Articles and Sermons :: WE NEED SIGNS & WONDERS! - David Wilkerson

Transcription

1 WE NEED SIGNS & WONDERS! - David Wilkerson - posted by sermonindex (), on: 2011/11/21 9:13 The  FULLY PREACHED GOSPEL -by David Wilkerson. The apostle Paul said to his generation:  I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:19). And he described the  fully preachedâ gospel as one that is much more than words. It is a gospel of words and deeds!  For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deedâ (v. 18). Paul was saying,  The Gentiles turned to Christ not because of my preaching alone, but because my words were accompanied by miraculous deeds!â  In mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospelâ (v. 19). If Paul had preached and taught without signs and wonders following, his message would not have had its full impact. It would not have been the gospel fully preached! He said to the Corinthians,  Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deedsâ (2 Corinthians 12:12) Note Paul s words in this verse: signs, wonders, mighty deeds. Most Christians today cringe when they hear these words! Why? Because these words have been made an abomination by unscrupulous, power-hungry preachers and teachers! The great tragedy is that such perversions have caused many God-fearing pastors, evangelists and laypeople to turn away from the truth of a fully preached gospel. Beloved, God is still God and He is mighty in working miracles and wonders! He is still our healer and He wants to show Himself strong on behalf of those who trust in Him! Great supernatural workings took place in the New Testament church without any perversionsâ without advertising, showmanship or any person claiming all the power and authority. The ministry of Paul is an example: At Troas, while Paul was preaching a long message, a young man fell asleep while sitting on a window sill and fell three stories to the ground. The Bible says the young man was  taken up deadâ (see Acts 20:9-12). When Paul got to where the boy was, he quieted everyone. Then, just as Elijah had done, he stretched himself out over the dead boy and suddenly life came back into the young man. The boy had been resurrectedâ raised from the dead! What a mighty miracle! Page 1/5

2 After this happened, Paul did not send everyone out to spread the news that a miracle had taken place. No, that was not what happened at all. Everyone simply went back to the third floor, took communion, and Paul continued preaching. Scripture does not even mention the young man again. Why? Because the church expected supernatural works to happen! They preached a full gospelâ with signs and wonders following! MORE than PREACHING & TEACHING I believe the gospel should be accompanied by the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost working mighty wonders, proving the gospel is true! Paul boldly stated,  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of powerâ (1 Corinthians 2:4). The Greek here means  with proof.â Paul was saying,  I preach the gospel with proof. God and the Holy Spirit are backing me up with signs and wonders!â Hebrews 2:4 says that God did confirm Paul s message with signs and wonders:  God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.â The New Testament believers had one prayer:  That signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus (Acts 4:30). These apostles went everywhere fully preaching the gospel.  Many wonders and signs were done through the apostlesâ (Acts 2:43).  And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.... And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and womenâ (Acts 5: 12, 14). Here is one of the most conclusive of all versesâ proving that a fully preached gospel must include signs and wonders:  They stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their handsâ (Acts 14:3). This verse says that the apostles ministered boldly for a long time, preaching grace and repentance, and then God granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. God s last-day church will go  out and everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signsâ (Mark 16:20). That is what God envisions for us. The miracles of this last-day church will be genuine, indisputable, undeniable, and yet they will not be well known. Instead, they will issue forth from the hands of ordinary, holy, separated saints who know God and are intimate with Jesus. These believers will emerge from the secret closet of prayerâ a small, prepared army full of faith, with no other desire than to do the will of God and glorify Him. They will be fearless and powerful in prayer. They will open entire nations for the gospel and God will confirm His Word by their mighty deeds! Page 2/5

3 Re: WE NEED SIGNS & WONDERS! - David Wilkerson - posted by Solomon101, on: 2011/11/21 10:30 Yes and Amen! Thank you Greg for having the spiritual,"guts" if you will, to post this thread. You add to the large respect I already hold your ministry in. We claim to have this all powerful God of the universe that has come to live inside us. The world laughs at much of the c hurch because it appears powerless. However, a church that has Jesus among them and who consistently sees Him, "c onfirming His word with SIGNS following" confronts that head on. They show a direct in front of your face revelation of a living and risen Savior that triumphs over death, hell, the grave, sin, sickness. disease, and all the maladies of man. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:20 Thanks again Greg. Much appreciated and very refreshing. Re: WE NEED SIGNS & WONDERS! - David Wilkerson - posted by Lysa (), on: 2011/11/21 12:21 I must second this article and Solomon s response too! The verse he brought out says it all,  the Lord worked with th em and confirmed HIS word by the signs that accompanied it.â Reading that sentence a couple of times, a logical que stion came to me  if signs are not accompanying it, whose word is being preached?â God help us to strive to present HIS word. I think God is waiting and longing for a people (male and female), who will believe HIS word and obey His Spirit, not this denominational dogma being spoon fed to us but the WORD OF THE LIVING GOD and step out in faith to see just what God will do when we dare to believe His word and lay hands on the sick. Daniel says,  How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.â ~ Daniel 4:3 Thank you Greg for this article and stirring the embers of my soul, Lisa Re: - posted by Solomon101, on: 2011/11/21 15:59 Totally agree Lysa. I have thought about this and researched it Biblically a lot over the last few years. I agree with your processing of that scripture in Mark 16:20. The inescapable conclusion is that if we do not see confirm ing signs and wonders then it is apparent that the message we are preaching is not entirely His... and compromised. It is also important to realize He is often confirming the part of His Word that we are preaching. If you preach a repentan ce based, faith in the sacrifice and blood of Jesus for salvation message, then you will see salvations. Why? Faith came by hearing. It is just as true if we preach the uncompromised truths on healing, deliverance, or any other area that the atonement of Christ paid for. It has also been my experience that The Holy Spirit will often send confirming supernatural miracles (heal ing, deliverance, conviction to entire geographic areas, etc.) to confirm the salvation message if we are open to it. In ess ence the supernatural is sent by God to validate the message we are sharing. As an example..when sharing a message on repentance and faith in Christ a word of knowledge is received that the 4 p eople there in wheelchairs are to NOW be instantly healed. These are folks from the community that are well known and respected in their small town. All have been paralyzed for years. INSTANTLY all 4 are healed by the power of God...NO W the message can also be.."this same Jesus that raised your friends from a wheel chair is the same one that conquer ed death, hell, and the grave..and offers you eternal life if you will repent of your sin and abandon yourself to His sacrific e on Calvary and His blood as your only means and hope of salvation". Those healings were sent as a way to "confirm" t he salvation message with signs following. Page 3/5

4 In all of scripture there is no indication of any ministry going forward without the supernatural signs and wonders of God being evident. Today many use really slick advertising campaigns to "reach" people. I guess you can call that advertising. I don't suppo se there is anything inherently wrong with advertising... otherwise no one knows what you are doing. As is often the cas e it would seem the intent in the heart is what really matters. More to the point..god is NOT against advertising. However, He advertises in a whole different way. How would it affect your community, wherever you live, if next week The Holy Spirit instantly raised 6 people out of their death beds to total health... ones that were given up to die within days or weeks. THEN what if he raised 3 people from their caskets at thei r funerals that same week and let them preach their own funerals before taking them back to heaven! Imagine the altar call to come and follow Jesus at that funeral home! Do you think you would have the attention of that town! THAT IS HOW GOD ADVERTISES! No one can take His credit f or it... oh He advertises...but He does so to confirm His word and so that HE and HE along gets all the glory! May God give us people hungry for it. May we be a people seeking to share a true message from the heart of God. May is be said of us as it was of the apostles that "He works with us, confirming Hs word with signs following" Oh God, may we agree in prayer with the apostles- 29. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out y our hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and sp oke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:29-31 If ever we needed the supernatural signs, miracles, and wonders of God in manifestation to validate our message and m eet the needs of mankind it is surely now. Blessings. Re: WE NEED SIGNS & WONDERS! - David Wilkerson - posted by Lysa (), on: 2011/11/21 19:14 Brother Solomon!! I got excited in Christ just reading your post about what God had done and what He could do!! NOW the message can also be.."this same Jesus that raised your friends from a wheel chair is the same one that conquered death, hell, and the gra ve..and offers you eternal life if you will repent of your sin and abandon yourself to His sacrifice on Calvary and His blood as your only means and hop e of salvation". Those healings were sent as a way to "confirm" the salvation message with signs following. Exactly, brother! When we read Acts 28 where Paul shook the viper off into the fire that was the same thing... it took the supernatural to open the door for them to hear the gospel and for the healing of the chieftainâ s father! Jesus himself di d that many times, healed the sick then preached the gospel. Today many use really slick advertising campaigns to "reach" people... THAT IS HOW GOD ADVERTISES! No one can take His credit for it... oh He advertises...but He does so to confirm His word and so that HE and HE a long gets all the glory! Page 4/5

5 Amen!! My pastor from years ago used to say, Â We donâ t have to advertise a barn burning, people come out in pajam as from miles around to watch a barn burn, and they just see a red sky at night and will get in their car to go watch it.â And that is the truth, Jesus needs no advertising, word of mouth spreads like wildfire! One woman brought the whole to wn out to meet Jesus at the well! (edit: but I'm sure there were those who wouldn't listen to a woman and probably misse d Jesus) May God give us people hungry for it. May we be a people seeking to share a true message from the heart of God. May is be said of us as it was of th e apostles that "He works with us, confirming Hs word with signs following" Amen and amen that God may be glorified! (edit: The supernatural is PART of God's plan, I didn't make it up, I read it fr om the Word of my God and I've seen it in action... it's all part of His WHOLE plan!) God bless you, Lisa Re: - posted by Solomon101, on: 2011/11/21 20:49 Thanks Lysa. You always seem to post great insights derived from a heart close to the Father's. There is another thread about "Where are the Godly Threads". I fully understand the point of that one. However, I must s ay this one has been a blessing to me. Greg's original post, your thoughts, and stuff that just comes bubbling out of my heart...i find it all refreshing. Interesting there is so little feedback on one like this... and so few total reads as well. I guess if it was "controversy" over whether to keep a Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday it would engage a great many more people. However, it is those seeking for the supernatural experience of living daily with the risen Savior that will get to encounter Him on a consistent basis. I much prefer that over arguing over what day a person has to count as the Sabbath. ;-) Lysa, thanks for the great heart and perspective you bring. Greg, thanks again for having a heart to see true revival in ou r generation. You both have been used at times to bless my heart. In the words of my kids, "You guys rock!" (That's a compliment by the way) :-) Page 5/5