Faith and Life -- a column from local faith leaders

Does God still perform miracles today?

Rachel Dahl
09/27/2020 05:00 AM (update 04/11/2023 01:53 AM)
Source: Reverend Dawn Blundell, Epworth UMC

Faith and Life -- a column from local faith leaders

Author: Courtesy of Stan Lattin

Once per week or so, Fallon’s faith leaders offer their thoughts on faith and life. Any church or faith community of any kind is welcome and encouraged to participate. If you have ideas for topics we should write about, or if you are a faith leader and would like to participate, please call Pastor Dawn Blundell at Epworth UMC, 775-423-4714. If you’d like to talk more about anything you read here, or if you would like prayer or a listening ear, we hope you will reach out to one of us. If you don’t already have a church home, you are invited to join us for worship, too! You’ll find contact information and worship times below.

Erica Bartel

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, www.churchofjesuschrist.org

Fallon 1st Ward Young Women’s President

"The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging.”— Elder L. Tom Perry.

As the above quote mentions, God is unchanging, He still performs miracles today. The question is more, are we able to slow down from our worldly activities to recognize the miracles and blessings that surround us? Some people think that great miracles no longer happen, they no longer believe, but if they believed, their eyes would be opened as they happen everyday.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Rev Dawn Blundell, Epworth United Methodist Church

www.epworthfallon.org, 775-423-4714

Worship Sunday mornings at 9:00am, sermon at 9:30am on Facebook Live and KVLV AM980

Human beings are weird. We could see Moses part the Red Sea right in front of us, and we would find a way to explain it away. And if we did believe it, one miracle would never be enough. In the Bible, Jesus heals people all the time and then tells them to keep it a secret, and I wonder if this is why: we are hard to convince with showy astonishments, and we tend to treat God like a genie in a bottle who will give us whatever we want if we say the right magic words. But I believe God works miracles all the time. The most impressive ones repair broken things and broken people, one heart at a time, to create heaven on earth.

Adam Bayer, base chaplain Naval Air Station Fallon

Worship at the NAS Fallon Chapel at 10:00am, or on Facebook Live beginning at @10:25

*The views or opinions expressed herein are solely his, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the United States government.

Two reasons strongly support God performing miracles today. First, Jesus, who claimed to be God, died on a cross; history suggests he came back to life. Death, perhaps more than anything else, makes its mark as natural. Coming back to life then, is supernatural. Second, more than 1600 years ago, Augustine wrote, “I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, since I experienced the miracle of a change in my own heart.” Similarly, I have seen my heart change through faith in Jesus, though I did not change it. If God raised Jesus from the dead, and changed my heart, he certainly performs smaller miracles today, like healing disease, changing the weather, and rescuing us from dire circumstances.

Pastor Brennen Behimer, Parkside Bible Fellowship

www.parksidebible.com, 775-423-3855

Sunday School at 9:00am, worship services Sunday mornings at 10:15am

One day, Jesus miraculously fed 5000 men, plus their families! He was instantly so popular that people wanted to make him king. They were enamored with his miracles and the potentially endless supply of free food. Jesus warned them, though, not to be distracted from what was truly important: being made right with God through faith in Christ. He called himself the “Bread of Life” because all those, and only those, who receive him would have eternal life. God still performs miracles today, whether we recognize them or not. However, we need to be careful not to be so distracted by a desire for miracles that we forget the most important thing: partaking of Jesus, the Bread of Life, and being reconciled to God.