CaryCOG | Cary Church of God
Today's Message: "A Life Marked by the Resurrection"
By: Pastor Patrick Jensen
Mark 16:14-20 NKJV
I. A life marked by the Resurrection is a life of faith, pilgrimage & proclamation (Mark 16:14-16)
a. A life in resurrection may begin with rebuke
b. The life marked by the resurrection is also one of pilgrimage
c. The life marked by the resurrection is one of proclamation, and that proclamation is the gospel
Quote:
There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief. -- Smith Wigglesworth
II. A life marked by the resurrection is a life of signs following (Mark 16:17-18)
a. We must first recognize what signs are.
b. Those who have signs following are those who believe. Again, we find a second emphasis on faith. Faithlessness was one object of the Lord’s rebuke, and faithfulness is the means by which signs follow.
c. What are the signs that follow?
1. The Sign of Exorcism - casting out devils
2. The Sign of Language and Baptism of the Holy Spirit
3. The Sign of Protection
4. The Sign of Healing!
Quote:
Mary Pople related that she went to heaven and was allowed in the throne room. She saw the Lord Jesus sitting on his throne. She saw the light such as she had never seen and heard music such as she had never heard before. Her heart was filled with rapturous joy. As she looked at the Lord, He pointed to the doorway by which she had entered, and she knew she had to go back even if she did not want to. When she went through that door, she heard a voice that later she knew was Smith Wigglesworth’s. He was saying, “Death, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Then he commanded Mary to live. Her eyes opened, and those who had been weeping around her bed began to rejoice. -- "Smith Wigglesworth, A Man who Walked with God", by George Stormont.
III. A life marked by the resurrection is a life of holy collaboration (Mark 16:20).
a. A life of miracles has to be a life of holy collaboration
b. The Lord confirmed the preaching of the apostles in Acts 5:12 where it says, "And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch."
c. It didn’t stop there! When Paul and Barnabus were preaching to unbelieving Jews, God showed up in marvelous fashion as it states in Acts 14:3, "Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands."
d. The Apostle Paul explains why the signs of the kingdom are important to accompany the preaching of the gospel. Listen once again from 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, " And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
e. Thus, we have here a life marked by the resurrection that must be filled with faith, signs following, and holy collaboration with the Lord.
Is there someone today that needs an in-breaking of the kingdom?
Perhaps you are tormented by a demon, or know someone who is, and in need of deliverance today?
Perhaps you have not yet responded to the rebuke of the Lord, and need to respond today so that He can fill you with faith?
Perhaps you need healing in your body?
Perhaps you yearn for the new language and baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Perhaps you need His protection from the enemy?
All of these are signs of the resurrection, enjoyed by His people and accomplished the resurrection of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit which was poured out on Pentecost.
Will you come?
Quote:
There is nothing small about our God, and when we understand God, we will find out that there ought not to be anything small about us. We must have an enlargement of our conception of God, then we will know that we have come to a place where all things are possible, for our God is an omnipotent God for impossible positions…You must come to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are in yourself. -- Smith Wigglesworth