We kicked off a new series called “Miracle” at Gateway Church in Austin.
Somewhere in our faith journey we stopped believing in the impossible. We traded in the God who became flesh, born of a virgin, crucified, resurrected, and ascended into Heaven, for a Divine guide-from-the-side.
Let us open our eyes once again, or for the first time, to the God who still parts seas, who still heals broken bodies, and who still transforms lives. The God of Miracles.
The greatest miracle is a transformed life.
Digging Deeper
Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own, and get together with your running partner, life group, or friends and family to talk through what you are learning.
Discussion Questions
Message Video:
Message Audio:
Message Notes:
Do you have that person in your life who likes to send you videos that you do not find interesting? In my family, I am that person. I especially find transformation videos to be very satisfying. I like to tell my kids they don’t need to go online because I will curate the internet for them and send them only the best videos so they can skip the rest.
As a culture we love to see, read and hear stories of transformation. We love films where the main character has a story arc where he or she changes. And there are so many reality shows that show transformation in 22 minutes. Apparently for our senior pastor his favorite show is Dr Pimple Popper. Most people around our country know about Waco, Texas, not because of Baylor University, but because it’s the home of Chip & Joanna Gaines and their crazy popular “Fixer Upper” tv show.
There’s a market for everyone when it comes to seeing something transformed: love life, weight loss, plastic surgery, home organization, deep cleaning of dirty homes, and on and on and on.
Why do we like these things so much?
- Each person has their own answer.
- Some like to see others improve, others are creative and look for ideas, while others have compassion for people and find joy and justice in seeing their situation improve.
- The motive doesn’t really matter, because in the end all of these things have one thing in common, they are superficial.
- Yes, there might be a change, but that change doesn’t necessarily mean it is truly transformational.
- We live in an age of the quick fix, the notion that if I really want to see something change, it should happen sooner than later.
- We lack patience for something significant to shift in our lives, so we can easily cling to notions that in some alternate reality things change quickly, and it is miraculous.
Let me ask you a question:
- Do you believe in miracles?
- Do you believe that there is a God who can do things which cannot be explained?
Some of us have trouble believing in the miraculous accounts in the Bible, and so believing in the miraculous nowadays seems even less possible. If that’s you, would you ever consider opening your heart and mind to that possibility? Or have you become too closed-minded on the subject?
Now there are others of us here who have no problem with the miracles we read about in the Bible, but you actually struggle to believe God can do the miraculous now. I want to ask you the same question: would you ever consider opening your heart and mind to that possibility? Or have you become too closed-minded on the subject?
Jesus did the miraculous when he walked among us, but one of the ways we know he is still alive is that He still does the miraculous today.
So I want you to come to this with an open heart and open mind that God wants to do the miraculous in your life and through your life.
Here’s the straight forward truth, miracles do happen, and deep transformation goes well beyond run down homes, broken down cars and ugly wardrobes, because…
The biggest miracle is a transformed life.
We are in a 3 week series that I’ve been excited about ever since we put it on the calendar. We are talking about God who still does the miraculous.
If you live in the Austin area, I want to encourage you to come in person next week and the week after. If you are outside Austin, be sure to join us online every week.
This series corresponds with Pray First, a time for all of us who consider Gateway to be our church family to make connecting with God on our own a priority and to pray alongside the rest of our church family for ourselves, for each other, for our city, for our nation, and for our global partners. We even have journals and resources for you to join with us in this at our Gateway Austin App. We even have a night set aside to pray for miracles in early September.
All that to say, I believe God wants to do the miraculous in us and through us!
For the sake of today’s message and context, we are going to take one definition of transformation and run with it, and that definition is Metamorphosis:
- the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.
- a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.
This is exactly what we believe transformation is, it is more than a coat of paint, or change of wardrobe, or even behavior modification…it is someone turning from one person into a completely different person, a miraculous change that is attributed to God’s work in us.
So let’s turn to the book of Acts in the Bible, and find our case study for today.
As we prepare to read from Acts 9, let’s get a quick recap. Jesus has come to the earth, he’s lived a sinless life, became the perfect sacrifice for you and I, he said he would be resurrected in power, and he was. He said that the same Spirit that raised him from the grave also resides in those who believe and follow him, and his disciples at the time took him at his word. So now amazing things are happening because these disciples begin to share about Jesus as the way the truth and the life, and it’s causing religious leaders of the day a huge headache…it’s shaking up the establishment. This is where one of those religious leaders, Saul, is charged with doing something about it. Here we go:
1-3: Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4-6: 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” – Acts 9:1-6
God can use anyone, with any past, at any time
Saul was a Pharisee, a complicit murderer, and a persecutor of the followers of Jesus. Someone who no one would have chosen as the trailblazer of Christianity to the Jews and Gentiles.
Yet, God sees what man does not see. He took all that zeal, passion, and hatred and transformed it into fuel for sharing the Gospel – which means the good news about Jesus’ mission to rescue us.
God does not HAVE to use us but in His infinite Grace and sovereignty chooses to use us as instruments of His goodness and power in the world.
In other words, God’s grace means His unconditional love for you and for me.
His sovereignty means the power of God to exercise his ruling power over his creation.
At some point we must come face-to-face with who Jesus really is.
Saul has this miraculous encounter with Jesus.
You and I may or may not have had such a supernatural experience
But you and I at some moment will come to a nexus point where we have to make a decision- will we continue to live a life apart from God; OR will we walk in faith trusting the God who is stirring in our hearts and minds
Some of us wait till all the facts line up and it makes sense, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But sometimes God’s most powerful moments are when we trust Him with the little we KNOW, and let him supernaturally fill in the gaps of our understanding.
Back to our case study on Saul.
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” – Acts 9:7-16
God always uses people in His work of transformation
Annanias says “not that guy” and God says “Yes, that guy”
There will be moments where if we are listening God will stretch us to reach out to those who we absolutely deem undeserving: the family member that hurt you; the coworker that gossips about you; the annoying neighbor.
And in your faith journey, expect God to use the unlikeliest of people to aid you and be a part of your newness in Christ.
In fact, God is so powerful that what others mean for your harm, God can bring about your good.
You see when we decide to follow Jesus it’s not just about believing facts about Jesus that can help us get into heaven when we die.
It’s about actually following Jesus today, tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that.
Just as we surrender our lives to follow Jesus when we ask Him for forgiveness and to become our leader, in other words our Lord, we surrender the family member that hurt us; the coworker that gossips about us; the annoying neighbor, and all of our circumstances that He might lead us in each and every situation.
17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. – Acts 9:17-20
No one can argue with a transformed life.
People can go back and forth on apologetics, philosophy of life, and historical facts. You know what they can’t argue with- a changed life. A dead man, a dead woman, that has come to life.
In this room are people who have been miraculously transformed. I’ve heard many of their stories. They are proof that Jesus is alive and still at work.
So how does Jesus change lives even today?
It starts with God’s grace and our faith and it continues by God’s grace with our faith.
- Our world needs us to become who God created us to be.
- The people in your world need you to become who God created you to be.
- The more we become like Jesus, the more we can show the world how real He is.
There are things that used to really weigh me down – struggles that overwhelmed me and issues that I didn’t think I could ever overcome.
Remarkably, with God’s help I experienced freedom from those struggles. In fact, I began to help others in those same areas.
And then God revealed to me other issues to overcome.
And sure sometimes it has felt like 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, but pursuing Jesus is worth the effort. My family and friends who know I follow Jesus are worth the effort.
“The Acts narratives of Saul’s call also emphasize the personal encounter with Jesus. They indicate that the call was not a result of logical deduction but of an unexpected and shattering collision. It reversed Saul literally in mid-stride…Saul’s starting point is never the memory of Jesus’ deeds or words but the transforming experience of the risen Lord. Jesus is not so much the past founder of a messianic community as the present source of its life and power!”
– Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson
Have you been transformed?
Have you been through a spiritual metamorphosis that renders you a completely new person?
Here’s the thing about the miracle of knowing Jesus fully, and a life transformed. We were once dead, and now we are alive in him. We were once full of ourselves and entangled in our own self-righteousness, and now we have full access to God’s righteousness. We were once superficially trying to make change, but continuously returning to our brokenness, and now we can be transformed and NEVER be the same.
The butterfly cannot go back to being a pupa, the pupa cannot go back to being a caterpillar and the caterpillar can never return to being an egg.
The same is for us, in Christ, we move forward in our transformation, we are being renewed, transformed and the greatest miracle is that it is not us, but Christ in us that does that work.
We simply need to acknowledge that we fall short of God’s design for our lives. That we take matters into our own hands, and we need to relinquish control to the one who breathes life into us, the one who forms us, shapes us, walks with us.
Whether you know it or not, you’re in this room today, or watching online, and it is by God’s grace that you are even here.
Your life is not just a series of coincidences, no it is actually the opposite, it’s a series of God moments that has brought you to this point.
Today is the day for some of us in this room to not just hear about a life that can be changed, but to actually step out and experience it.
Wherever you might be in life, Jesus came so that you and I could be free from anything holding us back, anything keeping us in bondage.
All we have to do is acknowledge that we are in need, and that we are in need of the one who saves us from ourselves and the path leading to destruction.
You can look around this room and know that many people in this room once took the step that you can now take.
Today, if you know that your life is in need of the greatest miracle of them all, and you are willing to acknowledge that Jesus came to give you life and freedom, then I’m going to ask you to do one thing.
