Fire On Your Head

And other Leonard Ravenhill quotes:

“The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.”

“Your doctrine can be as straight as a gun barrel-and just as empty!”

Why Revival Tarries

Matthew chapter 10: “as YOU go, preach this message” They had to go do it. Simple enough, right?

Imagine seeing someone standing on a street corner with their mouth open, and going up to them asking what they are doing. Imagine they tell you that God told them to go preach the Gospel, and you ask “well why aren’t you doing it then?” and they tell you they are waiting for God to speak through them. Wouldn’t that sound ridiculous?

Why do I bring that up? Because we’ve missed this next part as a Church, and I listen to countless people tell me they won’t lay hands on the sick or practice healing because “only Jesus has power to do it.” This sounds noble and spiritual, but it’s a slap in the face to Jesus Who has given His authority to anyone who is saved through Him. Whenever people tell me this, I remind them “well, if Jesus lives in you, then let Him IN you do it through you.“ Philippians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If responsibility that the Church has been commanded to do is not included in “all things”, then by all means place some liquid paper over this verse in your Bible.

He gave His disciples authority to drive out spirits, and gave them authority to heal the sick. This was a temporary endowment with power. When the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost in Acts 2, that was a permanent empowerment, and not just for the disciples. (see Acts 1:8, 2:39-40)

Luke 9:2 basically says He told them “preach and heal”. Do you think it would be conceivable to these disciples if you went back in time 2000 years, and stopped them before going on this mission, and told them the modern day evangelical view of healing, and taught them–as many do today–that “you can preach the Gospel without any power accompanying it”? Sorry, Jesus–no less God Himself, didn’t seem to think His disciples should go preach without power accompanying.

Stuff to observe and think about:

• In Luke 10, when Jesus sends out the seventy-two, He says “heal the sick, and preach”. This is described in the opposite order than the instructions he gave in the previous chapter when Jesus sent out the twelve. Also keep in mind, this passage effectively demonstrates that it was NOT just the disciples who healed or performed miracles.
  
• Mark 6:10-13 records how they went out and preached that people should repent, then says they healed them –
• In Acts 3, Peter and John said “what I have I give you” to the cripple who asked alms of them
• Acts 2:43 – many miraculous signs and wonders were done by the apostles, Acts 5:12 says the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. It does not say Jesus showed up as an answer to prayers for Him to do it.
• Acts 6:8 – Stephen full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs amongst the people.
• Acts 8:6 – when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.
• Acts 14 – when the people saw what Paul did, they tried to worship him but he stopped them and said he’s just a man
• Acts 28:8 – Paul laid hands on Publius and healed him

In each of these instances, we have human vessels doing the work of the Anointed One they follow and represent.

So far in life I’ve been unable to obtain a credit card in my name. Missionary work, and having monthly support, is not considered ‘income’ in the eyes of any bank I’ve gone to to apply for a credit card in Canada. So my mom signed me up to be under hers. I carry a visa card in my wallet that has my name on it. It’s my mom’s credit, and her credit background and her income that provides me the ability to use it when it’s not possible to use cash to order or pay for something. But I am the one who goes into a store and uses it–she “gave me the authority” to. I make the transaction, but for all intents and purposes of this analogy, I make the transaction on my mom’s “authority”. I carry the card in my wallet and it has my name on the card I keep in my wallet–but it’s ‘her’ credit. She gave, and I ‘have’. This is similiar to what the Lord has given His followers out of HIS power, but WE have it in His name and authority.

If you want to compare authority and power, just think of police officers directing traffic. I’ve seen police officers pointing and waving their hands for giant mack trucks and large vehicles, indicating with hand gestures when it’s appropriate for that truck driver to pass or turn. A truck could crush a police officer in an instant, no questions about it, but the officer, just by wearing that uniform and standing in the middle of a road can demonstrate his authority. If said truck driver did not obey, then power would be used when say a tank or something more powerful than the truck is brought in to blow that truck away. Power is the enablement to DO something. Authority is the command that requires obedience towards those being commanded. Believers in Christ have been given both.

Asking God to drive out the demon is insulting the authority God has given you.
All we are doing is reasserting God’s authority and power over peoples’ lives. “But Steve, who do you think you are trying to do what God does”–I’m a child of the King, stating we are to do what He instructed us to do; set the captives free. “But Steve, you’re interfering with the Sovereingty of God when you do things like this and advocate others are to as well”. We’re not interfering with God’s sovereignty, we’re enforcing it using the power He’s given us, His children.

Matthew 4:23 – every healing is a deliverance on some level; this passage says Christ healed the sick, but then people brought to Him the demon possessed, and they were healed.
Compare this with Matthew 8:16-17.

Yes, it’s true that in Matthew 10 the commission to only go to the lost sheep of Israel was a commission to those twelve disciples in this passage. But the Great Commission is for all of us, every generation, to all nations. Later, in Matt 10:11, 17-18 Jesus tells the disciples they will be flogged in the synagogues—when did this happen? In Acts, not before. Interestingly, Smith Wigglesworth said “you don’t get persecuted until you get the Holy Spirit.” Later in the chapter, Jesus goes on to say they will bear witness before the Gentiles–when did that happen? Not on that particular trip, but years later in the book of Acts. Jesus also said “he who stands firm until the end will be saved” (v.22). “You will not finish going through the towns of Israel until the Son of Man comes” (v.23).

This is obviously continuing ministry, not just the mission trip they went on in that chapter. And we see this applies to anyone who believes in Jesus’ name.

So Church, let’s start doing those things in Jesus’ name and authority. If He could use them, He can use us.

The Gospel, and the Kingdom of God That Follows….

This entry makes the assumption that many of my previous entries have been read by the reader prior to this. For more on the subject, please click on the ‘healing’ label/tag at the end of this entry.

In Luke 8, Jesus said to His disciples “let’s go over to the other side of the lake”. There’s definitely a purpose in this, because Jesus only did what He saw His father doing. They got in the boat, and Jesus falls asleep. Jesus knew there’d be this storm, and wanted to see how his disciples would handle it. As soon as they got across, Jesus was met with the demon-possessed man, and there was that confrontation. But Jesus knew what He was doing when deciding to go over to the other side of the lake.

• Matthew 4 – Jesus went throughout and taught, preaching the good news, and healed every disease and sickness. Matthew 9:35, the same words used (teaching, preaching, healing).
• Matthew 10:7 – “as you go, preach the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and do the same things I have been doing“.
• Matthew 12:28 – “if I drive out demons by the Spirit, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”
• Luke 4:40 – the people brought to Jesus those with various sicknesses, and he healed them all – he told them he had to go to the other towns also, because that it is what he came here to do

The kingdom of God comes in God’s power; it takes back what Satan has unlawfully made his own, and rightfully restores it as His own. The King came, and stood as The King, and restored His authority over the usurper’s kingdom.

Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Where the King is there is the kingdom. Jesus didn’t just preach words, he preached with the power of God.

Jesus never prayed for the sick in the Gospels. Neither did any of the disciples in the Gospels or Acts. They healed the sick. James 5 talks of the prayer of faith—there’s nothing wrong with praying in faith for the sick. You can pray for the sick, when believing in faith for various needs to be met—but Jesus and the disciples never prayed for the sick. They healed them. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus didn’t ask God to do it. He thanked God, then commanded Lazarus to come forth. When healing the sick, He spoke the healing into existence, commanded eyes to be opened, or drove out the demon in someone that was causing the infirmity, always demonstrating His authority from above.

Almost all scholars admit that the end of Mark 16 is authoritative. We don’t have the end of Mark’s Gospels original manuscripts to compare to, other than what we have in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but nobody really disagrees that this contradicts or adds anything different to Jesus’ words in the Gospel accounts that we do have, so there’s no real fuss to be made over these words:

“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)

These are signs, indicators that Jesus has triumphed over all powers of darkness. And they are not just signs, but indications that believers have Jesus’ authority. It is significant that Jesus says believers would do these things in His name. The first one Jesus lists here that will demonstrate we have the same kingdom that He gave us, is that we’ll cast out demons.

In the book of Acts we see Peter command a cripple to walk by saying “silver or gold, have I none, but what I have, I give you—walk in the name of Jesus” (Acts 3:6). In 9:32 – Peter makes a pronouncement over Aeneas, and tells Him Jesus heals him. Later on in Acts 9:38-40 Peter gets on his knees and prays, but then rises and tells Tabitha to get up –he obviously communed with the Father, maybe he got himself focused, maybe he reminded himself of the Word. When I volunteered in the healing teams during my third year of Bible school, we would spend about half an hour or 45 minutes praying in tongues, as well as in our understanding before bringing in the person receiving healing to receive laying on of hands from us. See also how in Acts 14:8 Paul saw the crippled man’s faith, then told him to get up.

God is trying to tell us something is wrong with our modern efforts if our emphasis is on praying for healings, when we’ve got authority to heal the sick.

In Luke 4 –the year of Jubilee fell that year, and scholars and many teachers say this passage takes place on the Day of Atonement. Talk about timing! The next instance in Luke’s Gospel, is when Jesus walks into the synagogue, and finds the demon possessed man, and rebukes the demon out of him. Jesus proclaimed this
is the Jubilee, then finds this man, who was not “Jubilee standards”. The next instance in Scripture is when He heals Peter’s mother-in-law.

He was enforcing Jubilee. He proclaimed liberty to the captives, and then went about setting them free. Jesus didn’t have to ask His father to do something that He was anointed to do. He just did it.

“You know, I used to be an ‘evangelistic chicken’. I was a Christian who wanted to share my faith with other people, especially my family and my good friends, but I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid I’d say the wrong thing, or I wouldn’t be able to answer difficult questions, and I certainly didn’t want to offend anyone. The last thing I wanted was for someone to look at me like I was a religious fanatic. So, consequently, I kind of resorted to a style of ‘friendship evangelism’, and was never articulating the gospel to people, but the truth is, it’s not becoming friends with someone that will save them. It’s the gospel that’s the power of God (that leads) to salvation, and I learned that ultimately, we never know when a person’s life is going to end. We can make friends with people very quickly, but we need to share the gospel with them faithfully.