Jesus’s miracle of fish and bread proves it. An appetite for miracles is no proof one is a Christian. As John Piper explains, “Seeing the mere event of an external physical miracle should never be the goal of the Christian.”

The Holy Spirit testifies that believers are God’s children by working good fruit in their lives and a cry in their hearts: “Father! Lord!”

A pastor’s job is not to count how many people come on Sunday, but to make faith-filled, self-denying, fruit-bearing disciples.