John20
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you:
as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
We
too have been given the same mandate that Father gave Jesus. And we have been
given the same Holy Spirit that Father gave Jesus to enable Him fulfill Hs
commission and ministry on the earth.
In
the same way that Father sent Jesus, Now He has sent us. With the same
commission and with the same power. The power of the Holy Spirit.
John14
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask
any thing in my name, I will do it. 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you forever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Jesus
promised us that we would be able to do the same works that He did and even
greater works. And He said the reason that was possible was because He was
going to Father. What did going to Father have to do with us doing His works
and greater?
He
explained in the next verses. He promised that when He went to Father, He would
ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to us. And that the Holy Spirit would live in
us and be with us. This Holy Spirit is the key to doing the works that Jesus
did and greater.
Acts10
38 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.
Jesus had power to do
good, to heal the sick, to deliver the oppressed, to raise the dead and so
forth because of the Holy Spirit. He was a man from Nazareth who operated in
power because the Holy Spirit was upon Him and God was with Him. We are men and
women who operate in power because the Holy Spirit is upon us and God is with
us.
Luke 9
1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and
gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of
God, and to heal the sick.
Jesus gave His disciples
power and authority to preach the Kingdom of God, deliver people, to cure
diseases and to heal the sick.
Luke10
8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive
you, eat such things as are set before you: 9 And heal the sick that are
therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
It was a direct command.
It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t an afterthought. He told them to heal the
sick that were in the cities where they were preaching the gospel.
Matthew10
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Here is the command more
precisely. Most Christians are content with just preaching the gospel and
winning souls. But Jesus told us to do a lot more than that.
Mark16
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went
forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the
word with signs following. Amen.
This is not a command to
the super saints or to the pastors and evangelists and 5 fold. This is for
everyone. We are supposed to go into all the world and preach the gospel to
everyone.
Jesus promised that these
signs would follow everyone who believes in His name. If you are a believer
these signs are supposed to be following you. What are these signs?
·
Casting out
devils.
·
Speak with new
tongues.
·
Take up snakes and
not be hurt
·
Protected from
deadly and poisonous drinks
·
Lay hands on the
sick and heal them
Jesus did these things,
the early believers did these things and we have evidence in the book of Acts,
and so can we do all these things. Jesus said we would.
Also, notice that the
signs follow believers. Jesus did not say that we would run after these signs.
He did not say we would pursue the anointing or miracles. He said they signs
would follow us who believe in His name and who preach the gospel.
If you are a believer,
these signs can, should and will follow you.
Ephesians2
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God 9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast.
Laying on of hands isn’t
magic. It isn’t some special anointing. As we discussed in a previous lesson,
there is no such thing as a special anointing. Everything God does is by His
grace and we access it through faith.
We discussed earlier that
the word ‘saved’ is the word sozo.
And it does not mean going to heaven. It was translated many times as healed,
made whole, etc. Sozo means many things. It
means to be made safe from your enemies, to be delivered, to be healed, to be
made whole, to be made well, to do well i.e. to prosper and so forth.
And the way God does all
of this is by grace through faith. We also discussed the word ‘grace’. This
word also means many things. But at its most fundamental, grace (charis) is
simply the ability and power of God that comes to us freely (unmerited) and
enables us to be what we cannot be on our own and to do what we cannot do on
our own. It is His power in us.
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