Can Coincidences Be Miracles?

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Scriptures: Acts 8:26-36, Acts 8:37 KJV

• Sermon Summary

  In this third part of The Miraculous series, Jeremy looks at the connection between miracles and the way we live and shape our lives every day. Through the story of Philip the Evangelist, we get to look at how the way he lived his life, reached out to those on the margins, listened to God and the kind of person he had become in Christ, how all of that prepared him for the miraculous encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch and an opportunity to tell him about Jesus.

• Discussion Guide

  Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.
  
  Connect: When was the last time something small and ordinary surprised you in a meaningful way? Or made you feel grateful?

  Share: Share about your experience with everyday miracles.
  Jeremy mentioned that his daughter seems more "in touch with the miraculous" in everyday life than he is.

  • How has your own ability to notice "everyday miracles" changed as you’ve gotten older?

  • What place do gratitude for the gift of life and humility (God is more mysterious than we want to admit) play in that?

  • What helps you stay open to wonder?

  Reflect: Reflect on the way tension (or conflict) is handled and can be handled in a community that is made up of different people from different backgrounds.

  When giving us Philip’s background, Jeremy talked about a powerful moment in the early church (in Acts 6) where the Hebraic camp didn’t just promise to look after the neglected Hellenized widow, but handed over leadership and responsibility to seven people from that Hellenized group (Philip being one of the Seven).

  • What do you think about this approach to conflict?

  • How does it challenge or can inform our typical ways of "fixing" problems within a community?

  Engage: Jeremy’s argument was that if we focus our concept of the miraculous on the moment of surprise it might be too small to properly hold all the ways we are being shaped and guided and held every moment of our journey.

  Engage with this idea:

  "What I’m suggesting is that often times what we read as supernatural coincidence is the product of the ways we shape our lives…

  And what if that means the miracle isn’t in the moment at the end of the road where it comes together —

  but in all the choices we’ve made all along the way to become the kind of person that would find ourselves in the kind situation we are uniquely prepared to be in…

  In fact sometimes what feels like the miracle is the fact that we notice those moments at all.”

  • What resonates with you here?

  • Have you had a "coincidence" in your life that, looking back, felt perfectly timed for the person you were becoming?

  Take away: What is your takeaway from the sermon or today’s conversation? How can it shape and guide your prayer this week?

  Prayer from the sermon:
  God of mystery and nearness,
  We come to you aware that life itself is already a gift
  that every breath, every moment, every encounter
  is more sacred than we often notice.

  And so today, we bring you our gratitude
  for a world that is more beautiful than we remember,
  and a presence that is closer than we imagine.

  At the same time we also bring our humility.
  I acknowledge that often we shrink you down to what we understand,
  we confuse our certainty with truth,
  and we miss the wonder right in front of us.

  So we ask that you might open us again.
  Open our eyes to the moments we might otherwise pass by.
  Open our hearts to the people we might otherwise overlook.
  Open our lives to the quiet invitations of your Spirit
  nudging us toward the margins,

  And shape us into the kind of people
  who notice,
  who listen,
  who are willing to sit when invited
  and to speak when the moment calls.

  And in all the ordinary, and surprising intersections of our lives,
  teach us to recognize your grace
  and celebrate the serendipitous unfolding each day.

  In the strong name of the Risen Christ we pray, Amen.

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 80

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin Borst
  John Mark McMillian - Heart's Delight
  The McClures - Reign Above It All
  Bethel Music - Goodness Of God
  Hillsong Worship - The Passion
  
  BAPTISM INVITATION
  Written by Alexandra Chubachi
  
  SERIES BUMPER
  The Miraculous