So let me get this straight...Some 2000+ years ago, God chose to reveal Himself to humanity through His Son, Jesus. The ‘Word became flesh, and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14) and He ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil’, (Acts 10:38). Then, after He was done three years later, He went back to heaven, wishing us all well and bidding us to ‘hang in there’ until He came back for us all someday in the future. And He implied for us to ‘hang in there’ because times would be tough and we would suffer, but not always know why we were suffering...but just ‘trust Jesus’, meet weekly at some building and sing a lot of songs and try to be like Him, even though we can’t really do that.

I’m not trying to sound snarky here, but honestly...that seems to be the general theme of the message we share these days when it comes to explaining this ‘gospel’ He left us to preach. “Accept Christ”, we tell them, and you can ‘go to heaven when you die’; but in the meantime, try harder to do better and be glad that no matter how bad or often you fail, God loves you and accepts you just the way you are.

Do you know what this sounds more like? It has a familiar ring to what Paul warned Timothy would occur in the ‘last days when perilous times would come’. (2 Tim. 3:1-5). People who were not really changed or transformed would still be acting out in the flesh, yet ‘have a form of godliness while denying its power’. He even said they would “always be learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. (7)

Yesterday, we were looking at multiple passages where Jesus went about ‘healing every manner of sickness and disease’ along with ‘casting out many unclean spirits’. You can imagine how time consuming that would be given the ‘multitudes’ of people who were afflicted, roaming about like sick, lost sheep. (Matt. 9:35-36). At some point in time, Jesus called those first 12 followers to Him and ‘gave them power’ to do the exact same thing He was doing. (Matt. 10:1, 6-7) Sound like He was spreading the work load around; makes sense, does it not?

Now some of you were probably taught that only those first 12 apostles were given such power, which then leads us to ask...’what about those other 70 we read about in Luke 10:1,8,17-19? Then there is Phillip who was a deacon and not a member of the first 12. (Acts 8) Oh, and Paul was not part of the first 12.

Do you recall what the imprisoned, John the Baptist sent word asking when he was having a moment of wavering? He wanted to confirm that Jesus was indeed, ‘the One’. And look what Jesus sent in reply that was happening wherever He went preaching ‘the gospel’. (Matt. 11:1-5). Sounds like a lot of healings were taking place. A few chapters over, we will hear the question asked: “Where did this ‘Man’ get this wisdom and these mighty works?” (13:54). I’m guessing we are all on the ‘same page’ here, regarding what ‘mighty works’ we are talking about, yes? Would you please now turn to John 14 and let’s read what Jesus revealed to those in attendance:

“Most assuredly, I say to you , he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (12-14)

You do realize that God could have made a point to NOT...include that promise in there, but He did. Oh, and your Bible did say “he who believes in Me’, yes?

One final thought for today- we read that just prior to Jesus leaving to return to heaven, He gathered with a large number of His disciples and commissioned them to continue on with His work, promising to be with them ‘always, even unto the end of the age’. (Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-49; Mark 16:14-20; Acts 1:4-8). But please make note of Mark 16:20 that tells us how ‘they went out and preached everywhere...the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”

How often do we see that happening today in our churches...where God confirms His word with ‘powerful/miraculous signs’? I hate to be the one to ask this question, but is it possible that just maybe...we’ve been preaching the wrong gospel? (2 Cor. 11:3-4)