« Kim Clement: "SYRIA, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU WILL NOT RISE UP AGAINST THE LION! --July 16, Humble, Texas" | HomePage | "A Sign For Change: The Wind Has Blown" -- Chuck Pierce »
08/06/2006
The Gospel is Power by Revivalist Todd Bentley Part 1
July 31, 2006
This two-part teaching entitled The Gospel is Power is sure to whet your appetite and inspire you to come up higher so that you’re empowered to advance the cause of Christ in the earth. You’ll learn about God’s creative power and how it goes hand in hand with the gospel of the kingdom and the release of miracles, signs and wonders. Next week you’ll discover how faith and the power of God can bring you into new levels and fresh revelation for sharing the gospel in a dynamic way.
The Gospel is Power
by Revivalist Todd Bentley
Part 1
Hallelujah! We serve a mighty God! We can boldly declare with the apostle Paul, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). Think about that! We can be absolutely sure that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God to salvation for every single person who believes. The gospel of Christ is the power of God!
So today I want to discuss how the gospel of Christ is the power of God. We’ll begin by examining the function of the Holy Spirit in the context of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. Then we’ll discuss: the realm of God, the activity of God, creative power in an earthly scene, and how God’s kingdom overrules the material realm. Here we go!
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven
The presence of the Holy Spirit, which brings both the manifestation of the kingdom of God and the nature of the Holy Spirit, is creative. It’s who He is. You can’t ever take that from the Holy Spirit. Miracles can’t be prevented! Healings can’t be stopped! Do you know why? It’s because of the presence, the dynamic, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit! The presence and personality of who the Holy Spirit is brings the manifestation of the creative power of heaven to earth. His creative power gives evidence when He is on the scene, and when He releases His creative power on the earth, that action reveals the kingdom of God in operation.
When Jesus declared that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15), or “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17; 10:7), He never said that again. From that day forward He spoke about the kingdom in the context of “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and He demonstrated (showed) the manifestation of the kingdom. I’ll talk about some of those manifestations in a minute, but let’s take a further look at the kingdom of heaven first.
Most Christians are waiting for the kingdom of heaven to happen when they die—“absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). But Jesus said, “… the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And from the beginning of the time that Jesus first began to walk on this earth in His earthly ministry and He released the dynamic and the presence of the Holy Spirit, He ushered in the kingdom of heaven. AND IT’S STILL HERE!
Listen! It’s not just when we die that we experience the kingdom of heaven! We can come into the realm of the kingdom of heaven now by experiencing what Jesus meant when He said: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). The kingdom of heaven is the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth, as it is in heaven. The reality is this: as it is in heaven means that there is no sorrow, or pain, or sickness because such conditions do not exist in heaven.
So, do you know what the Lord is beginning to reveal and to say? Here’s what I sense God saying: “I want you to pray: as it is in heaven so let it be done in the earth. I want you to begin to release and contend and lay hold of that in the spirit because I want to bring into the earth, as it is in heaven. You are waiting to get to heaven but I want to bring ‘as it is in heaven’ to the earth. I want to bring ‘as it is in heaven’ in the area of glory and angelic activity—no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness, into the earth.” Friends, this is what the kingdom of God is.
I love what Paul the apostle said about the kingdom of God—“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). We’re not supposed to fix our eyes on what’s temporal and get stuck there. The temporal things aren’t going to last. Instead we need to focus on what’s eternal because what’s eternal is going to last forever and it’s in the Spirit realm. The eternal is the unseen substance of what’s in heaven. In fact, the eternal overrules the material or physical realm, the physical symptoms of the sickness that are in your body, and the physical circumstances of your life.
Therefore, we need to say, “Come Holy Spirit; so as it is in heaven, it will begin to be on earth.” As you invite the kingdom of God and as you say, “Holy Spirit come,” He brings the realm of God, He brings the activity of God. When the Holy Spirit shows up, a superior order shows up, and it breaks the law of science, it breaks every doctor’s report and what every person has said about you concerning what you can and cannot do. It breaks the law of physics and the realm of the impossible. It begins to open up the impossible! It begins to open up the eternal! It begins to open up the supernatural! People get healed! Doctors say, “I don’t know. There was a cancer in your body. Scientifically this doesn’t make sense. I don’t know what to say. The cancer isn’t there now.” How did this happen? It’s because of the presence of the Holy Ghost. So we need to begin to believe for a manifestation of God’s kingdom in our lives.
Here’s an example in scripture of God’s kingdom in action. “When evening had come, they brought to Him (Jesus) many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick” (Matt. 8:16). Casting out demons with a word and healing the sick are manifestations of the kingdom of God! Later, Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28).
Believing for a manifestation of God’s kingdom in our lives and walking in a kingdom mindset is vital. Why? Because we were created on purpose for this purpose! We are body and we are spirit; we are born from above. Jesus told Nicodemus that no one could see the kingdom of God unless that person is born again or born from above. Here’s what Jesus said: “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 Amplified).
22:50 Permalink