Every part of our relationship with the Holy Spirit is about discovering and manifesting the resurrected Christ. In this Easter Sunday sermon, Bill Johnson walks us through Mark 16 and the events that took place following Jesus’ Resurrection. How we hear and respond to Jesus’ words will impact how His Resurrection manifests in and through us.

everything in our relationship with the

holy spirit is about discovering and

manifesting the resurrected christ

everything is connected because without

the resurrection there is no forgiveness

of sin

it is all connected to the resurrection

thanks wow well happy easter

he has risen

he’s risen indeed but not the truth

scripture says that without the

resurrection

we can’t be born again

we can’t we actually can’t be saved

everything hinges upon that one thing

and the complete

victory that jesus had over sin

over powers of darkness

over the grave

wow wow wow so so significant so we’ll

talk about that today brief update on my

way by the way to all our online

community we love you so thankful for

you thank you that you join us week

after week and the overflow rooms

bless all of you in the overflow you

know we used to have this manifestation

of the glory that would appear in the

room

and we actually had it happened 26 times

in a period of about 11 months but i

remember one time it started in the

overflow so it kind of makes me want to

go hang out over there so all of you

overflow people bless you we’re we’re

thankful

uh just quick update appreciate so much

um all the great numbers of people have

been praying for my wife um we’re so

thankful uh her wife they got her white

blood count up so she was able to

receive treatment she got shingles so

the pain level has been pretty nasty so

we’re we’re fighting against that that

honoree thing right now but uh

but very thankful for the prayers

thankful for all that jesus has

accomplished

you know i i we we quote verses a lot uh

to each other

and uh and i actually just ministered to

ourselves with these scriptures

but one of them is about the holy spirit

who raised jesus from the dead gives

life to your mortal bodies in romans

chapter 8 verse 11 that the holy spirit

who dwells in us

the spirit who raised jesus from the

dead here’s the deal the holy spirit

is the spirit of resurrection

and everything you will ever

learn

in this new testament life is through

the holy spirit and it is always to

reveal the resurrected christ

everything is connected to the

resurrection

yes amen built

everything is connected to the

resurrection

it is so central

this i don’t understand this but i i’m

fascinated by it the blood of jesus is

what wipes out sin

and yet it says without the resurrection

there’s no forgiveness

it was the resurrection that validated

the sacrifice of his blood

that was worth the morning whether you

realize it or not it really was all

right

open your open your bibles

to mark chapter 16.

and um

we’re going to do something i i i’ve

only i’ve only done in my life twice

that i know of

and it was the previous two services

so

[Laughter]

we’re actually going to study it a

chapter i don’t think i’ve done that

before

unless it was a tiny tiny chapter

just be thankful that we’re not doing

psalms 119

we’d be here till friday

i want to uh we’re going to talk through

uh mark chapter 16. if you have a bible

please open because i want you to be

able to follow along

there are so many different portions of

scripture that add elements of insight

unique perspectives on the resurrection

i don’t always talk about um the theme

uh of a holiday

you know whether it be easter christmas

or whatever but i i really

have wanted to and i’ve been doing it

more lately i’m trying to learn to be a

good pastor really is what it comes down

to here

but i really have uh it’s been in my

heart to talk to you about the

resurrection so we’ve got a number of

things that we’ll be going through let’s

go ahead and begin with mark 16 we’ll

start with verse one we’re going to read

the first eight verses and then we’ll

stop and talk all right

now when the sabbath was passed mary

magdalene

mary the mother of james and salome

brought spices that they might come and

anoint him very early in the morning on

the first day of the week they came to

the tomb when the sun had risen

and they said among themselves who will

roll away the stone from the door of the

tomb for us

but when they looked up they saw the

stone had been rolled away

it was very large

and entering the tomb they saw a young

man clothed in a long white robe

sitting on the right hand or the right

side

and they were alarmed

and they said

he said to them do not be alarmed

you seek jesus of nazareth who was

crucified

he is risen

he is not here those two phrases are

potent he has risen he is not here why

don’t you say that with me he is risen

he is not here

see the place where they laid him

but go tell his disciples

and peter

go tell anybody glad that sometimes he

isolates you

he’s not saying peter wasn’t one of the

disciples he was just saying peter needs

a little extra help right now because he

was pretty vigorous in his denying that

he ever knew me so i’m going to give him

a little bonus time here all right

so go tell the disciples and peter

that he is going before you into galilee

there you will see him as he said to you

and they went out quickly fled from the

tomb they trembled and were amazed and

they said nothing to anyone for they

were afraid all right verse 7 go tell

his disciples verse 8 they trembled and

said nothing

the first evangelist hit a wall

you know this is uh

the gospel of john adds some uh

elements to this story that i love so

much one

is that when um

when peter and john

actually ran to the tomb they got there

apparently after

uh mary but when they got to the tomb

there was an angel

at the there was a kind of a stone bed

where they would lay the body there was

an angel at the foot and there was an

angel at the head

and they saw the grave clothes folded

uh where his body used to be and then

the napkin over his head was folded and

placed in a separate place

and there’s this jewish tradition

that when if you ever went to somebody’s

home for a meal

and it was there are certain there’s

certain ways you could respond if you

ever went to a home where there was a

meal and it was an absolute disgusting

meal

there’s a certain way you could fold the

napkin

leave it on your plate so that when you

left they would look at it and they

would know you will never eat that meal

again

and jesus tasted death

and it was folded and it was left

where his body wants light

and he was declaring i will never taste

of death again as a once and for all

the angels at the foot and at the head

remind me a lot of the tabernacle or the

the covenant the

ark of the covenant thank you somebody

help me here ark of the covenant that

was in the old testament and in the old

testament there was this golden box that

they would have in the holy of holies in

this place before the lord where the

presence of god

the presence of god wasn’t there

symbolically literally the manifested

presence of god was upon this

golden box

on this box was an angel at one side

cherubim and one at this side and they

would face each other

in the middle was what was called a

mercy seat

inside this ark of the covenant it was

also called the ark of the testimony it

was the box that contained the record of

testimony

what was in it

the tablets of stone

the revealed will of god

the

jar of manna the covenant of his

continuous provision

and an almond rod that was dead

that is now alive with sprouts buds

blossoms and ripe almonds

which is how god marks his leadership

his leadership is always marked with

resurrection life so he’s got this

threefold testimony inside this ark of

the covenant

and the um

the mercy seat is on top of it which

tells me every time we share our

testimony anytime we share with somebody

else the word of the lord that god has

spoken to our life we actually usher in

the mercy seat into that environment

that they can taste for themselves the

mercy of god stories are always to

produce the mercy of god in a given

environment

and here we have the cherubim uh on one

side of the ark and on the other side

i’d like to suggest to you that the

angel at the head and at the feet is the

the

eternal testimony of that ark of the

covenant where the mercy of god is on

display through the resurrection of

christ let’s uh let’s move on to verse

nine

when he arose

early on the first day of the week he

appeared to mary magdalene out of whom

he had cast seven demons

she went and told those who had been

with him as they mourned

and wept

and when they heard it that he was alive

and had been seen by her

they did not believe

read verses 10 and 11 with me again

let’s look at this she went and told

those who had been with him as they

mourned and wept

and when they heard it he was that he

was alive had been seen by her they did

not believe

mary magdalene

had seven demons cast out of her in

john’s gospel this particular story is

fascinating to me because jesus he died

and he goes into the place of the dead

luke 16 describes two compartments of

the place of the dead there’s the place

of torment and there is the place of

comfort a place of comfort is called

titled abraham’s bosom who is abraham he

is the father of faith this describes

the level playing field of old testament

and new testament believers it’s all

everybody saved by faith never by works

always by faith all the new testament

line

so jesus went

when he died he went into broadcast

to those who had

were in the place of comfort they were

in the place of peace

although they couldn’t go to heaven

because they weren’t born again the

blood hadn’t been shed until that death

on the cross when jesus died he

descended into that place of the dead

and he made the proclamation and i do

want to see the video on this he made

the proclamation the price has been paid

and they all oh goodness can you imagine

the celebration they all receive gladly

that their sins have been atoned for and

permanently wiped off the slate and they

are

elsewhere it says he led captive a host

of captives so here are the captives

there were captives of the enemy through

death he’s now the captives of life and

he takes them and he begins to ascend to

the father

as he’s ascending to the father he looks

over and he sees mary magdalene john’s

gospel gives us the story she’s weeping

at the tomb because jesus isn’t there

and she wants to know who stole his body

and so she’s there weeping

and jesus sees her and he stops the

whole procession

how do we know this because he tells her

i’ve not ascended to the father yet so

it’s like he’s somewhere in between the

place of the dead leading captive a host

of captives on his way to the father and

he’s moved by the love and affection of

one

and he stops

he stops what all of heaven has been

waiting for

for ages he stops it so he can take one

moment

with whom

to spend with this woman

out of whom he’d cast seven demons

stunning

this is

personally where i think

in matthew’s gospel says

that some of the righteous dead in

jerusalem were seen walking around

so i think it’s when jesus said

hold on a moment

i’ll be right back

and he comes over to talks to mary

and you know david’s going hey we might

as well catch a few sights see i wonder

if the old house is there and they’re

seen walking around

and then jesus spends his time with mary

mary’s weeping and and he

he speaks to her she thinks it’s the

gardener

and supposing it’s the gardener she

turns to him and says do you know where

they’ve laid him

where they put him i want to attend to

his box she’s there to put spices etc on

him i want to attend to him and and uh

she doesn’t recognize him when she turns

to him

and then he says

mary

jesus when he said mary

all confusion

all morning everything that was

competing for her attention and

affection just immediately dissolved as

she saw the one

that she was there she was there for in

that moment she sees him

john’s gospel says

jesus sister stop clinging to me

i haven’t gone to the father yet

so that tells me he was she was clinging

to him

yes

jesus was born of a virgin

mary

jesus was also the firstborn of the dead

in his virgin birth the first one to

embrace him

was the virgin mary

in his second birth

from the dead the first to embrace him

was mary magdalene out of whom was cast

seven demons

the first closed out the law

the second

inaugurated the hour of grace

[Applause]

verse 10 and 11 once again they uh she

went and told those who had been with

him and they mourned

and when they heard that he was alive

and had been seen by her they did not

believe

there’s kind of an unhealthy approach

that that many have

i i to

to avoid mourning i think it comes from

a good place i think it’s because we

want to be strong or we want to

illustrate faith or whatever it might be

but there’s this denial of bad things

happening to good people and how you

have to sort through that

and here we have

disciples who are in mourning

and because of the mourning they did not

believe here’s the warning mourning will

either take you to unbelief or to the

comforter blessed are those who mourn

for they shall be comforted mourning

either takes you into a divine encounter

where you become healed from the problem

and you become equipped to be a problem

solver

he doesn’t just bring us out of the red

he takes us into the black if that makes

sense he doesn’t just take us out of the

pain of a problem it doesn’t just take

us out of the bad memory of a situation

but he takes us into a redemptive

solution where we become the very

messengers of the life that once tried

to destroy us you see it in isaiah 61

those the brokenhearted the the blind

the lame the all the broken people the

first part and it says and they will

rebuild the ancient ruins the very ones

that were

uh about to be despised and rejected by

society become restored by king jesus

and in that place they become the

rebuilders that’s what’s happening here

is in our morning

morning

morning is a skill

to do it well

because it requires honesty and

abandonment

honesty because you have to you have to

be honest about what you’re experiencing

this didn’t seem fair this didn’t seem

right i thought this would happen this

promise was given to me i’ve experienced

all this disappointment it’s got to be

honesty number one

but number two there has to be

abandonment to the one who is

trustworthy

there has to be a point in which i say

i don’t know what’s going on here but i

give myself to you completely because

you’re the only one that is absolutely

perfectly trustworthy

and i trust you

there is a point where in mourning tears

are welcome there’s not a problem with

that um what you don’t want to do is be

like these disciples who in this

particular case

their mourning led them to a rigidity

where they couldn’t receive truth

let’s read farther because this will

make more sense i hope i hope in a

moment all right

verse 14

later he appeared to the 11 jesus

appeared to the 11 as they sat at the

table he rebuked their unbelief and

hardness of heart because they did not

believe those who had been seen by him

after he had risen let’s read it again

verse 14. later he appeared to the

eleven as they sat at the table he

rebuked their unbelief and hardness of

heart because they did not believe those

who had seen him after he had risen

now here’s here’s something i think we’d

all agree on none of us we don’t want to

be gullible

you know we don’t want to fall

we’ve all heard people boasting certain

things we found out later were not true

you know they had this vision this

whatever this promise it just didn’t

happen none of us want to be gullible

it would be cruel of the lord for for

him to require me to believe any report

i heard i’ve heard

if there wasn’t

something in the report

that caused me to know

its source

the source was god or their source was

not

in jesus’s

second most famous sermon

his most famous was sermon on the mount

second one was

john 6 eat my flesh drink my blood

nobody bought the podcast after that one

nobody sent that to their mother-in-law

said listen to this one

at the end of this this message we’ve

got perhaps 15 maybe even as many as 20

000 people that are there because he’s

multiplied food extraordinary miracles

and then he stands up to preach and he

decided to take a little different twist

because his other sermons weren’t quite

so offensive but this one

he nailed him

you have to eat my flesh drink my blood

they start complaining so he turns it up

a notch he’s every time they started

complaining he would just make it more

challenging you know

it’s great john chapter six but by the

time we get to the end everybody is left

but the disciples

and jesus turns to the 12 and he says

are you guys leaving too

now peter got it right on several

occasions we need to give him credit

and he nailed it on this one he said

where are we going to go

you have the words of eternal life

listen to what he’s saying

where are we going to go

every time you talk we come alive inside

let me put it in my words

we don’t understand the sermon on eating

flesh and drinking blood any more than

the masses that left

but what we do know is when you talk we

find out why we’re alive

because there was something in the words

and jesus later described it in chapter

six he says my words to you are spirit

so number one it’s presence number two

it’s life it gives life

so there is life to the words that come

from the lord and there’s presence

when we become a people that recognize

what god is saying and doing by

recognizing the life from the words and

the presence that becomes manifest then

we can accept the something new that he

decides to do

verse 12 it says he appeared in another

form

to the two of them as they walked and

went into the country

and they went and told it to the rest

but they didn’t believe them either

he appeared in another form

he didn’t come like they expected

we all love the promise god’s about to

do a new thing

we just hope he does it the way he did

it last time

everybody i know is crying out for a

great move of god they just want it to

happen

you know with some familiarity to it you

know

and the lord has this habit of not only

repeating the testimony but adding to it

through something one more additional

thing that is offensive to the

it is to the you know when he added

tongues that offended a lot of people

he just he he

he won’t violate his word but he doesn’t

mind violating my understanding of his

word

i personally think he delights in it i

can’t prove it just my personal opinion

so here we have this story where the

disciples

are disappointed they’re in great pain

why they’ve given three and a half years

of their life

to somebody who’s now dead and they’ve

got nothing to show for it they left

everything to follow this one

intense disappointment

great morning why because they loved him

they loved him they were devoted to him

and he is now gone

somebody comes along with news that’s

too good to be true

sometimes

it’s true because it is too good to be

true

comes with the news that he is alive but

they are so

much in pain

and not wanting to be gullible

they’ve already left everything to

follow him three and a half years ago

they don’t want to do that again

are you with me i don’t want to be

gullible

and so what happens when you try to

protect yourself from being gullible you

will overcompensate and keep yourself

from faith

you can either have dignity or you can

have faith

you can either have dignity you can

either work to preserve your your

dignity

or you can give yourself to faith and

here’s why jesus could rebuke and

correct them

for

not believing the report because when

the report was spoken presence and life

was released

but they were so anxious they become

unavailable became unavailable to what

god was actually doing

anxiety causes me to lose track of the

tools that god has put in my life

any time we’re in a situation

challenging situation

if the enemy works hard to make us

mindful of if i could use peter in the

boat walking on the water make us

mindful of the waves make us mindful of

the threats to our safety

so that i take my eyes off the one safe

place onto all the other possibilities

and in that that anxiety suddenly i

can’t remember one thing god’s taught me

in the last two years

and yet there’s not a person in this

room that is not facing something for

which god has not already prepared you

he listen to think you’re unprepared is

to call him a bad steward of your life

just because you can’t remember it

doesn’t mean he didn’t put it there

and it’s fighting for that place of

peace

fighting for that place of acknowledged

presence in that place is where you

rediscover what god has placed there

that is the very tool the very

instrument that is needed for this next

assignment

amen

our job is to recognize

when a word comes from the lord or not

i remember there was a there was a gal

here

i i want to be very careful she had some

mental issues so i i i need to be

careful but

she would accuse

me of weird things it was just

we had issues

but i would love her but i just didn’t

want to be

close i love her from a distance

a hug

but please don’t accuse me again

i mean well she accused me of was just

horrible

but she it was in her mind she made it

up she said she saw it right here in

public and it’s just crazy

i’ll never forget sunday it was right

back where that camera is right there

she came up to me

with the word of the lord again

but this time

it was

see our responsibility

is to recognize the word of the lord

our responsibility is not

the approval of the messenger

or the personality through which the

message was given

often times our hunger is tested

by him putting what we are hungry for

in the group of people or the individual

that we want nothing to do with

that’s the good news

because just follow me though because

presence is released

in those divine moments

where a word is shared it is the

responsibility of the hearer to say all

right he’s on this

i’ll need to figure out what he’s saying

exactly to me but i recognize this is a

divine moment

i’m the head of my household

amen

i am

i am

my wife is the neck

she she turns me any way she wants

[Applause]

it has the head of my household

my responsibility is to recognize the

word of the lord when we hear it

sometimes it comes to me sometimes it

would even come from my children yes

that’s right

obviously off many times through my wife

but i remember a certain time

in my life pastoring in weaverville

i was pretty certain

that it was the will of god for me to

have a new car

i was i was pretty i was pretty certain

and i was pretty certain i knew which

car it was too

since i had been shopping

in the magazines you know we didn’t have

the internet then by shopping and i

found the one i’d seen i thought well

that just looks nice it’s a good car

so i had scheduled a time for

benny and me and the kids to come down

to reading and to test drive this car

but before i left weaverville

the lord spoke very clearly to me in no

uncertain terms

you are not to buy a car

i thought

but i should probably test drive one

just

so that if it ever becomes your will we

know which one to get

[Applause]

we all know god needs a lot of help on

these things yeah

yeah so i so i

i talked myself into it and and dulled

down that conviction to stay away

so we got down to the car lot

and i i get in the driver’s seat

salesman is here

my family’s in the back

start the car

and brian starts singing

be careful little eyes what you see

be careful little eyes what you see

there’s a father up above looking down

in tender love so be careful little eyes

what you see

i would have turned the car off right

then but i had to do something for the

sake of the salesman so i drove around

the block that one tiny block back in

parked it turned the key out said thank

you very much and we left worst test

drive ever

i couldn’t tell you one thing about that

car because it was ruined

might as well had john the baptist in

the back seat prophesying to me

a child’s voice with all of heaven

behind it saying be careful little eyes

let you see

i remember

when i

two weeks ago i talked to you a little

bit about some of my personal story and

i remember

in february of 1995

i made my first trip of many to toronto

toronto is a place where there was a

mighty mighty outpouring of the holy

spirit still continues but it’s spread

diversely really all over the world

right now the critics of the revival

would say well where are all the souls

if it was a revival well just from three

people that i know that were

dramatically touched in that revival

they’ve each led over a million people

each to the lord that’s just three

people that i know there’s countless

millions of people that come to christ

the story goes on and on and on but

it was a very

unusual

visitation of god

first one of the things that made people

so mad is that people were laughing

they didn’t deserve it

isn’t that kind of what grace is

anyway all right so i i went i went

there the first night you have to get

there early i mean my goodness sometimes

you stand out in the snow

early morning five o’clock four o’clock

in the morning and you stand there for

hours waiting to get in freezing i mean

people would just wait forever to get

into these there’s a hungry from all

over the world and i remember getting

there the first night and i sat

somewhere back over like in that section

of the building and

and uh it’s quite a while before you

know you get there an hour two hours

before the meeting starts and it’s quite

a while before the meeting starts but

there’s already 5 000 people there and

there’s so much stuff going on in the

room the meeting hasn’t even started i

mean you got people falling on the floor

and laughing and crying and got

everything you can think of going on in

that room and it was sensory overload

now i could look at any individual and

say i’d seen that before i’d seen that

before but i’ve never seen 5 000 of that

before

and it was honestly it was it was

overwhelming to me i wasn’t afraid i

wasn’t thinking of running out

i just i didn’t know what to do with it

and i was just trying to sort through

god i’ve been hearing that this is you

what’s going on here so i stood i

actually stood uh i s people are all

over the place i stood in front of my

chair and i just stood there just like

this i looked around saw all that was

going on and i just closed my eyes

and as soon as i did

i recognized oh okay this is the same

presence the same glory

that we’ve been experiencing at home

what’s the point

he will appear

differently

and you have to adjust to him he doesn’t

adjust to you

but the safeguard is he will let you

know him by presence and by life

that you can recognize the source

of a word

of a a miracle

an action activity whatever it might be

a group of people you recognize the

source why because you could recognize

all right this is the one i’ve been

meeting with for these years

this is the life i’ve been feeding every

time i read this word this is the life

that i feel coming off the pages of this

book it’s here as this person shares

this story with me

he didn’t set us up to fail

he didn’t set us up to fall into some

deception through being gullible what he

did is he set us up for life but he said

you’ll have to learn to recognize it

this way it won’t be because i keep

doing the same thing the same way it

will be that when i do something new

you’ll know it’s me because you’ll know

me

you know i’m the one that came into the

room i’m the one that spoke that word

the bra such life to your soul

in that sermon

of jesus is eating my flesh drink my

blood

peter are you going to leave too where

are we going to go you have the words of

eternal life in other words

you’re saying stuff we don’t understand

but we still feel life in our soul

whenever you talk

that’s the point is is i can be in a

moment of conflict i can be in a moment

of confusion i can be in a moment where

i don’t have a clue what in the world’s

going on but whenever he speaks life is

stirring up inside of me i find out why

i’m alive there’s the confirmation i’m

at the right place at the right time i

may not know what to do but i don’t need

to at this moment all i need to know now

is the source of that word and the

source of that worth is that comes from

the throne room of god

and he’s given us the protection to not

fall into deception and it’s not because

of our intelligence it’s because of our

recognition of a person

learn to recognize the person

all right let’s finish the chapter

verse 15 he said to them

go into all the world

preach the gospel to every creature i

like that it says every creature

not that i

intend to lead

the mule deer to the lord before

they’re harvested

that was rather brutal sorry somebody

over

um

[Music]

it’s that god actually plans on healing

the planet

he actually values this planet

after he made everything everything he

made he said it’s good and after he made

you he said ah that’s very good

he recognized the quality of his own

work and everything that he made

and his desire isn’t to destroy it

his desire is to revive and to renew

and the gospel that we carry is supposed

to encompass a vision to bringing

healing to a planet

if only the unbeliever

has the vision

for taking care of the planet they will

always make it a god

if only the unbeliever

carries the message of bringing healing

to a planet

that will serve the creation and not the

creator

the church must recover our assignment

not in

in in contempt not in

you know not in a fight but just

stewarding what god has given to us

preach the gospel to every creature

verse 16 he who believes

and is baptized will be saved don’t ever

underestimate the power of water baptism

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

if they drink anything deadly like

coffee it will by no means hurt them

thank you lord

grace was extended over

coffee it will by no means hurt them

they will lay hands on the sick and they

will recover stop right there for a

minute i was yesterday i was uh

looking at

actually listening to a uh

a youtube video but it was just audio

there’s nothing to watch

on uh john wesley

on somebody reading out of his personal

journal

and he was i don’t remember all the

details but he was extremely sick very

very ill and

he this verse came to mind

that these signs will follow those who

believe now john wesley is the father of

the whole methodist movement

he has this verse come to mind these

signs will follow them who believe

and he prays

and he experiences a bizarre

supernatural healing of something that

was derailing him from his

extensive travels in preaching the

gospel and he was able to step back into

the pulpit because of the miracle of

healing that he experienced in his own

body

i love reading the stories of some of

these these saints of old

who believed in this

but somehow got removed from the history

books

it’s true

the shantung revival in china one of the

most bizarre

baptist revivals ever

had almost every manifestation in that

revival that happened in toronto

but in the reprint of the book all those

things are removed

to make it clean

randy clark printed

the original

so you can find it

the point is

these signs

follow those who believe

you know when we have a healing meeting

people will say well you’re not supposed

to follow signs

signs are supposed to follow you well my

response is if they’re not following you

follow them till they follow you

you know you know if you’re in the

environment long enough it’ll get on you

that’s the truth

all right let’s wrap it up verse 19 and

20.

after the lord had spoken to them he was

he was received up into heaven

sat down at the right hand of god

and they went out and preached

everywhere

the lord working with them

confirming the word through the

accompanying signs amen read verse 20

again this is fascinating to me and i’ll

tell you why before i read it

most of the time we will emphasize find

what god is doing

and join what he is doing but in this

verse the emphasis is different he said

the lord worked with them

and they went out and preached

everywhere the lord working with them

confirming the word through the

accompanying signs

sometimes nothing happens because we

haven’t said anything

let me rephrase it

anyone can boldly make a decree after

god has shown up and is performing

miracles

but show me the person who’ll make the

bold decree before he comes

and i’ll show you where he’s going to

come

the bold decree

attracts him into an environment to

confirm his work remember this is his

word

people become offended through history

because somebody was living an immoral

lifestyle you know prays for the sick

and they get healed well i don’t like it

either but god’s confirming his word

he’s not confirming the person that’s

right it’s never okay

but he still will confirm his word

i actually know years ago i

a woman part of this church her husband

was not a believer and someone at his

workplace asked him how to get saved and

this unbeliever led his workmate to the

lord

that shouldn’t be right

but he can do whatever he wants in

psalms 115 god does as he pleases yes

this passage reminds me of

the one in acts 4

was in verse 23 he says

take note of their threats

peter just been released from prison so

he’s praying says god take note of their

throats they’ve threatened that if we

ever preach in your name again they’ll

harm us take note of their threats and

grant that your bond servants can speak

your word with all boldness

now the previous chapter said they were

arrested because they preached with

boldness

boldness got them in trouble now peter’s

saying increase that that got us in

trouble

apparently we did it with partial

boldness we now want to go all in with

all boldness

the church tends to dumb down the

message so that we don’t offend peter’s

saying let’s amp it up a little bit here

i didn’t give you permission to be

obnoxious

take note of the threats grant that your

bond servants can speak your word with

all boldness while you

extend your hand to heal and signs and

wonders take place through the name of

your holy servant jesus

i just want to encourage you i want to

challenge you

let the message of the resurrected

christ boil in you

until you cannot help but speak because

the bold proclamation is what attracts

the hand of god into impossible

situations

the decree releases the hand of god we

don’t control him by any means but he’s

already revealed his heart to us and

he’s looking for a people who will

boldly declare and so this verse ends

the chapter and ends our message this

morning they went out preached

everywhere the lord working with them

confirming the word

through

the accompanying signs

amen

every

time every time

you talk stop and talk to a friend

about the lord every time

you take just that moment at work or at

home in your neighborhood whatever

just to pray for

a friend who’s

going through hell every time you take

any one of those moments

what you’re doing

is you’re declaring

jesus is alive and i want now to

introduce you to the resurrected one

everything in our relationship with the

holy spirit is about discovering and

manifesting the resurrected christ

everything is connected because without

the resurrection there is no forgiveness

of sin

it is all connected to the resurrection

you and i are alive to illustrate he’s

alive why don’t you stand

so

jesus came

to god

flesh

gave himself

as a sacrifice

to pay a price

none of us could afford

he paid it

so that the power

of self-destruction would be broken off

of our lives forever

he paid it he took my place in death so

i could take his place in life

he conquered death he rose from the dead

and now we make the proclamation

jesus is here to save

he is here to deliver

he’s here to heal

just this morning

i had a grandfather come up to me

who had a grandson

they brought here for prayer

some

time ago

and he brought the picture

with me

the grandson had autism

and he’s completely healed

he’s taken the grandson

he’s taken the grandson back to the

original physician

and that doctor examined him and said

this is not the same child

absolutely dramatic we’ve had just this

morning testimony verified by mammogram

of tumors growth that it dissolved

just yesterday someone came in to the

healing rooms with breast cancer the

tumor dissolved the pain is gone

completely healed

just just in the last 24 hours

the reports of what god has done and

continues to do

there are people in this room there’s

somebody who has a very serious injury

to your right leg

it’s uh it’s weak literally from the

ankle all the way up to the hip there’s

a weakness there

um

i don’t know if there’s ongoing pain or

aching but there’s a weakness there

where you don’t have all mobility you

don’t have all use because of an injury

the lord’s healing that this morning

there are

various individuals with tumors in your

body it is normal for tumors to

disappear in the presence of the lord

it’s normal those to dissolve in the

presence there there are people here

that have no sense of smell it was

stolen from you by this demon called

coven

and the lord’s going to restore it this

morning

we’ll restore the taste the smell

there’s a lot of those conditions that

jesus is healing there’s somebody who i

don’t know if you broke a rib or if you

have some some sort of an issue right

here uh this part of the abdominal area

you’ve got pain in i don’t know if it’s

a growth what it is but there’s uh

there’s a miracle for you

uh this morning

um

yeah amen

um but the greatest miracle of all is

the one that’s about to happen

and that is

jesus arranged for you to be here

and there are some of you that are

outside of a personal relationship with

him

you don’t know what it is to be born

again that doesn’t make any sense to you

and yet you found yourself here today

and the resurrected christ is beckoning

you

he’s calling you by name

inviting you to come to him

to turn over your life to him

jesus is lord of all he’s the only one

who has the right to rule our life and

he’s this kind wonderful father who

simply longs to forgive

and if there’s anybody in the room that

would say bill i don’t want to leave the

building till i know i’ve found peace

with god

then i want you just to put your hand up

right where you are do it quickly wave

it at me until i see you because i want

to make sure

that we

receive everybody in the building

that wants to get right with god we just

had two at twin view

two earlier here this morning

anyone else we’ve got people online

always we welcome you put in the chat

line one of our pastors to get to you

but is there anyone at all that would

say i want to i want to get right with

god i want to receive jesus into my life

today

all right well i’m going to assume

you’re all in

leslie why don’t you come on up and i

want to ask please hold your place for

just a moment longer in and out burger

we’ll wait for you i promise the line

will always be long no matter when you

get there

so just hold hold a moment but i would

like to have a ministry team come up to

the front