I know I for one want to be like Paul when he states, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." (1 Cor 2:4-5)
Notice Paul's emphasis was on delivering the message of the gospel in a way that it would impact.
In Mark 16:15-19 we have another familiar passage to which we commonly refer as "the great commission." It was a final directive from Christ just before he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father.
"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.' So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God."What I want to draw attention to is the following verse:
"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed." (Mark 16:20)Did you catch that? They preached & the Lord worked with them to confirm the Word by the signs that followed the preaching of the Word.
Again, I want to see more of the fruit of this in my life - where the Word that is preached is being confirmed by the signs that follow.
While I think most of you are probably in agreement with this - wanting to see more of the same in your own lives and ministries - there is a movement out there that seems to be more focused on the signs than they are on the Word that they are sent to confirm.
I think Matt Sorger really nailed this issue in his article "Just Show Me the 'Stuff'!"
Here are a few excerpts:
- "I love the prophetic. I love the supernatural. But the moment we start wanting signs without the Word of God, we are in trouble. And this is what I have been seeing."
- "Signs follow the preaching of the Word. If you become a sign-seeker apart from the Word of God, you will not be grounded, and if you are in ministry, you will build an unhealthy and weak foundation in other people's lives as well as your own."
- "The sign I am most after these days is the sign of a life transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to see people hungry to truly apply the Word of God to their lives—not desiring simply to hear something new but to put into practice what they already know."
- "I want to see people walking in love. I want to see people living righteously. I want to see people knowing who they are in Christ so the devil can't continually beat them up."
- "A sign without the Word points nowhere."
- "Never neglect God's Word. It has the power to change your life."
