Jesus is the Son of God pt II............ The Miracles

In the book of John, the miracles were highlighted to show that Jesus was the Son of God. John didnt record all of them though; out of the miracles recorded by Matthew (24), Mark (22), and Luke (21), John recorded only 7 with 5 of those not mentioned in the other gospel writers. The seven miracles are:

1. Jesus turns water to wine - John 2:1-12

2. Jesus heals an official son - John 4:46-54

3. Jesus healing a crippled man on a Sabbath - John 5:1-17

4. Jesus feeds 5,000 men with five loaves of bread and two fish - John 6:1-14

5. Jesu walks on water - John 6:16-21

6. Jesus heals a man born blind - John 9:1-41

7. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead - John 11:17-44

So, Why these seven miracles?

FCOC Jesus is the Son of GOD….part III the Crucifixion

John records a number of events that prove that Jesus is the Son of GOD.

For example,

God spoke the world into existence. God created us in his image with his words, and part of that image is the ability to communicate through speech.

Jesus is the Word. The Word of GOD

Words have immense power. We can use words to create a culture of safety and trust and love, to nurture and build a radiant culture, or we can use words to burn it all down.

. The Word was GOD Words are powerful. Words jettison change. Where would we be without words to use to communicate.

I remember while in grade school a visit from a magician who traveled for two hours to entertain the hundred plus 1st through 3rd graders. We were excited as we anticipated the skill and hoping that this dude would not be a dud. To our amazement, he was first rate! He did the rabbit out of his hat trick with ease. The disappearing coin amazed everyone except one. Yep, it was me. I was not interested in those tricks. I wanted to see something disappear and I voiced my strong opinion liberally. To everyone’s surprise the magician reacted to my taunts by asking me to come on the stage and be his helper. When I arrived next to him, he whispered in my ear that he was going to make me disappear, but I needed to follow his instructions without any mistakes.

“Abra-ca-dab-rah” was the magic words. After hearing those words, I was to move to one side of the box. Of course, I didn’t do that! So, his loud instructions were heard by my peers who were busting out loud laughing.

After a few more moments, he gave up on me and asked for another volunteer who did the trick flawlessly to the delight of all. Without those words, we wouldn’t know that something unusual was about to happen. We would need something else to gather our attention to the wonderment.

James mentions the power of words in several passages in the book of James.

• In 1:19, James exhorts us to be slow to speak.

• In 1:26, he said our use of the tongue is one indicator of true religion.

• In chapter 2, James teaches that our tongue shows our bias and prejudices, our level of care and our level of apathy; however, it can also reveal our faith in Christ.

Words are powerful and can do great gain or set back depending on their use.

GOD used words for great gain. GOD spoke and things happened. The book of Genesis reminds us of the things GOD created from scratch. Imagine the beginning of the world was created by the spoken word of GOD. Think of all the things that GOD created in those six days and we must be wowed to realize that GOD did all of this. HE created the least to the greatest.