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In Word and Deed

1 Thessalonians 1:5 “For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. “

God validated His Word to the pagans in Thessalonica as He did to the pagans in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.  And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.  I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 

The Gospel came not just with clear declaration of the Truth about Who Jesus Christ is and what He has done through His crucifixion and resurrection but with the demonstration of Kingdom power by the Holy Spirit. It is just as it was when Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God; in Word and deed. 

The Holy Spirit validated the Word of God preached with signs and wonders. It is cultural arrogance and cultural ignorance for the church today to say, “Well, they needed those signs and wonders because they were a less enlightened culture than we are today. We have the Word of God written.” Well…when Paul, Silas, Timothy, Peter, James and John and all the other Apostles proclaimed Jesus as God’s Messiah and the Savior of the whole world, they preached from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. It was from the Word of God written that the Word of God made flesh was revealed and declared. Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies proving He is Who He says He is! Miracles, signs and wonders confirmed that Jesus was Who He declared Himself to be. His Words and deeds matched and displayed the Kingdom of God.

We can see on the pages of the New Testament that the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God were normative. The Holy Spirit validated the Word of the Kingdom of God with the signs and wonders associated with the Kingdom of God. Darkness and the effects of sin were being undone. Sickness and disease were being reversed as those who were sick were healed in Jesus’ Name. Demons were cast out, the dead were raised, the lame walked, the deaf heard, the blind could see again. That was and is meant to be normative in evangelism and Kingdom work.

The will of God and the purpose of God are ONLY accomplished by the Power of God, by the Holy Spirit. It is the same today because Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. Our expectation of the Lord manifesting His power has been blunted by satanic lies that those things were for a season and have ceased for today. There is no where in Scripture that you can find any validation for that deception. The only time that these things will no longer be needed is when Jesus Christ, the Perfect One, returns at the end of the age. These ministry and mission manifestations of the Holy Spirit will no longer be needed for the end of all things will have come. But that is not the case now.

The manifestations of the Holy Spirit follow the proclamation of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead and salvation in Him alone. The Lord determines what He will do; we do not. Believers cannot manipulate the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Lord and we are not. But what is desperately needed in the Body of Christ today is a Word-grounded, ever-present expectation that the Lord will demonstrate the Power and Victory of the Kingdom of God over all things satanic, all deception, death, hell, and the grave.

Because the Lord Jesus lives His life within His followers by the Holy Spirit, it is not a huge step to conclude He intends to live His Life through us in ministry to the world. “The things I do, you will do, and even greater things because I am going to the Father.,” Jesus said. The Apostles taught nothing different under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration as they wrote their letters to the early church.

I believe the Lord wants us to have an anticipation and a hope that, as He leads us in ministry and on mission, that He will continue to confirm that what we declare about Jesus Christ is true by signs and wonders. He is stirring up His gifts deposited in the church to no longer be suppressed but learned to be exercised in decency and order…but to be done, nonetheless.




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