Encouragement To Obey God in Healing And Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God
In praying a few months ago, God's put on my heart a burden or an emphasis that He's put on my heart periodically since 1993.
God wants all believers to minister. That's part of what "The Church" really is. I may not be the best communicator of this heart, but that's God's heart that you be released to do works of ministry. When we work with people who are recovering themselves, often the "prize" in mind is "getting well," but many of us often mistakenly make an idol of healing, as if all of life is on hold and we're not even going to think about what comes 'after,' so our only or main goal is getting well. That will rob us (and others) of the life we can live now. What signs follow the people who believe?
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:15-18
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16
The "saints" - are the ones that are to be doing the works of ministry. The signs that follow, follow who? You - if you are a believer. As you become whole, well and free, then doubt and fear have less place in you. It's time to step out in obedience to God. This is a pastor telling you that we - people in the church - have over-emphasized pastors and leaders. You are just as important. You are our equals. You are just as valuable to God. You are called to ministry. We're supposed to serve you and help you get built up and trained up to do ministry. Don't let fear, doubt or unbelief stop you from obeying God. It is okay to start small, but begin to read the Word and do what it says.
The signs that follow those who believe are not for a select few, but they are for those who believe in Jesus and take Him at His word. You do not need to be operating in any special gift, have a large ministry or fit some external model of anything special other than ordinary believer. We need to know who we are in Christ, but we also need to know who we are in the body of Christ.
We've assembled some videos of various people who are doing these works, not for you to compare yourself to their ministries, large or small, but so that you will be encouraged, as you become healed yourself, to go out and do works of ministry. Some of these ministries don't fit in the "box" of tradition. Some of these people don't agree with what "we" think 100%. The difference is that they are out doing what Jesus said to do, and I think "we" need the motivation and encouragement to go, to preach, to baptize, to cast out, to speak, to not fear, to lay hands on the sick and to keep doing what Jesus said, and to experience the fruit of learning what He said to do, and doing it:
God wants all believers to minister. That's part of what "The Church" really is. I may not be the best communicator of this heart, but that's God's heart that you be released to do works of ministry. When we work with people who are recovering themselves, often the "prize" in mind is "getting well," but many of us often mistakenly make an idol of healing, as if all of life is on hold and we're not even going to think about what comes 'after,' so our only or main goal is getting well. That will rob us (and others) of the life we can live now. What signs follow the people who believe?
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:15-18
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16
The "saints" - are the ones that are to be doing the works of ministry. The signs that follow, follow who? You - if you are a believer. As you become whole, well and free, then doubt and fear have less place in you. It's time to step out in obedience to God. This is a pastor telling you that we - people in the church - have over-emphasized pastors and leaders. You are just as important. You are our equals. You are just as valuable to God. You are called to ministry. We're supposed to serve you and help you get built up and trained up to do ministry. Don't let fear, doubt or unbelief stop you from obeying God. It is okay to start small, but begin to read the Word and do what it says.
The signs that follow those who believe are not for a select few, but they are for those who believe in Jesus and take Him at His word. You do not need to be operating in any special gift, have a large ministry or fit some external model of anything special other than ordinary believer. We need to know who we are in Christ, but we also need to know who we are in the body of Christ.
We've assembled some videos of various people who are doing these works, not for you to compare yourself to their ministries, large or small, but so that you will be encouraged, as you become healed yourself, to go out and do works of ministry. Some of these ministries don't fit in the "box" of tradition. Some of these people don't agree with what "we" think 100%. The difference is that they are out doing what Jesus said to do, and I think "we" need the motivation and encouragement to go, to preach, to baptize, to cast out, to speak, to not fear, to lay hands on the sick and to keep doing what Jesus said, and to experience the fruit of learning what He said to do, and doing it:
Torben Sondergaard - Encouragement to obey God's Word. We recommend videos #1-4. [Torben later draw attention to the scriptures that show many people were healed by Jesus without having been saved or practicing forgiveness first. We encourage the early videos because they help bring attention to the need for a fresh reading of the Word of God, and resting in the simplicity of doing what God says to do. He brings up some very good points about unlearning the traditions that we take as one and the same with obeying God, even though they are not one and the same. All of his teaching is not in agreement with all of what we teach. Like anything, go back to God's Word, and God's love, and the context of the whole Word of God. If you check out Torben's web site, we also recommend some of the videos that show people going out into public places, like the malls, to pray for people. It is encouraging.
We will feature some more videos later in the year.