STUDY 2 – The Revelation of a Supernatural God II

Man has tried to know his Creator through intellectual means, but this has proven impossible because God can be known only through revelation. In fact, He has always desired for us to know Him intimately and to experience His attributes, strengths, and virtues. This is why He sent us His Holy Spirit. No person has the mental ability to describe the infinite or the eternal. However, I will try to present a basic and uncomplicated description that will help you to understand Him in human terms.

Continued from last week…

God Stops the Sun

Then Joshua…said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. (Joshua 10:12–13)

According to discoveries in astronomy, we now know that the earth orbits the sun, not the other way around. When Joshua gave the order, therefore, it was actually the earth that stood still, not the sun. In addition to orbiting the sun, the earth also rotates on its axis, making a complete turn every twenty-four hours at a speed close to one thousand miles per hour. This rotation is what produces night and day, sunrise and sunset. With this in mind, why did Joshua order the sun to stop if it is the earth that is in orbit? Joshua was simply speaking from his point of view. The most incredible aspect of this miracle is that the earth actually did _________________ _______________⁽²⁵⁾! It stopped rotating without being destroyed. We cannot limit God. He is supernatural and all-powerful. He has complete and total dominion over nature.

In the Old Testament, God showed Himself to be a supernatural God of miracles:

• At the Tower of Babel, He divided the people by giving them new languages (see Genesis 11:5–8)
• At Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed entire cities with fire from heaven (see Genesis 19:24–25.)
• God saved Moses from Pharaoh’s plot to kill Israel’s firstborn sons (see Exodus 12)
• In the desert, God spoke to Moses from a bush that burned without being consumed (see Exodus 3)
• In Pharaoh’s palace, God turned Aaron’s rod into a serpent (see Exodus 7:10–12), turned the Nile River into blood (see Exodus 7:14–24), and caused plagues of frogs, lice, flies, boils, and locusts (see Exodus 7–10)
• God parted the Red Sea and delivered Israel out of Egypt and slavery (see Exodus 13:17– 14:29)
• In the wilderness, God caused manna to descend from heaven every day (see Exodus 16:1–24), sent quail for them to eat (see Numbers 11:31–32), and drew water from a rock (see Exodus 17:6)
• He caused earthquakes to defeat and drive off the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 14:15)
• He destroyed the walls of Jericho (see Joshua 6)
• He caused an axe to float on water (see 2 Kings 6:6)
• He gave Samson the strength to kill lions and tear down the columns of the Philistines (see Judges 16:21–30)
• He gave Abraham and his sterile wife, Sarah, a son in their old age (see Genesis 21:1–3)
• He enabled a young shepherd named David to kill a giant named Goliath with only a sling and a stone (see 1 Samuel 17)
• He fed the widow of Zarephath with the multiplication of oil (see 1 Kings 17:8–15)
• He caused a donkey to speak (see Numbers 22–24)
• He consumed Elijah’s sacrifice on Mount Carmel (see 1 Kings 18:16–46)
• He commanded rain to fall after a drought (see 1 Kings 18:16–46)
• He healed Naaman through His prophet (see 2 Kings 5:1–19)

• He raised Elisha’s bones from the dead (2 Kings 13:14, 20–21)
• He kept Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego safe and unharmed in a fiery furnace (see Daniel 3)
• He kept Daniel safe when the king placed him in a lions’ den (see Daniel 6:10–23)
• He preserved the life of Jonah in the belly of a whale (see Jonah 1–2).

And these are but a few examples.

We also see a miracle when God sent His only Son, Jesus, to reveal the heavenly Father as a supernatural God, and when His Son performed spectacular miracles, such as when He:

• Turned water into wine (see John 2:1–11)
• Healed the ten lepers, a centurion’s servant, a paralytic, Peter’s mother-in-law, and a deaf-mute (see, for example, Luke 17:11–19; Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 5:17–26; Mark 1:29–39; Mark 7:31–37)
• Straightened the back of the woman who had been bent for many years (see Luke 13:10– 17)
• Healed the blind beggar by the pool (see Mark 10:46–52)
• Restored the sight to one who was blind from birth (see John 9:1–25)
• Raised the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (see Luke 7:11–17)
• Delivered the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman (see Mark 7:24–30)
• Raised Lazarus three days after his death (see John 11:1–27)
• Multiplied the bread and the fish and fed five thousand people (see Mark 6:30–44)
• Walked on water (see Matthew 14:22–33)
• Pulled money from the mouth of a fish (see Matthew 17:24–27)
• Cursed the fig tree causing it to dry up (see Matthew 21:18–21),
• And delivered a demon-possessed man (see Mark 5:1–20).

Most of all, we see it when Jesus surrendered to the cross, descended into hell, took the keys of death from Satan, and was raised from the dead before ascending to heaven and sending us His Holy Spirit. In addition, we see it in the miracles that took place in the early church. And we continue to marvel at the miracles, signs, and wonders God performs in the church today.

The Two Sources of Supernatural Power

• ______⁽²⁶⁾
• __________⁽²⁷⁾

Any supernatural power that does not come from God is from Satan. Therefore, we must be __________⁽²⁸⁾ to avoid being ________________⁽²⁹⁾.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28)

Man was created with God’s supernatural power to exercise dominion and ________________ ⁽³⁰⁾ on the earth. He was not created to trust solely in his natural abilities, mind, reasoning, or any other source of sensorial knowledge offered by the world. Man was created to walk in the supernatural power of God.

The Supernatural God Revealed Himself Through Jesus

And Peter answered [Jesus] and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So [Jesus] said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (Matthew 14:28–29)

Walking on water is one of Jesus’ most awesome miracles. When Peter saw Him, he said he wanted to do the same thing and Jesus answered, “Come.” As soon as Peter started to walk on the water, however, he felt the strong wind and focused on the storm, took his ________________ ⁽³¹⁾ off of Jesus, and began to sink. Notice that Jesus did not rebuke Peter for wanting to walk on water, too. On the contrary, Jesus encouraged Peter to do it. Why did Peter want to walk on water? What was his motive? Peter left the safety of the boat because he was prompted by the instinctual need for ________________________⁽³²⁾ power that resides in man, the desire to cross over the line from the natural into the supernatural. Unfortunately, that same instinctual need has led many men away from God and toward more destructive supernatural options, such as magic, witchcraft, diabolical games, false religions, satanic sects, idolatry, and much more.

Today, we will notice that some rely solely on their natural abilities, trusting only in science, technology, mathematics, philosophy, logic, and other branches of human intellect and __________________________⁽³³⁾. Others opt for witchcraft or other ungodly supernatural powers. Many fail to realize that their choices lead to idolatry and dissatisfaction. For this reason, God is raising a new generation with the audacity to leave the boat and walk on the water. This new generation wants more because God has placed that desire within them.

Today’s Generation

When this generation goes to church looking for God’s supernatural power, most do not find it because many churches preach a Jesus who is ________⁽³⁴⁾ and historic—a man from Sunday school stories. To these people, the powerful, supernatural, real, living, raised-from-the-dead Jesus remains a complete stranger. As a result, when people witness a miracle today, they are unable to believe it because they lack the _____________________⁽³⁵⁾ of the true Christ. Due to this lack of power in the church, many young people have returned to the world in search of another source of power—that of the devil.

Most young adults have never witnessed or heard about God’s supernatural power due to their unstable faith founded on human wisdom rather than on the revelation of Jesus. Today, many seek “supernatural” power by other means, including drugs, alcohol, divination, and witchcraft. Their desire for power is good, but the way they are trying to satisfy this desire is evil. Therefore, they become easy targets for the devil, who seeks to destroy them.

Enemies of the Supernatural God

1. __________________⁽³⁶⁾

Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. (Isaiah 5:13)

When the people lack knowledge, they are held captive in their ignorance.

2. 2. Bad ________________⁽³⁷⁾

Theology is the study of God through the mind and reason. When we study God with improper motivation, or without inspiration, illumination, and revelation from the Holy Spirit, theology becomes carnal. We need theology, but only that which comes by revelation imparted by the Holy Spirit.

3.__________________⁽³⁸⁾

Humanism is the collection of philosophical ideas that elevate man to the highest position in terms of esteem.

4. 4. The “Spirit of Jezebel,” or Witchcraft

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth…? (Galatians 3:1)

The apostle Paul used the word “bewitched,” which means “to bring evil on one by feigning praise or an evil eye…to charm, to bewitch.” In Paul’s mind, witchcraft was blinding the people’s understanding and keeping them from recognizing the redeeming work of Christ on the cross.

The door to witchcraft is rebellion, which consists of stirring up or subverting any authorities established by God. Rebellion replaces divine authority with an illegitimate one.

5. The Carnal Mind

I want to clarify that it is not bad to have an intelligent, brilliant mind, as long as that mind is submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul was a brilliant man, yet he learned to trust the illumination of the Holy Spirit rather than the carnal mind.

By nature, the carnal mind is anti-God.

What Happened at the Beginning of Creation?

The fall of man occurred when Adam substituted the revelation of God for the carnal mind, or mental knowledge and ______________ __________⁽³⁹⁾. He disobeyed the command of God:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. (Genesis 2:17)

After Adam sinned, time, space, and matter became the foundation of his reality. Sin took from him the ability to see into the spiritual realm. Today, the carnal mind still determines our reality until we are born again. When we receive Jesus, we begin the process of renewing our minds with God’s thoughts. Our reality is determined by the level of revelation we have from Him. God gave us faith to enable us to exit the natural realm in which we had fallen.

What Can Take Us Beyond the Natural Dimension?

• Revelation, or ________________⁽⁴⁰⁾ knowledge
• Faith

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)

We need to raise a generation of believers who are not afraid or sceptical of the supernatural.

Common sense and human reasoning can never produce a miracle.

The Church of Human Ability

The church today tends to operate on the basis of human abilities. If something doesn’t fall within the scope of what is considered “normal,” it is not to be _______________⁽⁴¹⁾. Consequently, nothing supernatural ever happens. Why, then, do we even go to church? Would we go to our jobs if we didn’t expect to be paid? Would we go to a restaurant if we didn’t expect to eat? Why would we go to church if we don’t expect to witness miracles or experience some supernatural event—a healing, a new song, a new sign, or a miracle? If none of these occurs in the church, something is not right.

Humanism has robbed us of this expectancy. Many leaders and ministers have become stagnant and irrelevant, failing to generate any change or affect an impact within their nations. The time has come to retake the path set by the early church and return once again to the revelation of the living Christ, raised, all-powerful, and supernatural.

Action Steps

• If you genuinely desire to know the supernatural God, ask the Holy Spirit to open your understanding and reveal His greatness, His majesty, His love, and His supernatural power.
• Receive this prayer: Right now, I declare by faith that your eyes, ears, and spiritual senses will be opened to receive a supernatural experience with the living, real, supernatural Christ.

Key

25	Stand Still	26	God
27	Satan	28	Alert
29	Deceived	30	Lordship
31	Eyes	32	Supernatural
33	Understanding	34	Dead
35	Revelation	36	Ignorance
37	Theology	38	Humanism
39	Common Sense	40	Revealed
41	Believed