, at one of our medical outreaches, these two men come to us and say, I mean, teary, they go, "Yeshua appeared to me in a dream last night and told me he's the Messiah". Basically, and then say, "What do I have to do to be saved"? And these men actually became leaders in a Jewish-believing, a Messianic Jewish congregation, and they led for years. They're still in leadership in Ethiopia. But what happen? The Lord broke in with a dream. He appeared to these men. It's supernatural.
Jonathan Bernis: One word that changed everything, one dream that changed everything. A word of knowledge, a dream, a vision, and everything changes. Imagine if Joseph didn't have a dream and headed down to Egypt, right?
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, he wouldn't have known what the heck was going on.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, we desperately need to operate again in this realm. I don't know how we're gonna make it in a world that is really getting unstable, growing unstable. And I think, well, I'll agree with that. And some of you are saying, "What do I do? How do I handle this? How are we gonna make it through"? And the answer is, the power of God. The supernatural power of God. Being led by dreams and visions and Revelation, and experiencing supernatural healing, and deliverance, and miracles.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: That's God's plan for us.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, I think in a world that's increasingly anti-God, anti-Bible there seems, to me, to be an increase in openness to spiritual experiences. And I think you and I would agree, Jonathan, you'd agree watching at home, the ultimate spiritual experience is an encounter with the living God.
Jonathan Bernis: The good news is God is alive.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: God is visible and present in your life: you just have to open your eyes and see and embrace a God who wants to bring you into a new realm of the supernatural and then it'll be natural as my friend Sid says. Ezra and I are going to come back in just a moment and pray with you for your needs. A supernatural God who wants to touch you and touch your needs, and we're gonna agree with you. We're gonna take a moment though for our announcer to share an incredible opportunity to support Jewish Voice medical outreaches. We've seen the Lord move miraculously in these outreaches as you saw just a moment ago. Will you partner with us today to continue serving these scattered Jewish communities? Listen to this short message and Ezra and I will be right back.
Jonathan Bernis: We wanna close the program today by agreeing with you in prayer. What better context than a program on the supernatural?
Ezra Benjamin: Absolutely.
Jonathan Bernis: Because God wants to perform miracles in your life. Ezra, there's a lot of needs out there, but God is greater than every need.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah, he certainly is.
Jonathan Bernis: So, just, I feel the faith coming from me.
Ezra Benjamin: Alright.
Jonathan Bernis: Go ahead, let's join together.
Ezra Benjamin: Let's join. "Lord, we thank you that you are able, that you are more than able to intervene into our circumstances, to intervene into our children and family circumstances, to intervene into the circumstances even of those who have made themselves, Lord, and to transform lives, to flip the script. So, Lord, we invite you into the places where we need you today. Lord, we say let faith arise, let expectation of your goodness and your intervention, your supernatural involvement in our lives arise, Lord. We just say we're desperate for you, Lord. But we say that with joy and faith that you will meet us where we're at. Lord, break in healing, provision, protection, deliverance, and salvation for those who've been praying for it for months, days, years in the name of Yeshua".
Jonathan Bernis: In Jesus' name.
Ezra Benjamin: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: I speak a miracle into your life right now. I speak a miracle into your family situation. I speak a miracle into your physical need right now and say, "Be healed in Jesus' name". Receive it by faith, amen.
Ezra Benjamin: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: Amen. If you'd like more information about our ministry, you can log on to Jewishvoice.tv. You can also send us your prayer request right on the website. We have a team here at Jewish Voice that's committed to reading your prayer request and praying for you by name in faith. We believe in the power of prayer, and we care about you. And more importantly, God cares about you. So, trust him, he's listening. As we close our program, I wanna remind you of your responsibility to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may they prosper who love thee". So, be faithful to pray for Israel and the Jewish people this week. Until next time, this Jonathan Bernis along with Ezra Benjamin, saying shalom and God bless you.