An Exhibition of Jesus

The Ministry of Signs and Wonders:
An Exhibition of Jesus

    “Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you…”  (Acts 2:22.)

    Here the Bible makes it clear that The Ministry of Signs and Wonders is a method God used to approve Jesus among the Israelite people.  The Greek word for “approved” is apodeiknumi, which means “to show off, i.e. exhibited, figurative for demonstrated, i.e. accredited, prove, set forth, shew” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of Greek and Hebrew Words.)
    I also like it that the word means exhibited.  An exhibition is a public display of something.  God was publicly displaying His Son when He did the many signs and wonders through Him.  Also, to “accredit” means that God was officially vouching for His Son.  It really makes no sense negate the validity and urgency of The Ministry of Signs and Wonders in a world that has such a warped idea of who Jesus was and is.
    There are a thousand and more ideas out there about who Jesus was.  But there was and is and ever will be only one Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the One that saves a soul from sin.  He is the One through Whom God displayed His love for mankind.  He is not militant, nor is He a political activist.  He is God clothed with human flesh and His heart yearns for His creation to be reconciled with Him.  To present this Jesus to the world, we have to preach Him as such.  But that is not enough.  We need to display and exhibit Him by performing the same signs and wonders He performed. 
    In our worship services, Jesus is exalted by the preached Word of God.  He is also exalted by the songs we sing and with the verbal praises with which we adore Him.  But if we are to completely glorify the Almighty, we need to truly glorify Him as almighty.  In our worship services we should allow Him to move among us, that He may heal, deliver and set free. 
    Signs and wonders take place in an atmosphere where Jesus is the focal point.  When holding miracle services, I am eager to lay my hands upon the sick and pray.  Tradition likes to get folks to the altar, pray over them real good, and then let them go.  Of course there is a place for that.  But I have found that when I lead God’s people into a period of worship—maybe fifteen minutes or even more—that God Himself is attracted to such a service, and He shows up with real signs and wonders.
    As a visiting speaker or evangelist I generally used to feel rushed by the clock.  One pastor humorously told me to preach as long as I wanted—they will leave at 12:15!  I have even seen people stand, after I preached, with their handbags and Bibles in their hands, ready to take off to go to some other place urgently—probably to get a good seat at the local restaurant.  It used to intimidate me to pray and get it over with. 
    But one day I had a startling revelation: there are so many hurting people and those who are truly hungry for a mighty move of God.  If I try to cater to the carnal traditionalist, I am, in fact, allowing those other dear people to be robbed of their experience with the Lord.  Sometimes I first lead people into fifteen or twenty minutes of worship, as to encourage an atmosphere in which Jesus is worshiped. It all depends on the circumstances and variables in the service, and of course the leading of the Holy Spirit.
    I have found that once people enter into the Sweet Presence of Jesus, they generally don’t want to leave too soon.  That which had been so important suddenly doesn’t seem so important after all.  The Jesus of the Bible is again displayed, showed off, exhibited and approved amongst us.
    Even by testifying about these wonderful miracles, we are really praising God.  Someone told me to just pray for people and leave it there.  But I would rather pray for people and witness a great work in that person, and then tell everyone about it—especially while that healed individual  is still right there in the midst of us.  If Barnabas and Paul talked about it, I will talk about it:

    “Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them” (Acts 15:12.)

"Miracles for the Multitudes" is a combination of two focal points of Joel Hitchcock's Ministry, namely:

(a) Miracles, Signs and Wonders and (b) Massive Miracle Campaigns

This Blog is based on Dr. Joel Hitchcock's book "Miracles for the Multitudes".  

To order Joel's eBook, go to http://www.joelhitchcock.com/p/product-store_4.html

www.joelhitchcock.com // www.joelhitchcock.blogspot.com // www.manifestingchristinyou.blogspot.com // www.joelhitchcock.wordpress.com // www.joelhitchcockonline.blogspot.com // www.healingevangelist.blogspot.com // www.endtimerevivalandgreatawakening.blogspot.com

 

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For the website of the church led by Pastor Joel and Heidi Hitchcock in Georgetown DE, which is an exciting Pentecostal, Charismatic, Word of Faith, Cross-of-Christ preaching church in Sussex County, Delaware, go to www.rivercity.co.