June 25, 2025 • 39 mins
Emphasizing the transformative power of “signs and wonders,” the message draws on Acts 8 to show how ordinary believers—like Philip, a deacon—were empowered by the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, cast out demons, and spark revival wherever they went. Through vivid biblical examples and personal anecdotes of miraculous healings, it underscores that this same demonstration of God’s power validates the gospel and equips every follower—not just ordained ministers—to minister boldly. Listeners are challenged to step out in faith, lay hands on the sick, and proclaim what Jesus has done, trusting that signs and wonders will confirm their witness today.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Get your Bible and wave it around.
Make Jesus glad, the devil mad.
Let's say this together sayHeavenly Father, I'm so glad to
be here tonight, on Wednesdaynight.
I look forward to midweek totop off the tank, to refill and
have the Word of God going inoverflow mode.
(00:20):
Holy Spirit, shine your lighton this word tonight and give me
understanding and revelation sothat my faith can grow, my
spirit can develop and I canbring forth more fruit In Jesus'
name, amen.
Let's look in our Bibles at Acts, chapter 8.
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Acts, chapter 8.
And we'll start reading withthe first verse and Saul was
consenting unto his death, andthat's talking about Stephen's
death.
Stephen was martyred.
In the previous chapter, saulwas consenting unto Stephen's
death and at that time there wasa great mega persecution
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against the church which was atJerusalem, and they were all
scattered abroad throughout theregions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles, and devoutmen carried Stephen to his
burial and made greatlamentation over him.
As for Saul, he made havoc ofthe church, entering into every
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house and hailing men and women,committed them to prison.
Therefore, they that werescattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to thecity of Samaria and preached
Christ unto them and the people,with one accord, gave heed unto
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those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the
miracles which he did, forunclean spirits crying with loud
voice came out of many thatwere possessed with them, and
many, taken with palsies andthat were lame, were healed, and
there was great joy in thatcity.
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And so tonight I wanted to sharea message, a simple message,
entitled the importance of signsand wonders.
The importance of signs andwonders.
You know the early church.
We see the gospel begins tospread.
Three years they've been inJerusalem, since Jesus had told
them to go into all the world.
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You know, in Acts 1.8, he saidyou know, you shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Judea and inSamaria, and under the uttermost
parts, both in Jerusalem and inJudea.
He didn't say first inJerusalem and then he didn't
give them an order.
He said do it all.
He said go everywhere all atonce.
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He didn't tell them to stay inJerusalem.
And so really, in that sense,the persecution that mentions
here in verse one is a result oftheir disobedience.
I know they didn't know that,but it did open the door to
Satan for him to bring a lot oftrouble.
And it says then that everybodywas scattered abroad except the
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apostles.
So believers, believers, wenteverywhere.
They were scattered.
The word scattered is diaspora,it means they were sown.
They were sown.
They were sown and they broughtforth crops all across,
distributed like seed everywhere.
Believers preaching the word.
They were not ordained, theywere not pastors, apostles,
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evangelists, teachers, prophets.
No, they were not pastors,apostles, evangelists, teachers,
prophets.
No, they were believers.
In fact, we read about philip.
Oh, pastor philip.
Bible says philip was anevangelist.
Well, that was way later.
He's just a deacon, he is infact, what he is is an usher,
he's a waiter on tables, as wasstephen.
They were not ordained topreach, they weren't expected
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really to do that necessarily.
But what I wanted you to see isthey did, they went everywhere,
and you know so.
Philip was one of the sevendeacons, ministry of helps, and
it says he went to Samaria, thecity of Samaria.
Actually, the city was Sychar,which is the same city that
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Jesus preached to the woman atthe well.
Now, he didn't work anymiracles there.
He didn't pray for the sickthere.
He did read her mail there.
You know, remember the story.
I mean, she comes up to him andhe starts talking to her about
living water.
And he says well, you know, shesaid I'm not married.
He said you're right, you'vehad five husbands and the man
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you're with now is not yourhusband.
And so she went into the cityand says come see a man that
told me all things ever I did.
And she read my mail and didn'tcondemn her, didn't condemn her
, just told her.
But he did not work miraclesthere.
And, of course, the Samaria.
You know there was a great dealof distance and aggravation
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between the Jews and theSamaritans.
The Samaritans were kind ofhalf-breed Jews, they had Jewish
mix and that's what made themunacceptable to the straight
Jews.
And there was discrimination.
Remember, jesus was talkingabout, you know, helping the
Samaritan man, you know, and andthat was controversial he was
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always wanting to bridge gaps.
He's always trying to take awaypride and religion, religiosity
.
So, um, he went to sychar, wherethere were no miracles.
Just think about that.
He chose to go to the hardestplace.
I mean, you know, that's prettyamazing.
I think about Philip.
He went to the hardest place.
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He didn't go someplace easy, hewent someplace hard.
He went to Sychar and it says hepreached Christ, the anointed
one, with all of his anointingto them.
And I think about Christ, theanointed one.
I think about how Jesus, inLuke 4, 18, says the spirit of
the Lord is upon me, which hasanointed me to preach the gospel
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to the broke, the brokenhearted, the blind, the bound, the
bruised.
That's exactly what Philip did.
Philip preached the same wayJesus did.
He was his example.
He said you know, it was goodenough for Jesus, good enough
for Peter, good enough for me.
I'm going to go in there andI'm going to talk to them about
getting healed.
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I'm going to talk to them aboutgetting, you know, so forth
delivered.
And and so you know, when you,when you read this, this chapter
, you know it says that you know.
It begs the question why was heso well received?
I mean, you know, he's a nobody.
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He's a nobody Really, in thescheme of things.
Nobody's heard of him.
And yet the Holy Ghost backedhim up.
He got up there and startedpreaching the best way he could.
And we see that they gave heed.
Why did they give heed to thethings that he said, to his
words?
Why did they do that?
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It says, you know, verse six,the people, with one accord,
gave heed unto those thingswhich Philip spoke.
And then it tells you why.
Because of what they heard andwhat they saw, you know it made
him kind of overlook, maybe hislack of credentials, his lack of
any kind of personal magnetismor whatever.
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I mean, you know he's just aregular guy.
But the Holy Ghost showed up andthey heard the cry of demons on
their way out of people.
People got delivered in themeeting screaming and crying
coming out of people and thenthey saw what they saw.
They saw the paralyzed and thelame walk.
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Now they didn't see the blindeyes open.
There weren't any blind peoplesaved.
There's no record of any deafpeople healed.
There wasn't any blind peoplesaved.
There's no record of any deafpeople healed.
So you can see there was alimitation to the anointing that
he had.
He had a believer's anointing Imean a believer's anointing got
people delivered, healed ofcertain major things.
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I mean, come on the importanceof signs and wonders.
You know the book of Acts isthe planting season.
That is the season the Bibletalks about.
It's the book of Joel.
This is that spoken by theprophet Joel.
It was planting, they gotplanting rain.
Rain of the Holy Ghost is signs, wonders and miracles.
And so there was enough signs,wonders and miracles to plant a
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seed, to get a harvest.
But we live in the last days.
We live in the time where theformer and the latter rain come
together.
So if signs and wonders werenecessary in the beginning, how
much more are they necessaryright now?
And how much more are theynecessary among the believers?
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You know, it's time for thebelievers to stir themselves up
and quit waiting on the preacherto come to town, or the apostle
to come to town, or the prophetto come to town, or anybody
else with a name.
Come to town.
Hey, you know, you've got thename of Jesus, you've got an
anointing upon your life, you'vegot the Holy Ghost.
I mean, you've got everything.
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You've got the word of God,you've got all the ingredients
that there needs to be to seemiracles in your life.
Miracles, uh, for people thatyou're praying for.
It's amazing.
I got a hold of this 40 some oddyears ago and I just took.
I took it and brother Osteenpreached this way and he
encouraged the believersministry.
He encouraged us to dosomething.
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He encouraged us to make adifference where we were and I
started doing it.
I just heard what he said and Istarted doing it.
It started working and I was ababy Christian, I didn't even
know that much about it, but Iknew that I had power.
I mean right away.
I mean I hadn't even been saveda few months and a man got a
heart transplant.
I mean right away.
I mean I hadn't even been saveda few months and a man got a
heart transplant.
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I laid hands on him and Godgave him a brand new heart,
didn't have to have a hearttransplant.
Amazing, you know, I went wow.
Of course I had a lot of othersthat seemingly I couldn't tell
any difference.
Well, you know, I just keptgoing.
I mean, I don't know whathappened later.
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I'm not responsible for theresults.
I'm responsible for putting myhands on sick people.
I'm responsible for castingdevils out of people when I can,
you know, and ministering topeople.
So Philip preached Christ, theanointed one, and all of his
anointing, and they gave heed tothe things that he said because
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of what they saw and what theyheard.
And they heard the cries ofdemons coming out and they saw
paralyzed people and people withpalsy.
Palsy is paralysis, palsy is adeath sentence.
And they got up out of theirbed and walked.
I mean, it's amazing theimportance of signs and wonders.
You can hold your place thereand turn back a few pages to
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Mark, chapter 16.
And I want to remind youBrother Osteen, again, would
always emphasize this he wasalways building up the church's
ministry, building up thebeliever's ministry, giving us a
vision for our world, and weneed that in the church.
Now we need to quit looking forthe you know, the big, high
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named folks.
I mean, yeah, thank God forwhat they have, but we've got
something too.
They're not going to be, listen, they're not going to get into
your world very much.
I mean, they affect you, butlook, you affect your world.
Mark 16,.
Jesus is talking to thedisciples and he told them go
into all the world and preachthe gospel to every creature.
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He that believeth and isbaptized shall be saved and he
that believeth not shall becondemned.
And these signs shall followall the high muckety mucks and
the ones that have been ordainedand the ones that have a very
famous name, like Oral Robertsand John Osteen.
No, he said these signs shallfollow them that believe
Believers have signs and wondersfollowing their ministry
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Believers, see, this is what Igot into me 40-something years
ago and I proved it out Well.
But pastor, you were called.
Well, I know I was called and Ifound out I was called when I
got saved.
I do remember that it was newsat first, but then God brought
me back to my childhood and hebegan to replay my life before
me in the few months after I gotsaved and then over several
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years after that.
I mean I remember one timetalking to a prophetess.
You know, she was a sister of agood friend of mine.
He was a banker friend of mine.
His sister ran a Bible schoolup in Washington state.
She was a prophetess, a genuineprophetess.
She got me on the phone one dayand started reading my mail and
she started seeing me when Iwas an altar boy and at our lady
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of refuge Catholic church.
She saw me going to that churchand being faithful as a as a
little nine, 10, 11 year old boyand she started telling me and
she described the convent, shedescribed how it looked.
I mean I'm telling you, I meanGod had his hand on my life, all
my life, before I got saved,and so yeah, but I was not a
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pastor at that time, I was notin the ministry at that time.
I mean the results that I gotwere as the believer's ministry.
That's what I want to stress.
It's the believer's ministry.
His signs shall follow themthat believe in my name.
See, they shall cast out demons.
See, that's what Philip did Inmy name.
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They shall speak with newtongues.
They'll take up serpents.
I mean, you know, the devil wasopposed to little old guy like
Philip.
I mean they blocked him everyway they could.
They couldn't block him becausehe knew that he had a right to
be there.
If they drink any deadly thing,it'll not harm them.
They lay hands on the sick andthey'll recover.
So then, after the Lord hadspoken to them, he was received
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up into heaven, sat on the righthand of God, and they went
forth and preached everywhere,the Lord working with them with
signs or confirming the word,with signs following.
So you know, I know that Philipknew that God would back him up
.
God would bring legitimacy towhat he said.
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That's why they gave heed towhat he said.
That's why people give heed towhat you say If you'll speak the
good news.
And so the Lord, through theHoly Ghost, worked with Philip,
confirming and legitimizing theword that he was speaking, and
the signs and the wondersproduced.
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It wasn't a message, it was thesigns and wonders that brought
great joy to the city.
I mean for them to sit thereand see that kind of miracle
outpouring.
It just brought great joy tothe city.
You know a great pastor here inHouston.
He was pastor of EvangelisticTemple many years ago, raymond T
Ritchie.
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He had a healing ministry,great healing ministry, here in
the city.
It was a church in the Heights,very historic church, but
Lonnie knew him, played theorgan for him one time, lonnie
Rex, and a lot of people saythat John Osteen had his
ministry.
He died, you know, john, beforeBrother Osteen became baptized
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in the Holy Ghost and a lot ofpeople say, man, he got a very
similar ministry.
God works that way sometimes incities.
He'll raise up people to, youknow, just because somebody's
done a great work.
You know that mantle doesn't goa great work, you know that
that mantle doesn't go with them.
It goes and stays here and Idon't know that he ever knew him
or ever met him.
But but anyway, as far asbrother Osteen, but uh, raymond
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T Ritchie made a, a comment andhe said this he said healing is
God's dinner bell.
It's God's dinner bell.
What does that mean?
Well, you know, back in the olddays when you had your cowboys
out there and they were doinganything with the cows if they
were, you know, driving them, orif they were branding them, or
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they're rounding them up orwhatever they're doing out there
in the field whenever thedinner bell rang, that's when
they come running for lunch andbuddy the truck wagon better
have some good food.
Whenever the dinner bell rang,that's when they come running
for lunch and buddy the chuckwagon better have some good food
.
But the dinner bell attractedhungry people, you see.
So healing attracts hungrypeople.
It brings people to a placewhere they will sit and listen,
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where otherwise they wouldn't.
I mean, it's just an amazingthing.
You know, I had the privilege Imentioned recently.
I was on a three-trackdiscipleship program and when I
first got saved I had threedifferent places.
I got discipled.
First I had a weekly Biblestudy for the first nine months
that I went to every Thursdaynight and that helped disciple
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me.
And then I had, of course,lakewood Church, and that helped
disciple me.
And then I had, of course,lakewood Church, and that helped
disciple me and had good,spirit-filled men that gathered
around me and I got to knowsometimes it overlapped between
Lakewood and full gospelbusinessmen and so another
outfit was full gospelbusinessmen.
I got to go and I was goingtwice a month to their meetings
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a dinner meeting on Saturdaynight once a month and a
breakfast meeting once a monthon Saturday morning.
So that's twice a month.
I mean that's half my Saturdaysthat I'm going, you know, and
getting involved and around menthat know God better than me and
helping to grow me up andhelping me to, helping to shape
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my life, give me opportunity tominister.
I I mean when I started singing,I started singing in full
gospel business, startedbringing my boom box to to the
prison at uh, you know the wallsunit in in, uh, huntsville, at
the chapel and singing and mybuddy of mine do the preaching.
And you know the prisoners thatall just kind of look at you a
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lot of times.
You know they didn't care much,they were kind of there.
You couldn't tell whether theywere wanted to be there or not,
but we knew that some of themdid it didn't.
You see, I was able to get pastan audience one time.
I was, I was ministering at ahalfway house at the University
of Houston and they wererequired.
It was run by the Baptist Churchand they were required to go
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there as part of their being atthe halfway house.
They would be put back in jailif they didn't fulfill the terms
of their parole.
So they're paroled at thehalfway house and they have to
go to every service.
So my buddy and I, jim Scalise,he'd do the preaching, I'd do
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the singing, and those guyswould come and they'd just, you
know, they'd, smart off, they'dhave an attitude, some of them
would sleep.
I mean, you know so, whenyou're staring at people and
they don't care whether you'rethere or not, I had to get over
that.
See, I'm ministering to theLord, I don't care whether I'm
not there.
I mean I'm there for them.
But I mean they don't want tobe there, they get to miss out.
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But you know, some of them gotsaved, some of them got filled
with the Holy Ghost, even thoughwe're not supposed to pray for
that Too bad.
Anyway, give the Holy Ghostyour rules, anyway.
So everybody say healing isGod's dinner bell.
I mean, you attract people withthe healing Well, pastor, I
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don't know that I have a healingWell, you may not have a
specific healing ministry, butyou have the right to lay hands
on the sick.
In fact, he says to do it.
It's something that we shoulddo.
It's something we should do.
So let's keep reading here andgo back to acts the importance
of signs and wonders, and I knowthe more I preach on this, the
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more signs and wonders we'llhave.
It's another reason I'mpreaching it the more preach
this, the more you'll be stirredup to bring signs and wonders
and healings and deliverancesinto your world.
It started in my world.
It started in my family.
I mean, you know, I was.
We were out on the patio of mysister's house and she had a
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little hot tub and a little youknow some furniture and and so
we, the whole family was there,my brothers and my brother and
his wife, my two sisters andtheir husband and some of the
the kids and my two kids, Ithink, were there too and my
oldest sisters.
Uh, she had two boys that werecoming from conroe to be there
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to meet us.
We were going to have dinnertogether, but we were out on the
patio mid-afternoon listeningto a gospel, listening to a full
gospel businessman's testimony.
I had a testimony tape ofsomebody that gave their
testimony, full gospel, and wewere out there listening to that
testimony and my nephew, dennis, which was my sister's youngest
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boy, came through the gate.
He's about 13.
And he got tears running downhis face and he comes, runs over
to his mama for his mama tocomfort him, and he held out his
hand and come to find out heand his brother had pulled up in
the driveway and the mufflerfell off of their old Camaro.
He and his brother had pulledup in the driveway and the
muffler fell off of their oldCamaro and so he had crawled
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under the car and somehow he hadpressed his hand against the
hot exhaust pipe and it burned ablister, just a circle right
there in his right palm, and hewas trying not to cry but it
hurt.
So you know, you got everynerve.
Ending is in your hand.
I mean it doesn't worse thanburning your hand.
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And and I didn't, I mean I heardthat and I just leaped up out
of my chair, turn, turn the tapeoff.
And I ran across there and Igrabbed him and I, and I grabbed
his hand and I went just likethat I said in the name of Jesus
, be healed.
And just like that, in the nameof G, and I slapped his, burned
, that I said, in the name ofJesus, be healed.
And just like that, in the nameof Jesus.
And I slapped his burned handwith my hand.
Well, so it would have been hisright hand.
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So it was my left hand, bam, inthe name of Jesus, be healed.
And he blinked and his mouthfell open and all the pain
instantly left.
He was instantly.
You still had a burn, but therewas no pain.
Oh, come on, let's lift ourhands.
Thank God.
I mean God just backs you upwhen you're young and dumb and
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you're not so sophisticated,you're not so worried about
failing and you're not soworried about what people think.
You know we need more boldnesslike that.
We just need to quit being soconcerned about the results.
I loved him and I didn't wanthim to hurt.
That was my motive.
I wasn't trying to show off.
Praise God.
All right, you found 8, chapter8.
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Now verse 9.
But it says see the whole story.
There's joy in that city, butthere was a certain man called
Simon which before time, in thesame city, used sorcery and
bewitched the people of Samaria,giving out that himself was
some great one to whom they allgave heed, from the least to the
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greatest saying this man is thegreat power of God.
This man is the great power ofGod.
Just think of that.
And what is he?
He's full of the devil.
Satan comes as an angel oflight.
He comes.
He's a usurper, he's a deceiver, he's a liar, a father of lies,
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a father of lies, and to himthey had regard because that of
a long time he had bewitchedthem with sorceries.
See, I think America, we don'tknow enough about this subject.
I think we don't know enoughabout this casting spells and
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using the occult.
But it's very common and it'sreally the reason why this
country is in such a mess,because the church has not
addressed this kind of thing,they haven't rebuked it.
You know, the Bible sayswhatsoever you bind on earth is
bound in the heavens.
Whatever you loose will beloosed.
So we need to bind this kind ofstuff when we see it.
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But when they believe Philippreaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God and the nameof Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
And then Simon himself believedalso.
I mean, it says he got savedand he continued with Philip and
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he wondered, beholding themiracles and the signs which
were done.
See, this was not just onemeeting.
This is a revival.
This is going on for days.
I mean, he's up there, got toremember now what is he?
Well, he's a deacon, he's anusher.
He's not a full-time minister.
I mean, he's up there, got toremember now what is he?
Well, he's a deacon, he's anusher, he's not a full-time
minister.
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I mean he's not a preacher,necessarily.
But I mean you know God'sbacking him up, god's working
with him.
And so, verse 14, now, when thehigh muckety, I mean the
apostles, they had a, you know,they had a committee meeting,
meeting.
They heard about all that goingon down there when the apostles
, which are jerusalem, heardabout samaria, had received the
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word of god.
Yeah, you better.
You know, peter and john, y'allbetter get down there before
that becomes a mess.
I mean, this is just a novicedown there.
You, you better get down there,you better take over.
I mean, he's gone about as longas he can go.
You better get there quickbefore everything falls apart.
It doesn't say that.
But you know what you can tellthat this young man didn't have
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a full spectrum.
I mean there were certainthings that didn't get healed,
but just the kinds of thingsthat did get healed and the
demons leaving.
That's pretty amazing.
So when they got there verse 15,when they were coming down,
they prayed and they got thebaptism of the Holy Ghost.
See, none of them had gottenfilled with the Holy Ghost yet,
they just got baptized in water.
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So now you've got the apostles.
Now they bring a much heavieranointing and a much bigger,
broader toolkit, if you will.
And so the first thing they didis get them filled with the
Holy Ghost, for as yet verse 16,he had fallen upon none of them
.
Only they were baptized in thename of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands onthem and they received the Holy
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Ghost.
So there's another scripturewhere you can lay hands on
people for them to get the HolyGhost.
That's what they did.
And when Simon saw that throughthe laying on of the apostles'
hands, the Holy Ghost was given,he offered them money saying
give me also the power that onwhomsoever I lay hands he may
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receive the Holy Ghost.
Man, I like that, I want to dothat.
Here's some money, let me buythat from you.
Now he's gotten saved.
We don't know if he gotbaptized in the Holy Ghost, but
he sure was excited about it.
He wanted the power to give itaway, so he must have received
it.
How can you give it away if youhadn't received it?
So my belief is that this oncewas a warlock.
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He's once a demonic occultic.
You know, curandero.
I mean, he's a witchcraft, youknow that's what he's practicing
.
And he gets saved, he's waterbaptized.
He gets baptized in the HolyGhost, and the first thing that
he's a baby Christian and he'she just.
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He doesn't know any better.
And he says I want that, can Ihave?
Well, I'll give you money forit.
But Peter said unto them mymoney perish with thee, because
you have thought that the giftof God could be purchased with
money.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of Godcould be purchased with money.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God.
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Repent, therefore, of this, thywickedness, and pray God if
perhaps the thought of yourheart may be forgiven thee, for
I perceive that thou art in thegall of bitterness and in the
bond of iniquity.
I don't know if you'd tell ababy Christian that, but I mean
that's what Peter did.
I mean, peter whoo thenanswered Simon, I like this
(28:33):
answer.
Oh, pray you, the Lord, for methat none of those things you
have spoken come upon me.
Oh, please, please, don't letit be so.
Be it far from me, lord.
Oh.
And they, when they hadtestified and preached the word
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of the lord, returned tojerusalem and preached the
gospel to many villages of thesamaritans.
Oh, come on, let's lift ourhands, praise god, I'm telling
you, praise the lord.
So, uh, there's a.
You know, I know I have somemessages that I entitled Though.
Yet, you know, though,something happens yet.
(29:15):
This is a perfect example ofthough.
Yet.
So how was it?
Though he bewitched the region,yet the gospel, confirmed by
signs and wonders, broke thesorcery.
It wasn't intercession, itwasn't a praise and worship
conference, it wasn't really.
I mean, you know, a lot oftimes you wouldn't heaven's
(29:36):
gates and hell's flames drama,you know, I mean, it wasn't a
power team coming to town.
It was the Word of God preachedwith demonstration of the
Spirit that broke an entireregion out of demonic deception.
Baptisms occurred, which provedthat people were saved.
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I mean, you know, you, peoplecan answer an altar call, but
until they really go and getwater baptized, that's in most,
in most places, including thisone.
That is when you know peopleare sincere, because that is
when they are disowned by theirfamilies.
That is when they you know, insome families that's when the
honor killing happens.
(30:19):
In a Muslim family, you getbaptized as a Christian and
you're going to get a hit putout on you.
You'd be lucky if daddy don'tkill you himself.
A lot of that going on righthere in America.
Now We've imported this thingand now the leading candidate
for mayor of New York City is aMuslim.
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He's a crackpot, he's a lunatic.
But anyway, that's what happenswhen you import this stuff.
I think we need to deport thisstuff.
Let's deport all of it.
So even Simon himself believedand was baptized.
Signs and wonders keptoccurring.
I mean, the devil can't competeagainst the word preached with
demonstration of the spirit andpower.
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And you can do that.
You don't have to be a preacher.
You can just talk about Jesus.
You can talk about what God hasdone for you.
When I first started in theministry, that's what I did.
I just gave my testimony.
I'd get little pieces of it.
I wouldn't give the whole thing, it'd take too long, but I'd
just give little pieces and getpeople interested and tell
people how you know God healedmy mother, or God healed my wife
(31:23):
, or God healed this one, or didthis one?
I remember, just a few monthsafter getting baptized in the
Holy Ghost, going to Lakewood, Iwas building houses.
I had my houses going in asubdivision out here called
Cypresswood.
It's just off of Kirkendall andclose to Stubner Airline.
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I guess Dead ends into noCypresswood Drive, dead ends
into Kirkendall, and so, right,there is a subdivision called
cypresswood.
So I was in there and, uh, myguys, I was had some houses
framing up and they were, youknow, putting two before walls
up and all that.
And it was lunchtime, so theyhad some scraps of wood.
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They built a fire to heat theirtortillas up.
They had tortillas for lunchand they laid them in the coals,
you know, and got theirtortillas hot.
So I waited for them to get outthere and sit down on a pile of
lumber and they unwrapped theirtinfoil and they got their
tortillas out and they startgetting it out there and getting
ready.
And I just stood up there andstarted preaching to them and
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they just looked at me andthey'd take a bite and they'd
look at me and they wonderedwhat in the world was I doing?
They knew I was the builder andeverything.
They didn't know really who Iwas.
They were working for mycontractor.
I had a subcontractor that wasin charge of them, that hired
them and I don't know that theycould speak English, but they
could listen to me speak, preachthe gospel in English and
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they'd sit there.
And they'd sit there sorespectful, they just sat there
and listened the whole time.
One time I was meeting myelectrician at the same house.
Later on, a few months later,it was time for the electrician
to come over and I'm going tolay out the switches and plugs
inside before the sheet rockercomes in and lays the sheet rock
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.
You've got to wire the houseand put the.
You know, I've got to set aplan.
So I'm going through the housewith my electrician and I've got
to make sure he puts the switchon the correct side of the room
so that the door doesn't openand hide the switch.
That's a common problem.
That's going to cost you asheet rock patch.
It's going to be a mess to fix.
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So I just I'd go through thewhole house with my electrician.
I'd make him mark each placewhere he's going to put an
outlet, at one on each wall.
Don't make a strawberryshortcut and try to get by with
three.
I want four in each bedroom.
I want, you know, I want plentyof outlets, I want.
So I went through the wholehouse and he I noticed he's
(33:55):
limping around, kind of had alook on his face.
I said what's wrong with you?
He said, oh, my back is out.
I'm just really having a hardtime today.
Oh, really, I tell you, god'sreally anointed me.
I can see a lot of back troublehealed with the name of Jesus.
I said let me come on, let's godown here, Let me pray for you,
what?
And he wasn't real excited.
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I mean, he was not.
He was kind of like Simon theSorcerer, but anyway, not really
he's about as open.
So I got him downstairs, helimped his way downstairs and I
sat him down on the stairway andI said let me get your legs.
Now, let me get your legs.
And he's got his steel-toedboots on, you know, and I lift
(34:36):
his ankles up and he's got alittle misalignment because my
thumbs are off, you know.
I just put my thumbs on thepoints of his ankles and I can
tell when somebody's pelvis isout of a line and it doesn't
mean that one leg is shorterthan the other, it just means
the pelvis is turned and they'vegot a torque in their back and
it's going to pinch a nerve andit's going to cause pain.
(34:59):
So I just started praying in thename of Jesus, the name of
Jesus, and you know, all of asudden one leg just went whoop
like that and it kind of jerked,you know, and he blinked and he
took a breath and I said didyou see that?
And he said I felt that.
And I got him to stand up.
I said all right, just leandown, touch your toes.
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And he reached down and touchedhis toes and I said any pain?
No, there's no pain.
He didn't know what to do.
He, he, he didn't thank me, hedidn't.
I sure didn't praise God didn'tthank me, he sure didn't praise
God.
But see, I sowed a seed.
I'm talking about God will backyou up the importance of signs
and wonders.
And so, though, america hasbeen seduced by the spirit of
(35:43):
Antichrist and we have had sucha demonic display of open
iniquity being practiced andcelebrated, all on a constant
basis Lawlessness celebrated,riot celebrated, sexual
perversion celebrated on and on.
(36:03):
Though that is the case yet.
Bless God signs, wonders andmiracles.
When the gospel is preachedwith demonstration and when I
say preached, I don'tnecessarily mean from the pulpit
, I mean in your world.
I mean you go everywhere.
That's the context of Mark 16.
You go into your world.
(36:24):
You tell people what Jesus hasdone for you.
What Jesus did for me, he wantsto do for you.
Why don't you let me pray foryou?
Why don't you let me lay myhands on you?
Why don't you let me pray foryou?
Why don't you let me lay myhands on you?
Why don't you let me go to theLord with you and for you?
And I'm telling you, the morewe do that, the more we're going
to see this country turn around, and I really believe.
(36:45):
You know it takes boldness.
You know it's all right to prayfor boldness.
That's what the apostles did inActs, chapter four.
Lord, grant that with allboldness we may preach thy word,
amen.
I mean they prayed for boldnessand they're the apostles.
I mean how much more we have topray for boldness.
I mean everything, all thispressure.
We don't want to look bad, wedon't want to run people off, we
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don't want to offend peopleListen.
People want what you've got.
People are hungry for what youhave to bring to the table.
They just don't know it.
They don't know why they're inyour presence.
They don't know why you met upwith them one particular day.
I had to start realizing thatnobody comes up to me by
accident.
They come up there because theHoly Ghost just, I mean led them
by the nose.
(37:27):
I've got angels out there justrounding people up, rounding
people up bringing them my way.
And so let's be bold, let's befull of the word, let's go
everywhere proclaiming what Godhas done.
Watch God shake this wholeregion, this state, this nation.
I really believe that if we getthe church back to signs and
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wonders and miracles I mean,this church has always been bent
that way, but not every churchis I believe what we do here
makes people hungry for what wehave.
I believe what we do here andwe talk about it everywhere, I
believe people begin to have ahave a taste, they get hungry
for it without even knowing whatit is, and I just really
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believe that God is going tomove in a mighty way.
This is a year of milestones.
Come on, let's lift our handsright now.
Father, we thank you tonight forsigns and wonders and miracles.
We thank you, lord, that youhave given us everything we need
the name of Jesus, the Word ofGod, the Holy Ghost.
We have everything we need todistribute what you have given
(38:32):
through your son, jesus.
And, lord, you're expectingyou're sitting there on the
right hand of the father andyou're expecting till your enemy
be made your footstool.
We're the feet under which thedevil has got to get.
He's got to get under our feet.
We're going to make him, we'regoing to stand on his head,
we're going to tread him under.
We're never going to beintimidated by the devil.
(38:53):
We'll never be intimidated bypersecution.
We'll never let persecutionbother us.
We'll never kowtow, we'll neverbow our knee to this world.
But, lord, we're bold in God tobring your word to everybody
that comes our way, in Jesusname.
Get your Bible and wave it around.
Make Jesus glad, the devil mad.
Let's say this together sayHeavenly Father, I'm so glad to
be here tonight, on Wednesdaynight.
I look forward to midweek totop off the tank, to refill and
have the Word of God going inoverflow mode.
(00:20):
Holy Spirit, shine your lighton this word tonight and give me
understanding and revelation sothat my faith can grow, my
spirit can develop and I canbring forth more fruit In Jesus'
name, amen.
Let's look in our Bibles at Acts, chapter 8.
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Acts, chapter 8.
And we'll start reading withthe first verse and Saul was
consenting unto his death, andthat's talking about Stephen's
death.
Stephen was martyred.
In the previous chapter, saulwas consenting unto Stephen's
death and at that time there wasa great mega persecution
(01:03):
against the church which was atJerusalem, and they were all
scattered abroad throughout theregions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles, and devoutmen carried Stephen to his
burial and made greatlamentation over him.
As for Saul, he made havoc ofthe church, entering into every
(01:27):
house and hailing men and women,committed them to prison.
Therefore, they that werescattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to thecity of Samaria and preached
Christ unto them and the people,with one accord, gave heed unto
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those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the
miracles which he did, forunclean spirits crying with loud
voice came out of many thatwere possessed with them, and
many, taken with palsies andthat were lame, were healed, and
there was great joy in thatcity.
(02:13):
And so tonight I wanted to sharea message, a simple message,
entitled the importance of signsand wonders.
The importance of signs andwonders.
You know the early church.
We see the gospel begins tospread.
Three years they've been inJerusalem, since Jesus had told
them to go into all the world.
(02:33):
You know, in Acts 1.8, he saidyou know, you shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Judea and inSamaria, and under the uttermost
parts, both in Jerusalem and inJudea.
He didn't say first inJerusalem and then he didn't
give them an order.
He said do it all.
He said go everywhere all atonce.
(02:56):
He didn't tell them to stay inJerusalem.
And so really, in that sense,the persecution that mentions
here in verse one is a result oftheir disobedience.
I know they didn't know that,but it did open the door to
Satan for him to bring a lot oftrouble.
And it says then that everybodywas scattered abroad except the
(03:19):
apostles.
So believers, believers, wenteverywhere.
They were scattered.
The word scattered is diaspora,it means they were sown.
They were sown.
They were sown and they broughtforth crops all across,
distributed like seed everywhere.
Believers preaching the word.
They were not ordained, theywere not pastors, apostles,
(03:43):
evangelists, teachers, prophets.
No, they were not pastors,apostles, evangelists, teachers,
prophets.
No, they were believers.
In fact, we read about philip.
Oh, pastor philip.
Bible says philip was anevangelist.
Well, that was way later.
He's just a deacon, he is infact, what he is is an usher,
he's a waiter on tables, as wasstephen.
They were not ordained topreach, they weren't expected
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really to do that necessarily.
But what I wanted you to see isthey did, they went everywhere,
and you know so.
Philip was one of the sevendeacons, ministry of helps, and
it says he went to Samaria, thecity of Samaria.
Actually, the city was Sychar,which is the same city that
(04:24):
Jesus preached to the woman atthe well.
Now, he didn't work anymiracles there.
He didn't pray for the sickthere.
He did read her mail there.
You know, remember the story.
I mean, she comes up to him andhe starts talking to her about
living water.
And he says well, you know, shesaid I'm not married.
He said you're right, you'vehad five husbands and the man
(04:47):
you're with now is not yourhusband.
And so she went into the cityand says come see a man that
told me all things ever I did.
And she read my mail and didn'tcondemn her, didn't condemn her
, just told her.
But he did not work miraclesthere.
And, of course, the Samaria.
You know there was a great dealof distance and aggravation
(05:08):
between the Jews and theSamaritans.
The Samaritans were kind ofhalf-breed Jews, they had Jewish
mix and that's what made themunacceptable to the straight
Jews.
And there was discrimination.
Remember, jesus was talkingabout, you know, helping the
Samaritan man, you know, and andthat was controversial he was
(05:29):
always wanting to bridge gaps.
He's always trying to take awaypride and religion, religiosity
.
So, um, he went to sychar, wherethere were no miracles.
Just think about that.
He chose to go to the hardestplace.
I mean, you know, that's prettyamazing.
I think about Philip.
He went to the hardest place.
(05:50):
He didn't go someplace easy, hewent someplace hard.
He went to Sychar and it says hepreached Christ, the anointed
one, with all of his anointingto them.
And I think about Christ, theanointed one.
I think about how Jesus, inLuke 4, 18, says the spirit of
the Lord is upon me, which hasanointed me to preach the gospel
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to the broke, the brokenhearted, the blind, the bound, the
bruised.
That's exactly what Philip did.
Philip preached the same wayJesus did.
He was his example.
He said you know, it was goodenough for Jesus, good enough
for Peter, good enough for me.
I'm going to go in there andI'm going to talk to them about
getting healed.
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I'm going to talk to them aboutgetting, you know, so forth
delivered.
And and so you know, when you,when you read this, this chapter
, you know it says that you know.
It begs the question why was heso well received?
I mean, you know, he's a nobody.
(06:53):
He's a nobody Really, in thescheme of things.
Nobody's heard of him.
And yet the Holy Ghost backedhim up.
He got up there and startedpreaching the best way he could.
And we see that they gave heed.
Why did they give heed to thethings that he said, to his
words?
Why did they do that?
(07:14):
It says, you know, verse six,the people, with one accord,
gave heed unto those thingswhich Philip spoke.
And then it tells you why.
Because of what they heard andwhat they saw, you know it made
him kind of overlook, maybe hislack of credentials, his lack of
any kind of personal magnetismor whatever.
(07:36):
I mean, you know he's just aregular guy.
But the Holy Ghost showed up andthey heard the cry of demons on
their way out of people.
People got delivered in themeeting screaming and crying
coming out of people and thenthey saw what they saw.
They saw the paralyzed and thelame walk.
(07:56):
Now they didn't see the blindeyes open.
There weren't any blind peoplesaved.
There's no record of any deafpeople healed.
There wasn't any blind peoplesaved.
There's no record of any deafpeople healed.
So you can see there was alimitation to the anointing that
he had.
He had a believer's anointing Imean a believer's anointing got
people delivered, healed ofcertain major things.
(08:18):
I mean, come on the importanceof signs and wonders.
You know the book of Acts isthe planting season.
That is the season the Bibletalks about.
It's the book of Joel.
This is that spoken by theprophet Joel.
It was planting, they gotplanting rain.
Rain of the Holy Ghost is signs, wonders and miracles.
And so there was enough signs,wonders and miracles to plant a
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seed, to get a harvest.
But we live in the last days.
We live in the time where theformer and the latter rain come
together.
So if signs and wonders werenecessary in the beginning, how
much more are they necessaryright now?
And how much more are theynecessary among the believers?
(09:04):
You know, it's time for thebelievers to stir themselves up
and quit waiting on the preacherto come to town, or the apostle
to come to town, or the prophetto come to town, or anybody
else with a name.
Come to town.
Hey, you know, you've got thename of Jesus, you've got an
anointing upon your life, you'vegot the Holy Ghost.
I mean, you've got everything.
(09:24):
You've got the word of God,you've got all the ingredients
that there needs to be to seemiracles in your life.
Miracles, uh, for people thatyou're praying for.
It's amazing.
I got a hold of this 40 some oddyears ago and I just took.
I took it and brother Osteenpreached this way and he
encouraged the believersministry.
He encouraged us to dosomething.
(09:45):
He encouraged us to make adifference where we were and I
started doing it.
I just heard what he said and Istarted doing it.
It started working and I was ababy Christian, I didn't even
know that much about it, but Iknew that I had power.
I mean right away.
I mean I hadn't even been saveda few months and a man got a
heart transplant.
I mean right away.
I mean I hadn't even been saveda few months and a man got a
heart transplant.
(10:06):
I laid hands on him and Godgave him a brand new heart,
didn't have to have a hearttransplant.
Amazing, you know, I went wow.
Of course I had a lot of othersthat seemingly I couldn't tell
any difference.
Well, you know, I just keptgoing.
I mean, I don't know whathappened later.
(10:26):
I'm not responsible for theresults.
I'm responsible for putting myhands on sick people.
I'm responsible for castingdevils out of people when I can,
you know, and ministering topeople.
So Philip preached Christ, theanointed one, and all of his
anointing, and they gave heed tothe things that he said because
(10:47):
of what they saw and what theyheard.
And they heard the cries ofdemons coming out and they saw
paralyzed people and people withpalsy.
Palsy is paralysis, palsy is adeath sentence.
And they got up out of theirbed and walked.
I mean, it's amazing theimportance of signs and wonders.
You can hold your place thereand turn back a few pages to
(11:10):
Mark, chapter 16.
And I want to remind youBrother Osteen, again, would
always emphasize this he wasalways building up the church's
ministry, building up thebeliever's ministry, giving us a
vision for our world, and weneed that in the church.
Now we need to quit looking forthe you know, the big, high
(11:33):
named folks.
I mean, yeah, thank God forwhat they have, but we've got
something too.
They're not going to be, listen, they're not going to get into
your world very much.
I mean, they affect you, butlook, you affect your world.
Mark 16,.
Jesus is talking to thedisciples and he told them go
into all the world and preachthe gospel to every creature.
(11:55):
He that believeth and isbaptized shall be saved and he
that believeth not shall becondemned.
And these signs shall followall the high muckety mucks and
the ones that have been ordainedand the ones that have a very
famous name, like Oral Robertsand John Osteen.
No, he said these signs shallfollow them that believe
Believers have signs and wondersfollowing their ministry
(12:21):
Believers, see, this is what Igot into me 40-something years
ago and I proved it out Well.
But pastor, you were called.
Well, I know I was called and Ifound out I was called when I
got saved.
I do remember that it was newsat first, but then God brought
me back to my childhood and hebegan to replay my life before
me in the few months after I gotsaved and then over several
(12:42):
years after that.
I mean I remember one timetalking to a prophetess.
You know, she was a sister of agood friend of mine.
He was a banker friend of mine.
His sister ran a Bible schoolup in Washington state.
She was a prophetess, a genuineprophetess.
She got me on the phone one dayand started reading my mail and
she started seeing me when Iwas an altar boy and at our lady
(13:04):
of refuge Catholic church.
She saw me going to that churchand being faithful as a as a
little nine, 10, 11 year old boyand she started telling me and
she described the convent, shedescribed how it looked.
I mean I'm telling you, I meanGod had his hand on my life, all
my life, before I got saved,and so yeah, but I was not a
(13:28):
pastor at that time, I was notin the ministry at that time.
I mean the results that I gotwere as the believer's ministry.
That's what I want to stress.
It's the believer's ministry.
His signs shall follow themthat believe in my name.
See, they shall cast out demons.
See, that's what Philip did Inmy name.
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They shall speak with newtongues.
They'll take up serpents.
I mean, you know, the devil wasopposed to little old guy like
Philip.
I mean they blocked him everyway they could.
They couldn't block him becausehe knew that he had a right to
be there.
If they drink any deadly thing,it'll not harm them.
They lay hands on the sick andthey'll recover.
So then, after the Lord hadspoken to them, he was received
(14:08):
up into heaven, sat on the righthand of God, and they went
forth and preached everywhere,the Lord working with them with
signs or confirming the word,with signs following.
So you know, I know that Philipknew that God would back him up
.
God would bring legitimacy towhat he said.
(14:31):
That's why they gave heed towhat he said.
That's why people give heed towhat you say If you'll speak the
good news.
And so the Lord, through theHoly Ghost, worked with Philip,
confirming and legitimizing theword that he was speaking, and
the signs and the wondersproduced.
(14:52):
It wasn't a message, it was thesigns and wonders that brought
great joy to the city.
I mean for them to sit thereand see that kind of miracle
outpouring.
It just brought great joy tothe city.
You know a great pastor here inHouston.
He was pastor of EvangelisticTemple many years ago, raymond T
Ritchie.
(15:12):
He had a healing ministry,great healing ministry, here in
the city.
It was a church in the Heights,very historic church, but
Lonnie knew him, played theorgan for him one time, lonnie
Rex, and a lot of people saythat John Osteen had his
ministry.
He died, you know, john, beforeBrother Osteen became baptized
(15:34):
in the Holy Ghost and a lot ofpeople say, man, he got a very
similar ministry.
God works that way sometimes incities.
He'll raise up people to, youknow, just because somebody's
done a great work.
You know that mantle doesn't goa great work, you know that
that mantle doesn't go with them.
It goes and stays here and Idon't know that he ever knew him
or ever met him.
But but anyway, as far asbrother Osteen, but uh, raymond
(15:57):
T Ritchie made a, a comment andhe said this he said healing is
God's dinner bell.
It's God's dinner bell.
What does that mean?
Well, you know, back in the olddays when you had your cowboys
out there and they were doinganything with the cows if they
were, you know, driving them, orif they were branding them, or
(16:19):
they're rounding them up orwhatever they're doing out there
in the field whenever thedinner bell rang, that's when
they come running for lunch andbuddy the truck wagon better
have some good food.
Whenever the dinner bell rang,that's when they come running
for lunch and buddy the chuckwagon better have some good food
.
But the dinner bell attractedhungry people, you see.
So healing attracts hungrypeople.
It brings people to a placewhere they will sit and listen,
(16:41):
where otherwise they wouldn't.
I mean, it's just an amazingthing.
You know, I had the privilege Imentioned recently.
I was on a three-trackdiscipleship program and when I
first got saved I had threedifferent places.
I got discipled.
First I had a weekly Biblestudy for the first nine months
that I went to every Thursdaynight and that helped disciple
(17:04):
me.
And then I had, of course,lakewood Church, and that helped
disciple me.
And then I had, of course,lakewood Church, and that helped
disciple me and had good,spirit-filled men that gathered
around me and I got to knowsometimes it overlapped between
Lakewood and full gospelbusinessmen and so another
outfit was full gospelbusinessmen.
I got to go and I was goingtwice a month to their meetings
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a dinner meeting on Saturdaynight once a month and a
breakfast meeting once a monthon Saturday morning.
So that's twice a month.
I mean that's half my Saturdaysthat I'm going, you know, and
getting involved and around menthat know God better than me and
helping to grow me up andhelping me to, helping to shape
(17:46):
my life, give me opportunity tominister.
I I mean when I started singing,I started singing in full
gospel business, startedbringing my boom box to to the
prison at uh, you know the wallsunit in in, uh, huntsville, at
the chapel and singing and mybuddy of mine do the preaching.
And you know the prisoners thatall just kind of look at you a
(18:09):
lot of times.
You know they didn't care much,they were kind of there.
You couldn't tell whether theywere wanted to be there or not,
but we knew that some of themdid it didn't.
You see, I was able to get pastan audience one time.
I was, I was ministering at ahalfway house at the University
of Houston and they wererequired.
It was run by the Baptist Churchand they were required to go
(18:32):
there as part of their being atthe halfway house.
They would be put back in jailif they didn't fulfill the terms
of their parole.
So they're paroled at thehalfway house and they have to
go to every service.
So my buddy and I, jim Scalise,he'd do the preaching, I'd do
(18:52):
the singing, and those guyswould come and they'd just, you
know, they'd, smart off, they'dhave an attitude, some of them
would sleep.
I mean, you know so, whenyou're staring at people and
they don't care whether you'rethere or not, I had to get over
that.
See, I'm ministering to theLord, I don't care whether I'm
not there.
I mean I'm there for them.
But I mean they don't want tobe there, they get to miss out.
(19:14):
But you know, some of them gotsaved, some of them got filled
with the Holy Ghost, even thoughwe're not supposed to pray for
that Too bad.
Anyway, give the Holy Ghostyour rules, anyway.
So everybody say healing isGod's dinner bell.
I mean, you attract people withthe healing Well, pastor, I
(19:37):
don't know that I have a healingWell, you may not have a
specific healing ministry, butyou have the right to lay hands
on the sick.
In fact, he says to do it.
It's something that we shoulddo.
It's something we should do.
So let's keep reading here andgo back to acts the importance
of signs and wonders, and I knowthe more I preach on this, the
(19:59):
more signs and wonders we'llhave.
It's another reason I'mpreaching it the more preach
this, the more you'll be stirredup to bring signs and wonders
and healings and deliverancesinto your world.
It started in my world.
It started in my family.
I mean, you know, I was.
We were out on the patio of mysister's house and she had a
(20:22):
little hot tub and a little youknow some furniture and and so
we, the whole family was there,my brothers and my brother and
his wife, my two sisters andtheir husband and some of the
the kids and my two kids, Ithink, were there too and my
oldest sisters.
Uh, she had two boys that werecoming from conroe to be there
(20:43):
to meet us.
We were going to have dinnertogether, but we were out on the
patio mid-afternoon listeningto a gospel, listening to a full
gospel businessman's testimony.
I had a testimony tape ofsomebody that gave their
testimony, full gospel, and wewere out there listening to that
testimony and my nephew, dennis, which was my sister's youngest
(21:06):
boy, came through the gate.
He's about 13.
And he got tears running downhis face and he comes, runs over
to his mama for his mama tocomfort him, and he held out his
hand and come to find out heand his brother had pulled up in
the driveway and the mufflerfell off of their old Camaro.
He and his brother had pulledup in the driveway and the
muffler fell off of their oldCamaro and so he had crawled
(21:28):
under the car and somehow he hadpressed his hand against the
hot exhaust pipe and it burned ablister, just a circle right
there in his right palm, and hewas trying not to cry but it
hurt.
So you know, you got everynerve.
Ending is in your hand.
I mean it doesn't worse thanburning your hand.
(21:51):
And and I didn't, I mean I heardthat and I just leaped up out
of my chair, turn, turn the tapeoff.
And I ran across there and Igrabbed him and I, and I grabbed
his hand and I went just likethat I said in the name of Jesus
, be healed.
And just like that, in the nameof G, and I slapped his, burned
, that I said, in the name ofJesus, be healed.
And just like that, in the nameof Jesus.
And I slapped his burned handwith my hand.
Well, so it would have been hisright hand.
(22:14):
So it was my left hand, bam, inthe name of Jesus, be healed.
And he blinked and his mouthfell open and all the pain
instantly left.
He was instantly.
You still had a burn, but therewas no pain.
Oh, come on, let's lift ourhands.
Thank God.
I mean God just backs you upwhen you're young and dumb and
(22:37):
you're not so sophisticated,you're not so worried about
failing and you're not soworried about what people think.
You know we need more boldnesslike that.
We just need to quit being soconcerned about the results.
I loved him and I didn't wanthim to hurt.
That was my motive.
I wasn't trying to show off.
Praise God.
All right, you found 8, chapter8.
(22:59):
Now verse 9.
But it says see the whole story.
There's joy in that city, butthere was a certain man called
Simon which before time, in thesame city, used sorcery and
bewitched the people of Samaria,giving out that himself was
some great one to whom they allgave heed, from the least to the
(23:22):
greatest saying this man is thegreat power of God.
This man is the great power ofGod.
Just think of that.
And what is he?
He's full of the devil.
Satan comes as an angel oflight.
He comes.
He's a usurper, he's a deceiver, he's a liar, a father of lies,
(23:43):
a father of lies, and to himthey had regard because that of
a long time he had bewitchedthem with sorceries.
See, I think America, we don'tknow enough about this subject.
I think we don't know enoughabout this casting spells and
(24:04):
using the occult.
But it's very common and it'sreally the reason why this
country is in such a mess,because the church has not
addressed this kind of thing,they haven't rebuked it.
You know, the Bible sayswhatsoever you bind on earth is
bound in the heavens.
Whatever you loose will beloosed.
So we need to bind this kind ofstuff when we see it.
(24:26):
But when they believe Philippreaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God and the nameof Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
And then Simon himself believedalso.
I mean, it says he got savedand he continued with Philip and
(24:48):
he wondered, beholding themiracles and the signs which
were done.
See, this was not just onemeeting.
This is a revival.
This is going on for days.
I mean, he's up there, got toremember now what is he?
Well, he's a deacon, he's anusher.
He's not a full-time minister.
I mean, he's up there, got toremember now what is he?
Well, he's a deacon, he's anusher, he's not a full-time
minister.
(25:09):
I mean he's not a preacher,necessarily.
But I mean you know God'sbacking him up, god's working
with him.
And so, verse 14, now, when thehigh muckety, I mean the
apostles, they had a, you know,they had a committee meeting,
meeting.
They heard about all that goingon down there when the apostles
, which are jerusalem, heardabout samaria, had received the
(25:32):
word of god.
Yeah, you better.
You know, peter and john, y'allbetter get down there before
that becomes a mess.
I mean, this is just a novicedown there.
You, you better get down there,you better take over.
I mean, he's gone about as longas he can go.
You better get there quickbefore everything falls apart.
It doesn't say that.
But you know what you can tellthat this young man didn't have
(25:58):
a full spectrum.
I mean there were certainthings that didn't get healed,
but just the kinds of thingsthat did get healed and the
demons leaving.
That's pretty amazing.
So when they got there verse 15,when they were coming down,
they prayed and they got thebaptism of the Holy Ghost.
See, none of them had gottenfilled with the Holy Ghost yet,
they just got baptized in water.
(26:19):
So now you've got the apostles.
Now they bring a much heavieranointing and a much bigger,
broader toolkit, if you will.
And so the first thing they didis get them filled with the
Holy Ghost, for as yet verse 16,he had fallen upon none of them
.
Only they were baptized in thename of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands onthem and they received the Holy
(26:42):
Ghost.
So there's another scripturewhere you can lay hands on
people for them to get the HolyGhost.
That's what they did.
And when Simon saw that throughthe laying on of the apostles'
hands, the Holy Ghost was given,he offered them money saying
give me also the power that onwhomsoever I lay hands he may
(27:05):
receive the Holy Ghost.
Man, I like that, I want to dothat.
Here's some money, let me buythat from you.
Now he's gotten saved.
We don't know if he gotbaptized in the Holy Ghost, but
he sure was excited about it.
He wanted the power to give itaway, so he must have received
it.
How can you give it away if youhadn't received it?
So my belief is that this oncewas a warlock.
(27:30):
He's once a demonic occultic.
You know, curandero.
I mean, he's a witchcraft, youknow that's what he's practicing
.
And he gets saved, he's waterbaptized.
He gets baptized in the HolyGhost, and the first thing that
he's a baby Christian and he'she just.
(27:50):
He doesn't know any better.
And he says I want that, can Ihave?
Well, I'll give you money forit.
But Peter said unto them mymoney perish with thee, because
you have thought that the giftof God could be purchased with
money.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of Godcould be purchased with money.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God.
(28:10):
Repent, therefore, of this, thywickedness, and pray God if
perhaps the thought of yourheart may be forgiven thee, for
I perceive that thou art in thegall of bitterness and in the
bond of iniquity.
I don't know if you'd tell ababy Christian that, but I mean
that's what Peter did.
I mean, peter whoo thenanswered Simon, I like this
(28:33):
answer.
Oh, pray you, the Lord, for methat none of those things you
have spoken come upon me.
Oh, please, please, don't letit be so.
Be it far from me, lord.
Oh.
And they, when they hadtestified and preached the word
(28:54):
of the lord, returned tojerusalem and preached the
gospel to many villages of thesamaritans.
Oh, come on, let's lift ourhands, praise god, I'm telling
you, praise the lord.
So, uh, there's a.
You know, I know I have somemessages that I entitled Though.
Yet, you know, though,something happens yet.
(29:15):
This is a perfect example ofthough.
Yet.
So how was it?
Though he bewitched the region,yet the gospel, confirmed by
signs and wonders, broke thesorcery.
It wasn't intercession, itwasn't a praise and worship
conference, it wasn't really.
I mean, you know, a lot oftimes you wouldn't heaven's
(29:36):
gates and hell's flames drama,you know, I mean, it wasn't a
power team coming to town.
It was the Word of God preachedwith demonstration of the
Spirit that broke an entireregion out of demonic deception.
Baptisms occurred, which provedthat people were saved.
(29:58):
I mean, you know, you, peoplecan answer an altar call, but
until they really go and getwater baptized, that's in most,
in most places, including thisone.
That is when you know peopleare sincere, because that is
when they are disowned by theirfamilies.
That is when they you know, insome families that's when the
honor killing happens.
(30:19):
In a Muslim family, you getbaptized as a Christian and
you're going to get a hit putout on you.
You'd be lucky if daddy don'tkill you himself.
A lot of that going on righthere in America.
Now We've imported this thingand now the leading candidate
for mayor of New York City is aMuslim.
(30:39):
He's a crackpot, he's a lunatic.
But anyway, that's what happenswhen you import this stuff.
I think we need to deport thisstuff.
Let's deport all of it.
So even Simon himself believedand was baptized.
Signs and wonders keptoccurring.
I mean, the devil can't competeagainst the word preached with
demonstration of the spirit andpower.
(31:01):
And you can do that.
You don't have to be a preacher.
You can just talk about Jesus.
You can talk about what God hasdone for you.
When I first started in theministry, that's what I did.
I just gave my testimony.
I'd get little pieces of it.
I wouldn't give the whole thing, it'd take too long, but I'd
just give little pieces and getpeople interested and tell
people how you know God healedmy mother, or God healed my wife
(31:23):
, or God healed this one, or didthis one?
I remember, just a few monthsafter getting baptized in the
Holy Ghost, going to Lakewood, Iwas building houses.
I had my houses going in asubdivision out here called
Cypresswood.
It's just off of Kirkendall andclose to Stubner Airline.
(31:44):
I guess Dead ends into noCypresswood Drive, dead ends
into Kirkendall, and so, right,there is a subdivision called
cypresswood.
So I was in there and, uh, myguys, I was had some houses
framing up and they were, youknow, putting two before walls
up and all that.
And it was lunchtime, so theyhad some scraps of wood.
(32:06):
They built a fire to heat theirtortillas up.
They had tortillas for lunchand they laid them in the coals,
you know, and got theirtortillas hot.
So I waited for them to get outthere and sit down on a pile of
lumber and they unwrapped theirtinfoil and they got their
tortillas out and they startgetting it out there and getting
ready.
And I just stood up there andstarted preaching to them and
(32:29):
they just looked at me andthey'd take a bite and they'd
look at me and they wonderedwhat in the world was I doing?
They knew I was the builder andeverything.
They didn't know really who Iwas.
They were working for mycontractor.
I had a subcontractor that wasin charge of them, that hired
them and I don't know that theycould speak English, but they
could listen to me speak, preachthe gospel in English and
(32:52):
they'd sit there.
And they'd sit there sorespectful, they just sat there
and listened the whole time.
One time I was meeting myelectrician at the same house.
Later on, a few months later,it was time for the electrician
to come over and I'm going tolay out the switches and plugs
inside before the sheet rockercomes in and lays the sheet rock
(33:13):
.
You've got to wire the houseand put the.
You know, I've got to set aplan.
So I'm going through the housewith my electrician and I've got
to make sure he puts the switchon the correct side of the room
so that the door doesn't openand hide the switch.
That's a common problem.
That's going to cost you asheet rock patch.
It's going to be a mess to fix.
(33:33):
So I just I'd go through thewhole house with my electrician.
I'd make him mark each placewhere he's going to put an
outlet, at one on each wall.
Don't make a strawberryshortcut and try to get by with
three.
I want four in each bedroom.
I want, you know, I want plentyof outlets, I want.
So I went through the wholehouse and he I noticed he's
(33:55):
limping around, kind of had alook on his face.
I said what's wrong with you?
He said, oh, my back is out.
I'm just really having a hardtime today.
Oh, really, I tell you, god'sreally anointed me.
I can see a lot of back troublehealed with the name of Jesus.
I said let me come on, let's godown here, Let me pray for you,
what?
And he wasn't real excited.
(34:15):
I mean, he was not.
He was kind of like Simon theSorcerer, but anyway, not really
he's about as open.
So I got him downstairs, helimped his way downstairs and I
sat him down on the stairway andI said let me get your legs.
Now, let me get your legs.
And he's got his steel-toedboots on, you know, and I lift
(34:36):
his ankles up and he's got alittle misalignment because my
thumbs are off, you know.
I just put my thumbs on thepoints of his ankles and I can
tell when somebody's pelvis isout of a line and it doesn't
mean that one leg is shorterthan the other, it just means
the pelvis is turned and they'vegot a torque in their back and
it's going to pinch a nerve andit's going to cause pain.
(34:59):
So I just started praying in thename of Jesus, the name of
Jesus, and you know, all of asudden one leg just went whoop
like that and it kind of jerked,you know, and he blinked and he
took a breath and I said didyou see that?
And he said I felt that.
And I got him to stand up.
I said all right, just leandown, touch your toes.
(35:21):
And he reached down and touchedhis toes and I said any pain?
No, there's no pain.
He didn't know what to do.
He, he, he didn't thank me, hedidn't.
I sure didn't praise God didn'tthank me, he sure didn't praise
God.
But see, I sowed a seed.
I'm talking about God will backyou up the importance of signs
and wonders.
And so, though, america hasbeen seduced by the spirit of
(35:43):
Antichrist and we have had sucha demonic display of open
iniquity being practiced andcelebrated, all on a constant
basis Lawlessness celebrated,riot celebrated, sexual
perversion celebrated on and on.
(36:03):
Though that is the case yet.
Bless God signs, wonders andmiracles.
When the gospel is preachedwith demonstration and when I
say preached, I don'tnecessarily mean from the pulpit
, I mean in your world.
I mean you go everywhere.
That's the context of Mark 16.
You go into your world.
(36:24):
You tell people what Jesus hasdone for you.
What Jesus did for me, he wantsto do for you.
Why don't you let me pray foryou?
Why don't you let me lay myhands on you?
Why don't you let me pray foryou?
Why don't you let me lay myhands on you?
Why don't you let me go to theLord with you and for you?
And I'm telling you, the morewe do that, the more we're going
to see this country turn around, and I really believe.
(36:45):
You know it takes boldness.
You know it's all right to prayfor boldness.
That's what the apostles did inActs, chapter four.
Lord, grant that with allboldness we may preach thy word,
amen.
I mean they prayed for boldnessand they're the apostles.
I mean how much more we have topray for boldness.
I mean everything, all thispressure.
We don't want to look bad, wedon't want to run people off, we
(37:07):
don't want to offend peopleListen.
People want what you've got.
People are hungry for what youhave to bring to the table.
They just don't know it.
They don't know why they're inyour presence.
They don't know why you met upwith them one particular day.
I had to start realizing thatnobody comes up to me by
accident.
They come up there because theHoly Ghost just, I mean led them
by the nose.
(37:27):
I've got angels out there justrounding people up, rounding
people up bringing them my way.
And so let's be bold, let's befull of the word, let's go
everywhere proclaiming what Godhas done.
Watch God shake this wholeregion, this state, this nation.
I really believe that if we getthe church back to signs and
(37:47):
wonders and miracles I mean,this church has always been bent
that way, but not every churchis I believe what we do here
makes people hungry for what wehave.
I believe what we do here andwe talk about it everywhere, I
believe people begin to have ahave a taste, they get hungry
for it without even knowing whatit is, and I just really
(38:08):
believe that God is going tomove in a mighty way.
This is a year of milestones.
Come on, let's lift our handsright now.
Father, we thank you tonight forsigns and wonders and miracles.
We thank you, lord, that youhave given us everything we need
the name of Jesus, the Word ofGod, the Holy Ghost.
We have everything we need todistribute what you have given
(38:32):
through your son, jesus.
And, lord, you're expectingyou're sitting there on the
right hand of the father andyou're expecting till your enemy
be made your footstool.
We're the feet under which thedevil has got to get.
He's got to get under our feet.
We're going to make him, we'regoing to stand on his head,
we're going to tread him under.
We're never going to beintimidated by the devil.
(38:53):
We'll never be intimidated bypersecution.
We'll never let persecutionbother us.
We'll never kowtow, we'll neverbow our knee to this world.
But, lord, we're bold in God tobring your word to everybody
that comes our way, in Jesusname.
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