Why?

“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

Mark 16:19-20 NKJV

A great percentage of Christians today have never witnessed signs and wonders that confirm The Word. Therefore, a great percentage of the world has never witnessed signs and wonders that confirm The Word. The hard truth is, many of our churches have abandoned the power of God and have replaced it with comfort, coffee, conversation, and perfectly packaged pretty little preaching pods. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these things, there is something drastically wrong with a powerless message about Jesus. This includes the lie that Jesus can perform the greatest miracle there is to save someone, but will not then follow that miracle with miraculous signs that confirm that same power.

Week in and week out, Christians across this world stroll into and out of churches without ever knowing the miraculous. We may hear an uplifting worship set and experience an encouraging sermon, but the miraculous continues to evade us. Since we don’t hear it preached or taught or see it in church, or on the streets for that matter, a life without miracles becomes commonplace. In fact, powerless teachings have bred and continue to breed spun off misinformed theologies that explain away the power and Word of God that makes it clear that signs and wonders will follow those who believe. This begs the question, why? Why have we allowed unbelief to keep at bay the miraculous power of God that would be performed that people would be saved, healed and delivered? Why have we explained away a large percentage of the ministry of Jesus, one that He specifically gave us power to perform ourselves? I am here to say that the answer has nothing to do with God changing His mind, and everything to do with our own unbelief and refusal to live and love the way He’s called us to live and love. Jesus provided for people’s practical needs, He preached The Word, and He performed the miraculous. What we have done is major on the first two and disregard the last. It is time for us to repent and fully regard the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Those Who Believe

“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.””

Mark 16:15-18 NKJV

Answers to the question, Why?

1. The rejection of The Baptism of The Holy Spirit

“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

Mark 16:19-20 NKJV

After Jesus ascended into Heaven, when did they ‘go out and preach everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs’? It happened after they waited for and received the promise of The Father, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.””

Acts 1:4-5 NKJV

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Acts 1:8 NKJV

They needed the power to go and do what He called them to go and do. We need that same power today.

2. Unbelief

“When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Matthew 13:54-58 NKJV

“Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”

Mark 6:1-6 NKJV

3. Hearers that don’t want to hear and teachers that don’t want to teach

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

II Timothy 4:1-4 NKJV

“And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’”

Matthew 13:10-15 NKJV

4. Disunity

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Ephesians 4:1-3 NKJV

Unity receives and gives the miracle working power of God. Disunity clogs that flow.

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

Matthew 10:8 NKJV

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”

Acts 2:1 NKJV

“At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders (attesting miracles) were continually taking place among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in [the covered porch called] Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest [of the people, the non-believers] dared to associate with them; however, the people were holding them in high esteem and were speaking highly of them. More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried their sick out into the streets and put them on cots and sleeping pads, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on one of them [with healing power]. And the people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”

Acts 5:12-16 AMP

5. Inaction

“Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.””

Mark 16:14-18 NKJV

What is your faith action today? It is to go. Despite all of our imperfections and weaknesses, God has called us to go. Faith without works is dead, so live alive and GO.

Go Boldly,

Joshua David Brawner

The Word, The Pen, and The Mic