THE COMFORTER – PART 6 POWER TO PERFORM SIGNS, WONDERS, AND MIRACLES
Sunday, June 25, 2000
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38 KJV
This is a very important Bible verse. It tells us that the oppression of sin, sickness, disease and torment originate with the devil. He is the author and the perpetuator of all that is bad in the earth and in our lives – not God! This verse says that God was WITH Jesus. He ANOINTED Jesus with the HOLY GHOST and with POWER so that He could do GOOD and heal ALL who were oppressed by the devil. God is the author of all that is good. Healing and deliverance are GOOD! Healing and deliverance bring glory to God!
Jesus was the Son of God, born into the world in human form. He was sent to the earth for a specific purpose – to cut an everlasting, unbreakable covenant between God and man. He was the mediator between God and man - the bridge that allowed man to stand once more in the presence of Almighty God without sin and without fear of judgement. Jesus, as a man, grew up like other men. He spent thirty years studying the Word of God and submitting His life to that Word. He never once performed any miracles before the day that John baptized Him in water and God baptized Him in the Holy Ghost.
After He was baptized in the Holy Ghost, He began to preach the Word of God and to perform signs, wonders and miracles. He did not do these things because He was the Son of God. He did them firstly because He was meeting people's needs and demonstrating the love of God to them and showing them what was available to them if they would keep covenant with God. He came to undo the destruction that the devil had wrought on the earth after the fall of man. Secondly, He was demonstrating to us the power and authority that WE can walk in when WE are baptized in the Holy Ghost.
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Mark 16:15-20 NKJ
We are baptized in the Holy Ghost for a purpose – so that we can do the same thing that Jesus did – bring glory to God by delivering all those who are oppressed by the devil, sickness and sin! We are to preach the Gospel, baptizing all those, who receive God's word, in water and the Holy Ghost. We are to cast out demons, speak with new tongues, operate in the gifts of the Spirit, lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Even accidents involving snakebites and any other poison will not be able to destroy our lives if we believe. (We should not tempt God by deliberately allowing ourselves to be poisoned or we will most likely find ourselves in heaven before our time!)
There are people today who say that only the disciples and apostles did signs and wonders and that it has all passed away now. They do that to explain the lack of power in their lives and the fact that they themselves are not baptized in the Holy Ghost or speaking in tongues! They say that they have the Holy Ghost, but I think maybe that they have as much of the Holy Ghost as some people who have a cup of water poured on them when they are "water baptized." You can't have a just a little sprinkle – you need to get dunked – YOU NEED TO BE SOAKED AND SATURATED IN HOLY GHOST POWER! The Holy Ghost is a free gift. Why would you refuse a free gift. "No thank you. I already have enough." We can NEVER have enough of God. We need all we can get!
Some people even credit the devil with healing people. But the last time I checked, God is still our healer and the Bible still says that that God is the SAME yesterday, today and forever! Jesus told His disciples to preach the Gospel AND perform miracles. According to Acts 6:7, as more and more people were added to the church, the number of disciples increased greatly. God did not put a limitation on who could be a disciple, neither was it just for a certain time period. Every one of us who commits to God and submits to His word is a disciple. If signs and wonders followed the original disciples as they preached the word then if we are disciples today, signs and wonders should follow us as we preach the word.
Jesus spoke personally to His disciples and to the people who lived at that time in Israel. Through His word, He is still speaking to us today. If His word about love and forgiveness and repentance, etc. applies to people then and now, then His word pertaining to signs, wonders and miracles applies to people then and now. Jesus gave us our instructions and He has not come back yet to reverse them or change them. Until He says differently, we should be doing the last thing that He told us to do. Preaching the Gospel and performing miracles, healing delivering and setting people free by the power of the Holy Ghost!
Recent:
Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the