DEMONSTRATING THE POWER OF GOD Pastor Sean Pinder And it came to pass in those days, that he went out

into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles. Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. (Luke 6:12-18) The Scripture says that Jesus went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. You have to hang out with God. And when it was day, hechose twelve, whom also he named apostles. The word apostle means one sent with a mission;

one sent with a message. I like what verse 17 says: And he came down with them Tell someone, Hes coming down. I like that. But, you see, before He can come down with you, you have to go up into the mountain where He is first. Then, when you come down, it will not just be you coming down; you will have some company with you. The disciples were in the mountain hanging out with Jesus, and He came down with them. That is what I like about the mountain: He comes down with you. Watch this: And he came down with them, and stood in the plain Jesus stood with them; He was there with them. That meant something had to happen. He came down with them and stood in the plain. He was standing on level ground; that is what the word plain means. And the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. Jesus must have done some good advertising. Whenever He was going in to do a crusade, He would send the apostles before Him. They would go and spread the word that He was coming to town. Did you know that? Jesus did not just show up and say, Im here. He

planned. We think so mystically about the Bible. We think that Jesus just went to a place, and POW! Thousands came together. No, He advertised. He got the word out that He was coming to town. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. (Luke 6:19) People were hungry; they saw a demonstration of power. People got stirred up and their faith increased. They got hungry. When they saw the miracles start happening, you could have felt the hunger. When we went to Uganda, during the first service that we did, there was so much doubt and unbelief because pastors there were not demonstrating the power of God. The people were full of unbelief. I said, Listen, all of you line up. Come here and let me lay hands on you. Then the blind started seeing and the deaf started hearing. Before you knew it, by the second service, they were ready. By the third service, faith kept going up and up. And the whole multitude sought to touch him That is what people are seeking; a touch from the Master. But you need to get a hold of someone who can bring you into the

Presence of God so you can reach out and touch Him. Are you hearing me? I always hear people testify in Pastor Benny Hinns crusades. Listen to what they say; they are not giving credit to him. They say, We know, if we can just get to your service, we will be able to come into the Presence of God and reach out to get our miracle from Him. I do not care how you do not want to admit it, God has to use a man. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, Be ye followers [imitators] of me (1 Cor. 4:16). That is a bold preacher, isnt it? He told his congregation, Be like me. Peter and John told a guy, Look on us (Acts 3:4). Do you want to see Jesus? Look at us. Do you want to see how Jesus did things and demonstrated the power of God? Look at us. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. He healed every single one of them. We are going to demonstrate the power of God. God never expected anyone to preach the Gospel without healing the sick, did you know that? When He sent out the ten, He said, Into whatsoever city ye enterheal the sick that are therein (Luke 10:8-9). When He sent out the seventy, He said the same thing. Some people say, Healing went

out with the original apostles. It went out with the 70 and with the 12. They miss that oth er one. Did you know there was another man casting out demons besides the 70 and besides the 12? John went up to Jesus in Mark 9:38 and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. Jesus said, He that is not against us is on our part (Mark 9:40). Amen? There was another one. I like that. That is where we come in. We are one of the other ones. We were not with the 12 or with the 70; we are just some of those other ones! 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) Look at verse 15. Where did He tell them to go? Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Here is

the commission with preaching the Gospel: And these signs shall follow them that believe He never expected healing to be severed from preaching the Gospel; He never intended for that to take place. He never intended for healing to be separated from the Gospel. That is why, in this generation of preachers, we have more preaching and less demonstration; because people have not been taught properly. Look at verse 17. And these signs shall follow, who? Them that believe. It does not say they are going to follow preachers, pastors, teachers, apostles, or prophets. I know some people who cannot get a dog healed, much less a fly or a mosquito. Something is wrong with their faith. They are preaching something that they do not believe. This is the Master talking. Jesus said, If they believe, theres going to be a demonstration behind it. Well, it is obvious they do not believe; they do not even pray for the sick, so they do not believe. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Amen? Faith is action. The guys ripped the roof open and let the guy down on four ropes. When Jesus saw their faith (Mark 2:5). Faith is something you can see. Faith is not just talk. There is a time to talk and

confession is fine, but there comes a time you have to put some action behind what you are talking about. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils This is the key right here: In my name See, people do not have any faith because they are afraid to use the Name of Jesus. They do not have any faith in Him. We were casting a demon out of a girl one night in a church, and I watched the whole church including the deacons and everybodyslip out through the side doors and leave. If it was my church, nobody would have been a deacon, elder, or anything after that service. They all left! Can you believe that? They were thinking, We have work tomorrow. Somebody is bound by the devil, and you have work tomorrow? Someone is demonpossessed, and you have work tomorrow? They just did not have any power. They were cowards, that was why they left. I was not leaving. I was right up in the chair, screaming Come out! Thats what I am talking about! Setting the captives free; that is what God called us to do. It is a shame today, isnt it? Some of the deacons of old are putting the pastors today to shame! Philip and Stephen

were deacons and they were casting demons out and healing the sick. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils What shall they do in His Name? They shall cast out devils. The devil is not going to come out of there with you speaking in tongues. Walk up to him and say, Come out in Jesus Name! You can do whatever you want to, but I know one thing: youre coming out! I have power and authority over you, devil. In fact, you have to come out! He has to because, when I am telling him to come out, Jesus leans over the throne and says, Devil, now you know you heard him! You heard exactly what he said! I imagine this kind of stuff going on in my mind when I am casting the devils out. I imagine the devils looking at Jesus in me, and He is saying, You heard him. Dont make me! Okay! the demons say. Christ lives in me, amen? That is what I see. You know, people think about me, Hes got a big head. When I am laying hands on the sick, I do not see me. I am bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh (Gen. 2:23). I imagine Jesus laying His hands on people when I lay hands on them. Are you listening to me? You can feel a strong

resistance when you are dealing with deafness, blindness, and cancer. You can feel that demon rise up against you. Do you think I am kidding? You can feel it. You can feel a stubbornness that says, I am not moving. Oh, yes you are! A lady once called me from a health clinic and said her grandpa was about to die. Her name was Shawn. She called me and told me her grandpa was about to die. She told me, Ive been hearing about all this stuff happening with you. Could you go pray for him? I said, Ill be glad to. I went and prayed for him and I felt like I was wrestling a devil inside that room. I felt the spirit of death about to take him out. I could feel it; I thought, Wow. The Holy Ghost said, Everything is going to be okay. I left out of there still thinking, Are you sure, Lord? Are you sure you didnt miss it this time? I did not hear anything from the lady, so I told my wife, Aimee, Well, he probably died. That is amazing, isnt it? I got disturbed about it and, about four weeks later, I said, Shawn, I went and prayed for your grandpa and you did not call me back to tell me anything. She said, Oh, Im sorry, Sean. He came out of the hospital the next

day after you prayed for him! He was totally healed! There was a guy who was in a coma. He got in a bad wreck; he hit a car head-on on a motorbike and he went through the cars windshield. I went to the hospital and some people went with me, but they could not come in with me. Guess what happened? I went to his mom and told her, I went and prayed for your son. I wont tell people this unless God is talking to me, but I really believe everything is going to be fine. Twenty-four hours after I prayed for that man, he came back. He was out of the coma! They were expecting him to die; his family was there. In twenty-four hours, though, he was healed! And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. You know, some churches have quite a way of defining that right there. They say, That just means that youre not going to be cursing and carrying on anymore. Have you ever heard that? Some pastors preach that from the pulpit! Youre not going to be cursing or carrying on anymore; thats the new tongues that Jesus was talking about. Well, if you are going to say the new tongue, why dont you

go on to the new eyes, the new mouth, the new legs, and the whole bit? Every man in Christ is a new creature, isnt he? That is demonic, you know. They want to change the Scripture and take the supernatural out of there, so it just means you are not cursing anymore. They shall take up serpents Do not go to those churches that take up serpents, now. They are tempting the Lord, amen? And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. They shall say hands on the sick, and what is going to happen? They shall recover. There is no choice there, is there? Lets go to Luke 9. Jesus never commissioned His disciples to preach without the power of God. Never. Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. (Luke 9:1-2) Do you see? That is what is missing in the body of Christ.

And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. (Luke 9:3-6) Jesus said, Take nothing for your journey Thank God He changed that Word before He died. He said in Luke 22:35-36, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. In other words, He said, Now, youd better take everything you have. They said, Yes sir! I like verse 6 of Luke 9. And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. Where were they healing? They were healing everywhere. I want you to listen to

what Andrew Murray said; I have tons of his books. This is awesome. He said: The world is no longer as openly hostile to the Church because it has lost its fear of her, but its tolerance of the Church is more to be dreaded than its hatred. Did you catch that? If the world is tolerating the Church, something is wrong. When I read that, I thought, Brother Andrew, you may be in Heaven, but its about to change! Let me show you something else that he said; this is powerful. He talked about a Christianity of mere form in the sleep of indifference. He said that a Christianity that is not demonstrating the power of God is equal to Judaism. That is a powerful statement to make. He is saying it is just another cult. These brothers were serious. I am sorry, this is my mentality. If God is alive and He is Who He says He is, then I want Him to show it to me. I say, God, if you did it for Jesus, Peter, and Paul, you said you are no respecter of persons. I want to see it. Is He doing it? Yes, I am seeing Him do the same things. It feels good to be able to say that; not out of pride, but out of proof that Jesus does not have any favorites. The Apostle Paul saw blind eyes opened, and I saw blind eyes opened, too.

The Apostle Paul saw deaf ears opened, and I saw deaf ears opened, too. The Apostle Paul saw cripples walk, and I saw cripples walk, too. The Apostle Paul cast out demons, and I saw demons come out, too. The Apostle Paul raised one man from the dead, and I saw somebody raised from the dead, too. That is pretty powerful though, isnt it? To say that, if the world is tolerating the Church, something is wrong. They are not going to tolerate us much longer.