Mark 1:27-28 “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.”
The moving of God’s power through an anointed life is manifold in its impact. When Jesus stepped into his public ministry and began to demonstrate the power and authority that were upon his life he didn’t have to have slick marketing nor did he have to hire a promoter to plan his schedule. The quality and power of his life moved people to tell people! When you give people hope that their life can be better they will tell still other people about you! And when the people talk… the doors open.
Jesus left people amazed. His life got them talking. “What is this?” What are we seeing? This is different than what we have been used to. This man has a message we have not heard and a power we have not seen. The life of Jesus gave people faith to believe God. When a generation has endured without a manifestation of the Spirit of God their faith grows dim and the world notices when the Spirit of God begins to stir again. People want to see what it is all about. People want to hear what is being said. The presence of the power of God marks that situation in such a way that even unbelievers notice. Some people come as skeptics, seeking to disprove what they have heard. Some people come with an open heart and a secret hope that this time they will see something that is real, something of substance. Still others come with a desperate faith that is reaching out in need of a miracle.
When people saw Jesus, the open hearted were turned to God, the desperate were met with mercy and power and the skeptics were many times only hardened in their unbelief. But in every case the people who came, the presence of Jesus with even more to say than before. And because of this the whole region was affected. Because of this people came from far and wide. Even the controversy surrounding Jesus’ life and ministry became a tool that God used to expand Jesus’ audience. For those who are seeking to build a ministry, don’t focus on trying to gather a crowd. Focus on attracting the presence of Jesus and let the power of that presence be what attracts the crowds. If God is with you when you minister, He will build the ministry.
After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples had no trouble sustaining the ministry that had been entrusted to them because the presence of God was with them. The power of God was upon them. And they were marked as those who “had been with Jesus.” Their ability to sustain the work of God and to continue to impact the communities where they ministered was not diminished. In fact because of the presence of the Holy Spirit that accompanied them, just like He did with Jesus, they were known in Acts 17:6 as men who had “turned the world upside down.” KJV Remember this fact. The greatest source of advertising you have is the power and presence of God.
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