In a natural sense, when we think of power, we think of explosives; we think of something that can break a hard wall into tiny pieces. When we think of power, we think of natural abilities to create or influence something, either good or bad. But, when we think of power in the context of God, we think of God's nature, character, and abilities to make the impossible possible, to make great things greater and grander. When we think of God's power, we think of the acts of God! You know, and you know that the power of God is at work because there are manifestations of His wonder-working power, and they are God's gift. Paul mentioned 3: faith, gifts of healings, and working of miracles. These 3 are highly visible in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And, He used all these to tell the world that the kingdom of God has come! He used them to get people’s attention to God! What did he do?
1. Water made wine in Cana – John 2:1–11
2. Paralytic healed in Capernaum – Matthew 9:1–8
3. Widow’s son raised in Nain – Luke 7:11–17
4. Jairus’ daughter raised from dead – Matthew 9:23
5. He gave Blind Bartimaeus His Sight - Mark 10:46-52
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Bartimaeus was so affected by what Jesus did powerfully that he became a follower of Christ. He got converted and, on that day, his life changed forever!
Brothers and sisters, the world needs not good ideologies and sound religion, not even a good social or political platform. What the world needs are evidence of God's wonder-working power that the world had experienced and witnessed in the ministry of Jesus Christ. This is why the Holy Spirit gives away these supernatural abilities to the church. And Jesus said to his disciples that we are to continue His works.
Someone said that “WORD-of-MOUTH” is still the best FORM of advertisement. I agree! We need the power of God back in the House! We need the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit take control! When they see a drug addict released from drugs, a struggling marriage recover from the verge of collapse, a single mum finds strength and recover from such a loss, or when a certified thief stops stealing because the power of God so impacted them; when they do see these manifestations, the world will flood the church. People will turn their back on the god of this world to the God of Israel!
What is needed for God to turn the great things into greater things is FAITH AND PRAYER. And faith in the context of 1 Cor 12:8 is a spiritual gift! The gift of faith knows no boundary when it comes to God’s power!
– "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." JOHN 14:12-14
As believers, we all have faith in God! It is the faith that saved us. That too is a gift! We call it “saving faith.” Saving faith is God's mercy given to man so that he may acknowledge Jesus is Lord! Saving faith is the beginning. Everything starts here. It is the foundation!
Gift of Faith vs. Saving Faith
Luke 18:24-27
24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Romans 10:9-10
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
The gift of faith is an unshakable conviction given by God that He is going to act supernaturally in a particular situation. The gift of faith crushes and immobilizes the spirit of doubt, fear, and unbelief. The gift of faith from the Holy Spirit disarms Satan!
- Mark 11:22-23
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.
23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.
It is a faith that cannot be produced or stirred up by any human effort but is a pure gift of God. How does God give this kind of faith? Often, it is through prophecy or words of knowledge which communicate His desire for the specific accomplishment of His will in a particular setting. God's revelation of His will causes all doubt to flee from the mind and creates the ability to believe that what He revealed is truly going to happen. 1 This communication, coupled with "the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14), creates a cause and effect in the Kingdom of heaven, and the result is the releasing of God’s power for healings or miracles.
2. Gifts of Healings
God’s supernatural action to bring a sick person to physical, emotional, or spiritual health. Paul literally speaks of this gift in the plural, “gifts of healings” (1 Corinthians 12:9), since there are many different kinds of healing. Doctors and medical professionals and even then, they too are reliant on God to heal. Healing is not something we can do in our strength or ability. It is done by God's power, which comes as a gift through our faith and prayer. When we pray for people, laying hands on them, and nothing happens, we see what we can do. On the other hand, when the person is healed, we see what God's energy can so powerfully do through us (see Colossians 1:29). Jesus emphasized healing in His missionary instructions to His disciples— and there is no indication that He has changed those instructions since then!
Luke 9:2 Luke 9:6 The Lord appointed seventy-two. . . . And he said to them, “. . . Whenever you enter a town and they receive you . . . heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” Luke 10:1– 2, 8– 9 Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. . .. And these signs will accompany those who believe: . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:15– 18 The reason healings are so important for evangelization is that they are not just external proof of the Gospel. They are the embodiment of the Gospel. They visibly demonstrate that the Kingdom of God is here and that Jesus has come to free human beings from sin and all its destructive effects, as well as restore us to the fullness of life. They are signs of the fullness of healing that will be accomplished on the last day when our bodies will be raised from the dead to share in God’s own life forever.
Working of miracles
• Something that goes beyond human explanation.
• Example: Blind Bartimaeus
The gifts of the Holy Spirit:
• Overlap in operation.
• Seamless manifestation.
• Unified purpose.
At the age of 20, the mission of world evangelization was birthed in the heart of this young lady Aimee, founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. And the gifts of power characterize her evangelism and healing ministry. Curved at the back of the pulpit of Angelus Temple, which she designed and built, was "We would see Jesus." She wanted every preacher who would stand in that pulpit what people at the Temple wanted to hear. Jesus – She hoped that any preacher who got up to speak would realize there were those who had come with a hunger in their heart, not to see the preacher, but to see Jesus."
ILLUSTRATION – PHOTOS OF AIMEE AND CRUTCHES
Don M. Bond had infantile paralysis (polio) from 6 months old. It was said that he spent 5 years in Bell Memorial Hospital, Kansas City. He wore this brace all his life until he attended Aimee's meeting on March 17, 1937, and was miraculously healed. He was a resident of Mar Vista Pasadena, CA, and was 20 years old when he got healed.
AMA Seal of Approval – When 100s of people were healed at her meetings in San Jose, California, the Americal Medical Association sent doctors to investigate. Their final reports stated that the work of Aimee Semple McPherson met with their approval in every way and that the healings were "genuine, beneficial, and wonderful." The Foursquare Heritage Center.
YOU CAN GROW IN THE GIFTS THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE SPIRIT
Example: Breakthrough in healing (Randy Clark – founder of Global Awakening and with more than 47 years of ministry). He believed in healing because God called him into ministry about a month after he was healed of terrible injuries from a car accident. He occasionally prayed for healing during his first 14 years of ministry, and he may have seen 5 people healed. Then after an impartation for healing, when someone laid hands on him and prayed for healing anointing to come upon his life, he began to see healings much more frequently, perhaps monthly. Then after another time of impartation, there was a much greater anointing for healing. Healing seemed to be occurring every week. He experienced another increase in healing after a 40-day fast. This was my second 40-day fast; my first had been for a breakthrough in healing. The purpose of this second fast was to seek God in prayer and fasting for an increase in anointing to see miracles, not just healing. On the 23rd day of the fast, I experienced my first creative miracle. A creative miracle is when God restores a limb, organ, or tissue that was missing completely from a person's body.
You can grow in your spiritual gift by:
1. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Eph 5:18) Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit — SPIRIT INFLUENCES – WHO HAS INFLUENCE IN YOUR LIFE?
2. Staying close to Jesus – (Acts 4:13) Now when the men of the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court) saw the confidence and boldness of Peter and John, and grasped the fact that they were uneducated and untrained [ordinary] men, they were astounded, and began to recognize that they had been with Jesus. WHO do you spend most of your time with? YOU ARE MY WORLD!
3. Get God’s heart for the lost and the broken.
4. Ask, seek, knock – (Matt 7:7-8) 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
5. Take a step in faith. Take risks! (Luke 17:5) 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
ACTIVATING THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
6. Do whatever He tells you even if it means dying to yourself without limit.
7. Know your authority in Christ (Matthew 8:8-9) 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant,[a] ‘Do this,’ and he does it.
8. Learn from others.
9. Use testimonies to stir up faith.
10. FORGIVE! THAT’S HOW YOU Give the Holy Spirit room to work.
Barriers to Activating and Growing in the Gifts of the Spirit.
1. Panic
2. Fear
3. Doubt
4. Unbelief
5. Too focus on the pain
6. Distractions
7. Improvising
Conclusion: TESTIMONY: COME UP HIGHER!
ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE HIS CALL AND HIS PLAN IN YOUR LIFE. NO ONE CAN! HE STICKS TO HIS PLAN. WE MUST!
On the day we left Tulsa for Charlotte, the weather was so bad that we were soaking wet when we got to our UBER ride. I could hardly see the road because it was foggy, cold, and windy. I thought about what our flight would be like when we took off. As expected, it was a turbulent take-off. I was looking out the window and could see dark clouds above. It felt like the plane won’t make it to Charlotte. But it kept moving up and up and higher and higher. After a little while, the aircraft settled down, and we could not feel the turbulence anymore. I looked out the window and saw we were way above the turbulent clouds. And the view was way better. This picture here sums up what I was seeing from above the turbulent stormy weather below where we came from.
RETELL MY STORY ABOUT MY MARRIAGE –I GET DISTRACTED BY MY OWN VOICE, BY WHAT I HEAR AND SEE. AND GOD MUST HAVE KNOWN. JUST WHEN I STARTING TO get scared of the turbulence in my life and THE DEVIL FEEDING MY THOUGHTS WITH THIS. “GOD IS PUNISHING YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE SINNING BY TAKING THE POSITION OF A PASTOR WHEN IT is for men and not for women like you.” Just when I thought the Devil had the upper hand and was knocking me down, I came across this Scripture in Rev. 11: 7. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will wage war against them and overcome them and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Those from every people and tribe and tongue and nation will see their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.11 After the three and a half days, the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. WE NEED TO COME UP HIGHER! WE NEED TO LEVEL UP AND NOT DOWN!
One night, I said to God, "I thank you, Lord; even if I don't see the fulfillment of your promise of healing and restoration of my marriage, I will still praise and worship you. I will trust you. I ASKED GOD TO GIVE ME The GIFT of faith and the gift of healing AT THAT TIME. AND I SAID TO GOD MY FIRST PATIENT Would be "ME." I have countless nights sitting in the spiritual hospital being healed by Jesus. Tears ran down my cheeks each time, not because I felt sorry, but because I felt so loved by God. In those days, God gave me an unshakeable conviction that He would act supernaturally in my marriage situation. AND HE DID! It was the gifts of the Spirit that sustained me and protected what the Devil tried so hard to steal, kill, and destroy. Indeed, THE WILL OF GOD WILL NOT LEAD you TO WHERE HIS GRACE WILL NOT SUSTAIN YOU. THAT'S WHAT THE GIFTS OF POWER CAN DO TO YOU AND OTHERS YOU KNOW! LET’S SPEAK THE NAME OF JESUS! HIS NAME IS MUCH MORE THAN ANY EXPLOSIVES IN THIS WORLD! THE DEVIL RAN AWAY AT THE SOUND OF HIS NAME! THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKS AT THE SOUND OF HIS NAME! FOR HE BRINGS GLORY AND HONOR TO THE FATHER!
PRAYER
Father, in Jesus' Name, we ask You to release the gifts of the Holy Spirit in a greater measure into the life of everyone here and those online. We ask for the gifts to be released through us in order to display Your glory. Let the mighty manifestations of God in miracles, signs, and wonders speak of Your power and might for Your Name's sake and eternal love for Your people. We ask that You fill each of us with Your Holy Spirit, open our spiritual eyes to see, and spiritual ears to hear the cries of those around us who need You and who need the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen!
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