Bible Text: Acts 8 | Preacher: Mark Slaughter | Series: Acts | Acts 8 is has arguably one of the Bibles most outstanding miracles and recounts the story Philip the evangelist (one of the seven deacons) countering Simon the Wizard and then ministering to the Ethiopian eunuch before being teleported to another location. I want to focus this morning on the spiritual realm and cultivating the Supernatural into our life.

There needs to be in our lives, a relationship with our Father that manifests in a very real way that separates us from those that are in the world. In the natural this outworks predominantly in our identity. As children of God and citizens of heaven we are people who should provoke the unsaved with our love, joy, peace and freedom; navigating life and life’s issues with the grace of Gods children, who have the keys to life. This, together with the supernatural intervention of an all-powerful God will witness to a broken world who both has its own form of morality and many counterfeit spirits; they express a form of spirituality which will include at times real supernatural evidence. One of the great strategies of the enemy is to deceive and the Bible warns us against false prophets and deceivers

Matthew 24:24
For false Christ’s and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

The signs and wonders of God always trump those of the devil. Moses snake ate the snakes of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians who opposed him. The people flocked to Philip even though they were previously amazed by Simon. And today we trust that as we preach the kingdom we will turn people away from being mesmerized by the likes of Darcy Oakes (a famous America’s got talent magician)

How do we cultivate the supernatural in our life?

1.    Build belief by studying the Word / Dealing with our unbelief

We must realize that all of us are dealing with a measure of unbelief. And this affects us and our relationship with God in many ways. One of the greatest antidotes to unbelief is a thorough knowledge of scripture.

We must answer the big questions.

Often we avoid difficult questions and situations and because of this we don’t progress in our relationship with God. For example. You don’t see how it’s possible for all people to have a fair opportunity to know Jesus so how can the gospel be reasonable?

An important part of our faith walk is to wrestle through big questions. God is faithful to answer if we will ask. NEVER GIVE UP. The one who persistently asks will receive.

Authenticity

God desires us to have a real relationship with Him. Let’s get real about things that are upsetting us. Go to Him and pour our hearts out to him. We cannot expect God to work through us if we have a false relationship with Him

My recommendation:
•    read the Bible through every year – gives us a broad perspective of the story
•    Study one book or subject more intensely. This you can do with us. We are currently going through the book of Acts and this can be your one big project for the year where you go deeper into the scriptures.
•    Read expositions and begin expositing the scriptures yourself

2.    Hungry for Holiness -Are we dealing with our sin?

If we are unable to deal with our sins, we hamper the path to holiness and with this the power of the supernatural. The main issue with sin is that we believe a lie and choose illegitimate means to fulfill our legitimate needs.

a.    Prayer and Fasting (Heidi Baker – fasting makes your hungry for God)
b.    Time with God
c.    Confession one to another – James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
d.    Dealing with our modern day idols – those things that rob us of time with God, that have no eternal value and add no value to the quality of your spiritual life. The key is that there are activities in the kingdom that will feed the same need that you are satisfying with an idol.
e.    Guard your heart
i.    Be careful what you expose yourself to. Those with a pure heart will see God. What you let your eyes see, your ears here and your hands do…
ii.    Deal with unforgiveness, offense etc.

3.    Speaking words of life

a.    We create with our words. Life and death are in the tongue. Cyril & Sherona Pillay have an incredible testimony about speaking life and death over two different jars of rice and witnessing the effect of positive and negative words.
b.    Power of proclamation – speak the word on all occasions
c.    Scripture memorization and repetition. Incantations in the spiritual world are recognized as the ways and means to establish reality; the unredeemed tongues. Pentecost set our tongues on fire. The word of God is our new sword. Monks of Mount Athos practice a repetitive prayer as follows: As the monk inhales, he prays, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” then pauses a moment, holding his breath, before exhaling and praying, “have mercy on me, a sinner.”
d.    …HOW do we do this in our crazy, busy and pressurized lives?
i.    Say less. Hold yourself when you are tempted to speak negatively and take the upsetting situation to the Lord. Speak less pray more.
ii.    Practice the art of Praying all the time and allow God the opportunity to give creative solutions to problems
iii.    Wash your wife with the word – always bring the word of God into situations that are challenging. Discipline our children from the word. If you are being tempted to sin recite the word.

4.    Activating our faith

a.    Stepping out and taking risks – faith releases power.
b.    The laying on of hands demands that there is a role that we play in activating the supernatural. There is a part that we play. There was also a risk involved especially when praying for someone with Leprosy.
c.    Let love lead you.
d.    Travel, giving money (tithers tell testimonies)

5.    Discipleship /Mentorship
a.    Walk with someone who has testimonies of signs and wonders in their life.

Discussion for Home Group:

1. What are some of your supernatural testimonies?
2. What are some of the other ways we can train ourselves to speak words of life more frequently? (Please let me know I would love to hear!!)