Special Miracles

Today let's begin digging into a passage that was briefly mentioned by Pastor Steven during Wednesday night's revival service.

"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul" (Acts 19:11). How? And why? Let's look at the explanation given in Acts 19:12.

"so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him..." Apparently there was a community of people who either heard something or saw something during Paul's ministry, because they were bringing these kerchiefs and cloths with them to church. Also note that Paul was not selling cloths, and in fact we can argue that Paul was not even touching the cloths- the verse says "handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him", a scene reminiscent of the phenomenon of the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34). Just as Jesus did not touch the woman, but it was the woman who touched Jesus' clothes, in the same way the Acts passage implies that it was the people touching Paul's frame with their kerchiefs, not Paul reaching out to touch anything.

"...were taken to the sick..." Paul was not traveling around visiting sick people. It was the community of Christians who took upon themselves the ministry of visitation. The laity, not the leadership, carried these aprons and kerchiefs to those who were too sick to come to the service. Some Christians, who are caught up in a 'cult-of-personality' mindset, get very upset when they are sick and are visited by a lay person instead of being visited by a pastor. If that's you, get over it. The pastors are called to preach. There are others that the Lord has called to the ministry of visitation.

How was Paul's ministry of miracles made manifest? Through a community of believers who not only had faith in the power of God to heal, but who took the initiative to carry that healing with them when they left the church.

Tomorrow we will continue with the remainder of Acts 19:12. See you then!