Josh Howerton - 3 Things Christians Need to Believe About Miracles (01/11/2026)

TOPICS: Miracle

Summary:

In this message from Acts chapter 3, the preacher passionately argues that Christians today should fully expect God to perform miracles, signs, and wonders just as He did in the early church, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Drawing from Peter’s healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, he stresses that true miracles point to Jesus, come through bold faith in His name, and are released through persistent prayer. The key takeaway is a heartfelt call to reject unbelief, raise expectations, and actively pray for the supernatural so that more people encounter the living power of Christ.

Opening and Family Meeting
Here’s what I’m looking at here at the Rockwall campus. These are the victorious traffic warriors. I am very impressed; you made it—absolutely incredible. I have a very full heart for today. If you guys have your Bibles, head over to Acts chapter 3. While you’re turning there, let me have a quick family meeting with our church.

So earlier this week, just to give you a heads up, I had this little social media post that kind of caught steam and went viral. Then some national news outlets, political outlets, and TV personalities started picking it up, that kind of thing. I got a decent number of messages just from LakePointe members like, «Hey, tell me about that, ” or „I loved it, ” or whatever it was. You may have watched it, and you may have been like, „By the way, it was cultural in its direction.“ I’ll just say it like that. Some LakePointe members, you may have been looking at that and going, „Huh, I don’t know what I think about that.“ Can I just really quick share my heart on this thing? Can I do that real quick?

The Church and Politics
I’m going to do it with you, okay? I’m gonna do it. Okay, so here’s the deal: I just want to share my heart on the church and politics. Number one, you’re never going to see me endorse a candidate; you’re just not going to see it. I do want you to know this, so let me give you a little quick theology of the church and politics from the Scriptures. Let me give a quick theology of this. I’m going to preach a message on the role of the government later this year from Romans 13. Let me give you a little quick snapshot.

Okay, biblically, God has created three institutions in society: the family, the church, and the government. When things are working correctly and everyone is doing their job, it’s almost like society functions like a large three-lane highway. Families are like driving little Fiats, these tiny little things, in one lane; then churches are like a party bus; it’s a little bigger; and then governments are like these huge 18-wheelers.

Now, if you’re reading your Bible, what you’re going to notice is a theme throughout history is that what governments want to do is veer out of their lane into the church or into the family lane. So what you’ll see—this is really interesting, you can read the Scriptures through this lens—some theologians say you can read the Scriptures as a narrative between the people of God and tyrannical governments. I’m not saying that about our government; that’s a whole different sermon. Okay, but here’s what I want to point out: what the government does sometimes is veer out of the government lane and into the church lane. Let me just say this without any apology; I’ll just say it: that is what our government is doing in some areas of American life right now.

When Politics Gets Spiritual
So what you’ve got right now is, for instance, people will hear me commenting on issues, and people will accuse me of being political. Here’s my response to that: no, no, the church isn’t getting more political; politics are getting more spiritual. See, here’s what happens. Just stay with me really quick, okay? You’ll applaud in just a second. Just stay with me real quick. Okay, so for instance, when the government moves past things like building roads, issuing driver’s licenses, and teaching math to things like redefining marriage, erasing gender, reframing late-term abortions as reproductive freedoms, and then indoctrinating everybody’s kids into believing those things—hey guys, the church didn’t move; politics did. And when—check this out—whenever that happens, the role of the church, the role of the pulpits, is to stand up in society and say, „Get back in your lane. Get back in your lane.“

So because check it: whenever there is silence on these issues—I’m not talking about endorsing candidates—on these issues that are biblical issues, they are not political issues. Whenever there’s silence in the pulpits, there ends up being evil and confusion in the streets. So it’s our job to do that. Does this make sense? Is this making sense to you? So if you saw that—and I just, you know, right there, I gained 50% of you and lost 50% of you—I’m totally willing to pay that price. And just, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to follow me on social media; it’ll be great for you. It’s going to be awesome.

Turning to Miracles
Okay, so now can we talk about something a lot more fun? Let’s talk about miracles, signs, wonders, and healings. Let’s do it. It’s going to be awesome! Okay, one of the great things when you preach verse by verse through books of the Bible is you’ve got to preach on things that you might not naturally go toward. So this is what we’re going to talk about today: miracles, healing, signs, and wonders. We’re going to answer these questions: Should we expect to see miracles today? Yes! I like this guy; that’s the right answer. Okay, why might God—someone may say this: why might God not be doing the miracle that I need in my life? What about this one: how can we see more of the miraculous in the life of our church at LakePointe? I want to answer all those questions today. We’re going to get right into it. We’re in Acts chapter 3 now. I’m going to start in verse 2, because I’m going to end in verse 1. Okay, so here we go: Acts 3:2.

The Setting at the Temple
Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the Temple gate called Beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the Temple courts. Now I’ve got a diagram right here because all the events that you’re going to read about in the book of Acts—a lot of them happened right here. This is the Temple in the time of the book of Acts and the time of Jesus. By the way, this whole Temple Mount, this base structure, this thing still exists in Jerusalem today. Like, I’ve stood right over here, and right over here right now, there’s a huge mosque that sits about right here; so you can’t, but right here and right here, this is it. This was built by Herod the Great; at the time, it was handmade; it was the largest structure of its kind in the world. Now I don’t think you can probably get your heads around how huge this thing is—this plaza area outside of the temple. So here, this is the size of more than 15 football fields! So, like, this thing is very, very imposing in the middle of the city.

Now what you’ve got right in the middle here was the temple in the time of Acts, and I’m going to show you a closer diagram in a second, but this right here where I’m pointing would have been the main entrance to the temple; some people called this the Beautiful Gate. Now what you have here is all these plaza areas; this was called the Court of the Gentiles. So, if you weren’t a Jewish person, this was as far as you could go. These two plaza areas—if you’re a Jewish person, right inside this Beautiful Gate, this little area right here would have been called the Court of Women, and then back here, there’s another gate. I’m going to show you in a second, and then up here, this structure right here, this was the temple. So it wasn’t like now where, like, everybody comes and hangs out and watches the priest teach. No, no, only priests could go into this area—only priests!

The Lame Man’s Position
Now what you just saw is this lame man who hadn’t walked in 40 years had been laid at the Temple Gate called Beautiful. Go to this next diagram; this is up closer. So here’s what you’ve got: this was the Temple Gate that most people today think was the gate called Beautiful. This is the Court of Women, by the way, so this is where right here is where the widow’s mite would have been given. This was called the Gate of Nicor, and then right past here, this would have been the Court of Men and the Court of Priests. This right here, lower left area, would have been where the altar was—the slain lambs whose blood was spilled for the sins of the people. Come on, somebody, right here this is where that happened. And then the priest would go up inside; here, this is the Holy of Holies—all this stuff.

Now here’s my point, and I need you to fix this in your head for reasons that will be obvious later in this sermon. The dude in this spot was laid either right here—most scholars think it was right here at the Gate of Nicor. It doesn’t matter; what matters is this guy had been born without the ability to walk for 40 years. He, among many other people, would have been placed at this Temple Gate, and every single day, people would have walked by this man who had never walked before in his life. Now, watch what happens next.

The Healing Moment
Verse 3: When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him—this word is very interesting, if you’re reading another translation of your Bible. It says Peter fixed his gaze at him. Only Luke uses this Greek word, and it’s like something happened inside of Peter, and Luke is telling us his stare was different; this is what it’s saying. I’m going to get to that in a second. Then Peter said, „Look at us.“ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said—now before I read this verse, I’ve got a friend, this pastor at a church with thousands of college students. So, like, true story—they passed the offering buckets one day, and there was a sausage biscuit in the offering bucket with this verse attached to the sausage biscuit: „Silver and gold, I do not have, but what I have, I give unto you.“ That’s it! That’s funny right there; that’s what that is.

And then Peter says—I love this so much—Peter looks at this guy, and he says, „In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, ” and then he commands this guy, „Walk!“ Now, that’s awesome! It is; it’s awesome! Now, check this out: Peter just commands this dude. If I had done that and I didn’t know what was going to come, I would have been sweating like Mike Tyson at a spelling bee! But Peter, it says, takes him by the right hand, helps him up, and instantly this man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumps to his feet, he begins to walk, and then he went with them into the temple courts, walking, jumping, praising God! When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the Temple Gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Y’all, let’s talk about miracles! Let’s talk about miracles!

A Theology of Miracles
Now, first of all, I just want to give you a heads up: I have a tremendous… like, some sermons feel like you’re giving birth to a baby; this one feels like that! I’m preaching this sermon because I believe that God wants to lead us into more supernatural activity in our church. So what I want to do is give us a solid—we are word people at LakePointe—let’s get a solid theology of miracles as we get to it in here. So let me just give us a theology really quick. There are three things that Christians should believe about miracles. Here you go:

Number one is we shouldn’t chase miracles. We shouldn’t chase miracles. Have you ever noticed this throughout the book of Acts? Miracles are usually not called miracles. Have you ever noticed what they’re called? Signs! They’re called signs! Now, here’s the thing about a sign: a sign points to something. You’re really stupid if you get obsessed with the sign and not the thing that the sign points to. Like, right now, we’re, like, two months into having a new puppy, which, by the way, y’all, I forgot this is a thing right now. And, you know, puppies are cute but dumb. And so what happens is when you throw something for the puppy—and Mr. Bingley is his name because Janna named him—when Mr. Bingley doesn’t see it, if you point to where it is, because dogs are cute but dumb, they’re not going to look where you’re pointing; they just stare at your finger! That’s what they do! They just… so instead of looking at what you’re pointing to, they’re looking at the thing you’re pointing with.

Don’t Chase Signs, Chase Jesus
Here’s what some Christians do: they get so obsessed with seeking signs, wonders, miracles, supernatural experiences that they get focused on the sign instead of Him to whom the sign points. See, this can happen; you might be this type of person. But y’all, we’re not supposed to be obsessed with signs and wonders; we’re supposed to be obsessed with Jesus of Nazareth that they point to! See, this is the whole point! This is it, man: that they point! In fact, Jesus said this in Matthew 12:39. Check this out: Jesus said, „An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.“ He said adulterous because he was going, „You’re putting miracles in the place of me.“ That’s what adultery is: putting somebody else in the place of someone else. You’re putting miracles in my place! You’re supposed to be seeking me, not the signs that point to me.

So, number one, we don’t chase miracles; we chase God. But number two, check this out; here’s what we do: we test miracles. We test miracles! Did you know Satan can do miracles too? Satan can do miracles! The Bible says this in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. Check this out; it’s talking about the coming of the Antichrist. Here’s what it says: „The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception.“ So watch this: it’s not just the Holy Spirit that can do miracles; unholy spirits, called demons, can also do miracles! So what this passage is saying is, „Hey, y’all, whatever God creates, Satan counterfeits.“ Satan is perfectly okay healing your body if he can still damn your soul. He’s perfectly okay with that! Satan will send a demon that looks like an angel. Why? Because whatever God creates, Satan counterfeits!

Testing the Spirits
Now can I just say this? Let me lean in right here. We’ve got thousands and thousands of… like, you’re maybe younger, you’re new to the faith, you’re just checking this thing out; you just started following Jesus. In my generation and down, here’s, like, this thing that people will say, and you might say this: people say, „Man, I’m a spiritual person. I’m a spiritual person.“ Can I just tell you? Satan would love for you to be just a spiritual person! He would love that! He would absolutely love for you to be a spiritual person that’s open to all spiritual things! Here’s why: because there are many types of spirits. There’s the Holy Spirit, and then there are unholy spirits that the Bible calls demons. If you’re just a spiritual person that’s open to all spirits, then you are opening wide the door for unholy spirits the Bible calls demons to impact your life. So people will ask me sometimes, „Hey, Josh, so like all the other religions, they also claim miracles and healings and prophecies.“ And people go, „Josh, are those things real?“ Yep, they’re really demonic! So what we’re supposed to do is whenever there’s a claimed miracle, we shouldn’t just accept it. What we should do is go, „Hey, let’s test it. Did the miracle point to the reality that Jesus Christ of Nazareth died on a cross, rose from the dead, and he can save you by faith and repentance? Let’s take it to the word and go, ‘Man, is the message attached to the miracle lining up with the word of God? ’“

So let me just say that if you had a sign, you had a miracle, you had a dream, you need to ask, „Was that God, was that Satan, or was that the chalupa you had last night?“ You’ve got to figure that out, man! I’ve had chalupa dreams! That’s a thing; you’ve got to be ready for that! Okay, so that’s number two.

Miracles Will Follow Us
Now number three, as we follow God, y’all listen, miracles will follow us. There is no other way to read the New Testament than to simply expect this! So let me tease out this theology. The entire book of Acts is the story of the fulfillment of one verse, Acts 1:8. Jesus said this in Acts 1:8: „But you will receive…“ I just want to show it to you actually; „but you will receive power!“ The Greek word is „dunamis”—that’s where we get the English word „dynamite.“ A lot of us have heard that. Let me show you something else: „when the Holy Spirit comes on you and then you’re going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.“

Now, do you know what that power is? Okay, check this out: throughout the book of Acts, that word power specifically refers to miraculous power for healings and miracles. It just does! Check this out—this is Acts 3:12; I’ll show you this—this is later in this chapter. When Peter saw this, everybody starts looking around; they’re like, „Bro, Peter just healed this lame dude that can’t walk!“ That’s what I mean. So Peter says to them, „Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk?“ Eight times in the book of Acts, this word power isn’t even translated as power; it gets translated as miracles! Just listen to me! Like, being filled with the Spirit is an immersion into the mighty, miraculous power of heaven. This is the expectation that the New Testament gives us!

Church History and Personal Stories
Now, you may hear that and you may think, „Yeah, Josh, but that was then; this is now. They were the apostles and we’re just us.“ Can I just say there is nothing in the Bible—not one verse in the Bible—that gives you that expectation. Nothing! What’s interesting, so I’m going to church nerd out for a second. I’m a church history nerd. What’s really interesting is all of the great theologians that you’ve read about in all of church history, their theology is what gets captured in their books. But when you read their biographies, all of them experienced radically supernatural things in their ministries, and people forget that.

So let me give you this. This is a great example: Martin Luther. Like, the rebel Catholic who kicked off the Protestant Reformation in Germany—Martin Luther, who experienced overtly supernatural things his entire ministry. He received word that his friend and colleague Frederick M. Conias lay dying in the last stages of tuberculosis. He then penned a letter to Moanius in which he said, I love this: „I command you in the name of God to live because I still have need of you in the work of reforming the church. The Lord will never let me hear that you are dead but will permit you to survive me, for this I am praying. This is my will, and may my will be done because I seek only to glorify the name of God.“

Now if that seems shocking, consider this: when Moanius read that letter, he said it was as if he heard Christ say, „Lazarus, come forth!“ As soon as he read it, he was instantly healed, and he outlived Luther by two months! This is the life of Martin Luther—a dead white reformed guy. Okay, here’s another one—this is another Martin Luther. I could do this all day! On another occasion, Luther’s close friend and colleague, a guy named Philip Melanchthon—that was like Luther’s „ride or die“ in the 1600s—became extremely ill and was at death’s door. Luther fervently prayed using all the relevant promises from Scripture. As he prayed, a supernatural faith rose up in his heart. He then turned and, taking Melanchthon by the hand, said, „Be of good courage, Philip; you shall not die!“ Melanchthon immediately revived and was restored for the rest of Luther’s life!

Now guys, I’m just telling you, the Bible says it’s going to happen, church history attests that it happens, and I’m just going to tell you I’ve seen it happen! I’m just going to tell you I’ve seen this with my own two eyes! So here’s my story—I have a few. Here’s one: I was three years into pastoring my church in Nashville, Tennessee; we were in this tiny little warehouse seating 275 people. I don’t know how to describe what happened; there was a unique outpouring of the Spirit on our church for about two years. The only other time I’ve ever had the same sense is right now at LakePointe Church! So this is going on, and one day, there was a family in the church whose mom was in and she was not a believer. She was all caught up in sort of occult spiritist practices. So she worshipped; she would go to this little occult thing and seek the will of the great love or the spirit in the sky, whatever it was. And she was a clam farmer—there are job openings; I’ve heard, you know, if you’re looking. She was a clam farmer, so she spent decades working on the water. Because of that, she’d almost totally lost hearing in her ear; she was nearly totally deaf! So much so, she kept a little pad with her, and she would write notes to the family, or they would write to her so that she could understand. So they’re inviting her to church, and she’s like, „Why would I ever—why, why would I go to— I literally can’t hear! Like, why would I go with you to church?!“ Like, „Mom, just come.“ So she reluctantly agrees to come.

A Personal Miracle Story
Now, I’m going to tell the story from two angles because I didn’t know what was happening. I’m preaching the sermon; we were doing communion after the sermon. We get to the spot in the sermon—I’ve got one in every sermon; I call it the „cross moment”—where I’m gonna preach Christ and him crucified, okay? So I get to that spot in the sermon, and at that moment she says that she—a great desire came over her, an agony to hear what was being said—in that moment she heard a loud pop! And then she looked over at her daughter, and she had severe swelling in her face. All the swelling in her face was gone, and she could hear perfectly! So she starts, just tears streaming down her face; and she looks at me, and she listens to the rest of the sermon where I explain that that man died on that tree for you. When the sermon ends, remember I have no idea what’s going on; she gets up, tears streaming down her face, runs down to the front of our little 275-person auditorium, grabs me, and she says, „I can hear!“ I have no idea who this woman was, so I just said, „Me too! Isn’t it great? I can hear! This is great!“ And then she explains to me what had just happened to her, and this is what she says: „When you started talking about that man who died on that tree, God gave me the ability to hear!“ And she said, „All this time I’ve been seeking the great spirit, the love in the sky, and I just realized I’ve been seeking Him!“ And I led her to the Lord right there.

Now, like that happened! That happened! You just need to know, guys, this is a thing! Now, so miracles and evangelism… Now let me talk about where this power comes from. You’re going to see it right here. Let me talk about the name of Jesus in miracles. This is verse 6; check this out—it says, „Then Peter said…“ So here’s how he does the miracle: „Silver or gold, I don’t have, but what I have I give you.“ In Acts—I want y’all to say it—“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.» And then he just commands him, «Walk!» There is power in the name of Jesus of Nazareth! There is power in the name of Jesus of Nazareth! Nine times in the book of Acts, the apostles call on the power of the name—the name—the name. I was going to read them all to you, but it was going to take too long. But I’m at least going to give you the references so you can go home and find them: Acts 3:6, Acts 3:16, Acts 4:7, Acts 4:10, Acts 4:12, Acts 4:17–18, Acts 4:30, Acts 5:28, and Acts 5:40–41. The name, the name, the name, the name!

Power in the Name of Jesus
Why are they constantly calling on the name? I love this! You can tell from the New Testament that the apostles remember specific teachings of Jesus, and they’re applying those teachings. This is what they’re doing—they’re doing this because of what Jesus said in John 14. Check this out! Jesus said, «Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, ” and he’s specifically talking about the miracles, the signs, and wonders. He says this: „And they will do even greater things than these.“ Why? „Because I’m going to the Father.“ Now watch what he says next. „And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask for anything—here it is again—in my name, and I will do it.“ This is what Jesus said!

Now Peter’s reading this, and this is what he’s calling. Let me explain what’s happening: Jesus is saying, „When I go to the Father, all authority in heaven and earth is going to be given to me, and that includes authority over every sickness, every disease, every demon!“ He’s saying, „I’m going to be given that authority!“ Now, if you’re like, „Ah, where you going, bro?“ Hang on, let me explain, okay? But here, let me, let me… so here’s what’s going on. Ugh, here’s my example: I’ve got three kids: Eliana, Felicity, and Hudson! Every time, by the way, I’ve got to get all three names in—every time I say their name from the stage, they get $5, so there it is, y’all! Good congratulations! So if I tell Eliana, „Hey, Eliana, go upstairs and tell Felicity and Hudson to come down for dinner, ” here’s what it’s going to sound like. I just—I want to make a point. She’s gonna walk up, and then I’m gonna hear the Charlie Brown thing, and then there’s gonna be a long pause, and then she’s gonna walk— I’m going to hear one set of footsteps walk back down. She’s gonna get in the kitchen, she’s gonna say, „They didn’t come!“

Okay, but then I’ll say, „Hey babe, tell them Dad said come down! It’s time for dinner!“ Here’s what it’s gonna sound like: waah waah ah waah! Here’s what it’s going to sound like: they’re coming! They’re going to come! Do you know why? Because she called on an authority that was higher than them, and they know what happens if they mess with that authority—they know that! Now listen; Jesus is saying when Peter calls on the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he’s going, „There is an authority in heaven, and I command you in this moment to kneel and bend to that authority!“ This is what he’s saying! In fact, can I just say this? Do you know what keeps people from praying for healing in people’s lives? It’s you have an unhealthy focus on yourself. You think things like, „Well, bet who these guys were, apost—who am I? I’m real messed up; this is the first time I’ve been in church in like two months, and I read my Bible like one time in the last week. Who am I?“ Guys, listen, here’s the deal: check out what Peter says in verse 14. He says, „Why—here’s when he heals him—why do you look at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?“

It’s Not About Us
Listen to me—it’s not about your goodness; it’s about Jesus’ power! It’s not about you; it’s about his power! Now let me give some disclaimers, okay? Some disclaimers—what this obviously does not mean is it’s like a magical formula to get whatever you want from God. So here’s what doesn’t work: „God, give me a sports car and a supermodel wife, a million dollars, and the death of all my enemies in Jesus’ name!“ That doesn’t work, okay? And let me just say this: it doesn’t happen every time! I just need to say this: when it says Peter fixed his gaze at him, almost every Bible commentator thinks the Holy Spirit was giving him direct leading: „I’m going to heal this dude. You respond to my leading.“ So it doesn’t happen every time. That’s why we call them miracles, not Wednesdays! Okay, but let me say this: I don’t want to spend too much time on these disclaimers, because I hate how this passage usually gets taught.

Here’s how this passage usually gets taught. You guys know those pharmaceutical commercials where it’s like the whole commercial is about, „Here’s this pill, and if you take this pill, it’s going to heal you, ” or whatever it is, and then, at the end of the commercial, for the last eight seconds, it zooms in, and there’s another voice, and all the side effects come in. It’s like side effects may include sickness and nausea and lifelong diarrhea, and your wife’s gonna die, and your kids are gonna die, and your dog’s gonna die, and you’re probably gonna die, and you’re gonna lose all your wealth, and your whole house will be infested with cats, and everything terrible in the world is going to happen to you! It’s like—so you hear it, and what happens is the commercial comes across in a way where you’re more impressed by what it doesn’t do than what it does. A lot of people when pastors teach John 14, they spend so much energy on the disclaimers that people leave with a deeper impression of what God won’t do than what he will. Can I tell you what we should leave that passage thinking? Sometimes he will; sometimes he will! This should elevate our faith; it should raise our expectations; it should not lower it!

Dealing with Disappointment
Now let me just pastor something sensitive. Some of you right now, this is the spot where you’re going, „Yeah, Josh, but I had a mom that died of cancer, and we prayed, and God didn’t.“ Let me just address this because watch out—disappointment with God is toxic to your soul. What may happen to you is even as I’m speaking right now, the Lord may lift some emotion in your heart, and you may realize you need healing from this disappointment with God. So listen, two things in response to, „I prayed and God didn’t.“ Number one: God heals every single Christian—every single one—in one of three ways: either immediately through miracle, gradually through medicine, or eventually in glory. He heals them all—all of them!

Okay, now check this out! Number two—this is going to take me like 60 seconds and it’s probably the most important thing I’m going to say today. Please lean in and receive this, okay? There was one time in Scripture where someone prayed for God to do a miracle and he didn’t, and it caused him disappointment and doubt. It was John the Baptist. John the Baptist, at the end of his life, gets beheaded by a godless political leader. John the Baptist is in prison praying for God to do the miracle for him that he’s going to do for Peter in just a few chapters: release him from prison. John prays, and God does not do his miracle.

Now remember: John the Baptist was the one God directly revealed to him that „that’s the Messiah”—he was the one who told everybody, „Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.“ He knew who Jesus was! But because he prayed for a miracle, and God did not give it to him in his final moments, he began to doubt with disappointment, and he sent a message to Jesus to say, „Hey, are you really the one?“ Here’s what Jesus replies to him. This is so important! Jesus replied, „Go back and report to John what you see and hear: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.“ Here’s the point! Listen, listen, listen! Do not build your theology off of what God didn’t do; build your theology off of what God has done, what we’ve seen him do, and what he has promised to do again! That’s what you build your theology on; you build it off of that!

Believe Again!
And listen, I’m just telling you, I’m telling you, LakePointe family, I’ve read he can do it, I’ve heard he can do it, I’ve seen him do it; he has promised to do it; he can do it; he can do it! Okay, now some of you right now, this is the spot where you’re going, „Hey, Josh, if you teach this, people might go out and do some crazy things; they may pray for some crazy things.“ Can I tell you where I am on that? Fine! Fine! I’m way less worried about a few— now, I want neither, but I’m way less worried about a few people doing crazy things than thousands or tens of thousands of people doing nothing, nothing! Way too many Christians are just comfortable praying for nothing, having faith for nothing! Y’all, we cannot read this book and expect nothing! We can’t do this!

Okay, so let me just say this: if you’re in the lobby at LakePointe or you’re in a life group and somebody shares something they’re struggling with, they need a miracle—don’t say, „Hey, I’ll be praying for you.“ Pray for them right then! Lay hands on them and say, „God, I trust you; would you heal them? Would you do it in Jesus’ name? We give it to you, in his name!“ Just do it right on the spot! Bless God for the day when people walk into any campus of LakePointe and it’s hard to leave without getting prayed for by somebody with great faith! Bless God for that moment!

Prayer and Faith
Okay, now let me—let me, I’m doing all this because I believe God may lead us into this. Now, let me land the plane right here. I said I was going to end in verse 1; here’s verse 1. Okay, so miracles happen by calling on the name. How do you call on the name? Here’s how: Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of— you say it—prayer at 3 in the afternoon! The time of prayer—there is a connection between prayer and miracles! No prayer, no miracles! More prayer, more activity of God!

In Acts 1, they’re praying together; that’s when the miracle of tongues happens! In Acts, Ananias is given power to restore Paul’s sight; here’s the reason God gives: „For behold, he prays!“ Prayer—Acts 10; it’s when Peter and Cornelius pray that they’re given supernatural visions. Acts 12, the church prays; Peter is miraculously released from prison by an angel! Jesus said this: Jesus said, „Ask—that’s prayer—and you will receive”—that’s his activity! Ask, and you’ll receive! Prayer is the key to receiving!

No praying, no receiving! And then James says, „And when you ask, you gotta believe and not doubt because that man will not receive anything from the Lord.“ And some of you right now, let me just-here’s where I need to land it, okay? This is so critical! There was a moment in Jesus' life when he went home to Nazareth, and this is what it says.

This is Matthew 13, and he did not do many miracles in Nazareth! Why? Because of their lack of faith! Because of their lack of faith! The problem was not an unwillingness in the heart of God; the problem was a lack of faith in the people. And there are things in your life, in your family’s life, in our church’s life that God is willing to do, he is able to do, he wants to do that he has not yet done because we have not believed God to the level this book calls us to! Let’s do it! Let’s do it! I’m going to end right here for real!

Spurgeon’s Challenge and Closing Prayer
So some of you are like, „Ah, doesn’t sound very Baptist!“ You know, let me just-let me read some words straight from the Baptist Pope himself, Charles Spurgeon! Let me give this to you! Charles Spurgeon preached this sermon on July 17, 1859. Charles Spurgeon is my life hero. The title of the sermon was „The Story of God’s Mighty Acts, ” and he declared how the miracles of the past should shape our expectations for the present and the future. And this is what he said: „When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is, 'Ah, that was a very long while ago! '“ Spurgeon says, „But then he says this: 'I thought it was God that did it! Has God changed? Is he not an immutable God? '“

That’s a theological word meaning does not change! Is he not an immutable God, the same yesterday, today, and forever? Does not that furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time he can do in another? Nay, I think I may push a little further and say what he has done once is a prophecy of what he intends to do again! Whatever God has done is to be looked upon as a precedent because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

I preach this whole sermon to say this to some of you-and I’m saying it to myself. Some of you at one time in your life, you prayed for a miracle; it didn’t happen, and your whole life has been leveled to that unbelief. Here’s what the Bible is saying to you today: I’m asking you to believe again. I’m asking you to believe again! According to your faith, it should be done to you! And so right now, LakePointe family, would you pray with me? And I want to ask that we would believe God and follow him in everything we got.

And so, heavenly Father, I’m asking you, Lord, we want to be people of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Lord, I am praying right along with Acts chapter 4, the people of LakePointe Church, your beloved sons and daughters. We are praying that you would stretch out your hand to perform signs and wonders-not so that we see something cool, but here’s why-just what they said in Acts chapter 4: that you would exalt the name of your servant Jesus! Father, we just want people to know Jesus! We want them to know that he is alive, that he was crucified for their sins, that there is life to anyone who calls on his name, that there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved, and that there is power in the living presence of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! So, Father, we’re just saying to you if there is any residual unbelief in our hearts, we are giving that to you! We want to build our belief off of what you have done and believe for it again! And so, God, with your word in our hands and with faith in our hearts, we ask you to do it again! And we pray those things in the crucified, risen, powerful name of Jesus of Nazareth! Amen and amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!