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