By Signs and Wonders by Stephen D. Elliott

Author:Stephen D. Elliott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seedbed Publishing
Published: 2016-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Evidently, the church around the world understands and practices something the North American church doesn’t, for they are far more effective at evangelism than we are. The Western church must not ignore what God is doing to powerfully advance His church elsewhere in the world. From my research it seems that international church leaders rarely, if ever, mention anything about friendship evangelism. Instead they consistently point to the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit as the primary enabler/cause of effective evangelism. Yet, the West continues to ineffectively persist in using what George Barna has called the “soft sell” 34 of the gospel message by using friendship/lifestyle evangelism methodologies. Thus, the North American church continues to reap meager harvests.

When God is moving in miraculous ways, the gospel message is more easily and persuasively presented. I have seen this over and over again.

In her eighteenth week of pregnancy, our niece Trish discovered the lungs of her unborn child were not properly developing. Rather, a mass had grown in the place the lungs were supposed to occupy. Without lungs, the baby could not and would not survive. Her doctors told Trish that her best option was to terminate the pregnancy. After an extended time of prayer, my wife, Helen, sensed the Lord prodding her to call Trish and encouraged her to continue the pregnancy. Over the next few months the mass began to diminish and lungs began to develop. Trish delivered a healthy baby boy, David. When he was four months old, David had the bottom one-third of one of his lungs removed, but today, as of this writing, he is now nineteen years old. He is as healthy and active as any other teen boy. We believe God provided a miracle, and David’s story has been told many times over, throughout the subsequent years.

One of my wife’s best friends, Debbie Graham, began having serious health and mobility problems in 1992. After exhaustive testing, she was diagnosed in early 2005 with multiple sclerosis. During a church service on Sunday, April 30, 2006, Debbie distinctly heard the Lord say to her, “ You don’t have to be concerned with MS anymore.” Four days later, Debbie had an appointment with her neurologist to receive the report from the latest MRI scans. After going over the reports, the neurologist said to Debbie, “I don’t know how to explain this . but you don’t have MS. The lesions are gone. There’s nothing to treat and no follow-up needed.” As I write this, it is 2016 and Debbie continues to have no signs or symptoms of MS. She has shared her miracle story over and over again with others.

This is not to say the presence of miracles always has a converting influence on people. There tends to be one of two reactions to seeing or experiencing the miraculous. People respond either with instantaneous repentance and faith, or with fear, skepticism, and further alienation from God and the hardening of the heart (Exod. 7:13; John 11:47–48; 15:24). Theologian Michael

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