I believe that signs and miracles are a part of the true Gospel. Without them, it’s difficult to impact the unbeliever.
The Apostle Paul refers to this truth throughout his writings.
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
Romans 15:18-19
Paul tells us how he led the Gentiles to obey God by announcing the Gospel and making disciples. Notice, that he accomplished this by what he SAID and DID. It was through the power of signs and miracles. The difference between a sign and a miracle is that a sign is a miracle that confirms what you say about God.
The key issue is that by operating in this way, Paul fully proclaimed the gospel. I believe that just talking about Christ is not the whole Gospel. The Bible is clear that the kingdom of God is “not a matter of talk but of power.” (I Corinthians 4:20)
Last week I asked, what is it about the Gospel that we’re ashamed of ? I used some illustrations. If I won a new car I would call you over to look at it. If I got a promotion at work, I would immediately show you my new business cards. How is that different from the spiritual Good News?
I believe it’s because we have reduced the Gospel to clichés. “Jesus loves you.” “Jesus wants to bless you.” “God loves you and I do too.”
The problem is that there’s no demonstration. It’s not like the new car or the promotion at work because I offer you no proof of what I’m saying.
Based upon Scripture, if there’s no demonstration, then there’s no Gospel. Many are ashamed because all they can do is tell about Jesus. Some can’t even see the proof in their own lives because of the lack of power. It makes many believers feel like charlatans when they share the Good News.
It seems we’ve lost the original Good News. We don’t understand the power of God and we don’t understand the Gospel. The two go hand in hand.
Without the Good News, there’s no need for the demonstration of power. Some American Christians want the power without proclaiming the Good News. The fact is, that without the message of the Gospel there’s no need to demonstrate healing, prosperity, joy, freedom from depression, or anything else the Lord has provided for us through the cross. I’m striving to spur the church on to get hungry to experience the full Gospel.
That’s why Paul could say that he had fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ. Not only did he tell about Christ, but he also demonstrated the love and power of the Lord.
Question: How can we return to the true Gospel?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: announce, ashamed, ashamed of the gospel, Bible, Christ, confirm, demonstration, good news, gospel, Jesus, make disciples, miracles, place of signs and miracles, power, power of God, power of the spirit, proclaim, revival, Scripture, share, signs, true gospel
Do we proclaim the same Gospel as the early church did? Is there something missing from our experience that would make a big difference? I believe that we’re lacking one of the greatest aspects of the Gospel. We need to return to this truth if we’re going to impact our generation for Christ.
In my last post I talked about the need to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In today’s post I want to explain exactly what that means. Here’s one of the verses I looked at last time.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
I have heard people explain this verse by saying, “The hearers were convicted by the Holy Spirit. That’s the power Paul’s talking about.” I simply can’t agree with that kind of thinking. Paul said that the Gospel came to them with power AND the Holy Spirit, AND deep conviction.
Even the very word conviction that Paul used was a Greek word that means many assurances. It was something that could be seen and experienced by the unbelievers receiving the Good News.
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
As you can see, I’m not using some isolated verse without context. This teaching runs throughout the New Testament. The Good News must be demonstrated. That demonstration can only be energized by the power of God. It is beyond our human ability to walk on that level if we rely upon our own strength, wisdom, and knowledge.
I fear that too many Christians allow their faith to rest on man’s wisdom, because they have never seen a demonstration of the power of God. There are so many believers that have never seen a healing or a miracle. They have never heard an anointed prophecy or someone speaking in the heavenly language. There are Christians that have never witnessed someone delivered from demonic possession or oppression.
As a result the Good News, in most cases, has merely become an intellectual debate. On many occasions, what we call the Gospel today, is void of any power to change the direction of a life impacted by it.
The church needs to do what it takes to once again walk in this life-changing power. In short – we need revival. We must admit that we’ve lost something along the way and allow the Lord to make the necessary adjustments.
Questions: Do you think the modern “American Gospel” has the same impact as the early church? If not, what must we do to change?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: Christ, convicted, conviction, deliverance, demonstration, early church, good news, good news of Jesus Christ, gospel, healing, heavenly language, Holy Spirit, how we water down the gospel, Jesus, miracle, missing, power, power of God, preach, proclaim, prophecy, revival, share, spiritual power, water down
Why do we share the message of Christ? Is it all about how many people we can get to pray the “sinner’s prayer”? In my last post I talked about how we are to serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As important as servanthood is, there’s still more to understand about the Good News.
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:17-18
As God’s people, we must come to the understanding that we are not sent to merely “get people saved”. Our goal is to announce the Good News. When someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that’s only the beginning of the salvation process. As a pastor of over 20 years I am still “being saved” by the power of the Gospel. Remember what Jesus said to His disciples.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Mark 16:15-16
We are to preach or announce the Good News first, then baptize later. Our main job is to announce the Good News. I believe this is the point where we’ve lost sight of what the Good News is all about.
It’s what Paul was talking about in the passage from I Corinthians 1:17-18, above. Our goal shouldn’t be to “get people saved”. We are commissioned to announce the Gospel. According to Paul, it’s sometimes not with words. It’s not even with wise words. The reason for this is that words can sometimes neutralize the cross.
How can that be? Paul continues to explain it to us. He states that the message is foolishness to the unsaved even though it’s the power of God to us. So many Christians think that the Gospel is merely announcing the message of the cross. That’s why so few are turning to Christ these days. We are trying to win them with what they perceive is foolishness. There is another way – it’s the way Paul and the early church turned the world upside-down for Christ.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
1Thessalonians 1:4-5
The early church brought the Good News with not just words. They brought the Gospel on the scene with the manifestation of the power of God. This is what our generation desperately needs to see.
Question: What will it take to once again see God’s power manifest in His people?
Tags: announce, being saved, get people saved, good news, gospel, gospel not about numbers, Gospel of Jesus Christ, message of Christ, neutralize the cross, not with words, numbers, power of God, preach, salvation, salvation process, sinners prayer
I’ve been taking a few posts to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today I want to talk about an aspect we don’t hear about too often.
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
Ephesians 3:6-7
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has far-reaching effects. Paul tells us about the power of this Good News. As it started to do its work in establishing him, the grace of God began to have an effect. It called out to him – and he listened. In the same way, it’s clear that the Good News calls us to that same place of servanthood.
This means that we are to become servants of the Good News and not servants of the law. This is the servanthood that we are called to. Sons of God are servants of the Good News. We must live to serve the Good News.
What do I mean by this? We must serve the good news just like a waiter serves your food. Think about it. In a rat infested dive of a restaurant, they throw your food at you.
In a restaurant where they have “cuisine,” however, they’re not really serving you, but the food. Why do they have white tablecloths on the tables? Why the silver utensils, crystal goblets, and fine china? Do you think that the waiters wear tuxedos for you? Absolutely not!! All that finery is because they believe that THE FOOD is worthy.
Now think about church. It’s not a place of reverence anymore. Most congregations don’t even dress up these days. Spiritually speaking, people are coming out to eat less and less at these “restaurants of the Word.” This causes me to think that maybe the food isn’t as good as it once was. It just might be that we’re not serving the Gospel like we used to.
As a local pastor, I’m the executive chef of my spiritual restaurant. That makes me as much to blame as anyone for the quality of the spiritual food at my church. Then there’s the leadership team – they are the souse-chef and maître de. Our church members are the waiters and waitresses.
Then there’s the fact that at a “high class” restaurant there are no prices on the menus. If you go there, you expect to pay whatever the meal costs. As the saying goes, “If you need to ask what the price is, then eat somewhere else.” Could it be that many American churches today are “spiritual dives?”
The truth is that we need a deeper understanding of the Gospel. I need to understand my role as a servant. We need to learn to serve the Gospel as they did in the early church.
Question: What can we do to better serve the Good News of Jesus Christ?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: Christ, good news, gospel, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus, power of the Gospel, reverance, servant, servanthood, serve, serve the Gospel, spiritual food
Do you find yourself hesitant to share your faith with the people around you? Do you get flustered when asked about what you believe or your opinion on religious matters? Many Christians find themselves in this condition. I believe that the answer is found in Scripture.
In the past I posted about the power of God. I defined it as the ability to produce change in the life of the believer. This access to the life-changing power of God is vital to see the move of the Spirit in our lives and churches.
There is, however, an important ingredient that we very often trip over. I am talking about the Gospel. This is something that’s very misunderstood among Christians. It’s extremely important to see the Gospel for what it is because it directly relates to the power of God. I want to take a few posts to look at these factors.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 1:16
We probably all know by now that the word Gospel in the Bible is a Greek word that literally means the Good News. What is this Good News? According to the verse above, it’s the power of God to save everyone. That’s the Good News in a nutshell. God is powerful enough to save all who come to Him.
Because of this truth, Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed” of this Good News. But that statement leads us to a thought provoking question. If I am ashamed of it, is it really the Gospel?
Think about this illustration for a moment. You were just promoted to Vice President of your company and your salary was doubled. Would you be too ashamed to tell anyone about that good news? If you had just won a new car, would you be too ashamed to speak about that?
When it comes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I have to ask, what is it that we’re ashamed of and why? Is it even the Good News that we’re talking about? These are the issues I want to deal with over the next few posts.
My goal is to make you hungry for the true Gospel. It really is the power of God to save those who believe it. It carries with it the life-changing ability of God. If we could only understand the truth about this Good News it would change the way we approach the world.
Question: Why do you think we get uneasy sharing our faith with others?
Tags: afraid, ashamed, bashful, faith, good news, gospel, life changing, power of God, salvation, save, share, share your faith, true gospel, why are we ashamed of the gospel
I have been posting about the weeding that God will do in His kingdom during the last days. It’s recorded in Matthew 13:24-41. You can read my last few posts to see how the Lord will do this weeding.
The two things weeded out will be everything that causes sin and all who do evil. Along these same lines, Jesus makes a sobering statement in Matthew 18. I am convinced that most believers are unaware of what He meant when He said it. It’s usually taken out of context.
“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Matthew 18:7-9
Whenever I’ve heard this Scripture preached, the message was always about personal sin. I’ve heard it taught, “It would be better to cut your hand off, than to continue in sin.” While sin does have the power to ruin your life, Jesus was speaking of something deeper here.
Notice the context. He wasn’t talking about physical body parts that cause sin. The Lord referred to the man through whom they come.
I can see countless examples of when my own hands, feet and eyes have participated in my sin. Yet, I cannot honestly say that the sin was initiated by that part of my body. Sin has always been conceived and planned out by my own will. My body had no choice but to follow my decision into sin.
Jesus knows that it’s not the body that initiates the sin. He’s talking about people who cause sin. When the Lord uses the term hand, foot, and eye, I’m convinced by the larger context of His teaching that He’s talking about His attitude toward His body – the Church.
Only in the Body of Christ can a member cause the body to sin. Please be warned. You may think that your role in the church is as indispensable as a hand or a foot. But, if you’re offending the body, the Lord has no qualms about losing a member to save the body.
Jesus is very serious about dealing with those who cause offense. This is one of the things we are going to see being weeded out of the church by God in the last days. As a matter of fact, I think that we’re already beginning to experience God’s cleansing process.
Make sure that your faith is bringing health to the body of Christ.
Question: What can you do to make the church a better place?
© Nick Zaccardi 1013
Tags: body of Christ, cause sin, Christ, church, cleansing, do evil, God serious about weeding, God's cleansing process, Jesus, kingdom of God, member, offend, offending the body, personal sin, the last days
In my last post I talked about the work it took to love others. Faith is the fuel, so as we love, our faith is used up.
That’s the hindrance that we face. We’ve noticed, the more we try to love others, the more of our spiritual reserves are used up. Anyone in ministry can tell you about this phenomenon. The more we minister to the needs of others, the more we need to be built up ourselves.
But, instead of more time in the Word to refuel, since faith comes by hearing the Word of God, we decide to love less. We spend less time truly fellowshipping with other believers. Less time going to church, prayer meetings, and other events that could possible tap into our faith-fuel reserves. That’s the condition of many Christians these days.
There is a fallacy with this kind of thinking. You can’t just decide not to use the car because the gas gauge goes down when you drive it. That’s simply foolish.
We wouldn’t do that in the natural. We’d never think of telling our boss, “I’m only coming to work one day a week because my car would use too much gas if I came to work more often.” Yet, many believers treat God this way all the time.
Jesus warned us that this would be a sign of the last days.
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:8b
Jesus was asking if anyone would fuel up in the last days. That’s a valid question based upon what we see taking place in the church today.
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 24:12-13
Jesus warns us that in the last days the love-generators will start shutting down for lack of fuel. Engines begin to grow cold once they’re turned off. In the same way, love begins to grow cold without the addition of faith.
Heed the warning of the Lord. Don’t become a victim of this age. Keep your spiritual engine running. Keep your tank filled with the fuel of faith. Use it to energize your love walk so that your spiritual voltage is always high.
This is the generation when the church needs to shine the brightest. The world is getting darker and darker. This makes the light of the Lord that much more powerful.
Remember, it’s the power of God that draws men to Himself. But that power is only energized in us by our faith working through love. It’s not faith all by itself. Stay fueled up, and keep your love flowing.
Question: How do you keep your “faith tank” filled?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: Christ, faith, faith working through love, fellowship, heat, Jesus, lacking love, last days, light, love, love faith connection, ministry, power of God, prayer, prayer meetings, sign of the times, spiritual reserves, the word, time in the word
Before the New Year, I was talking about the faith-love connection in my posts. I want to continue along those lines. Do you know why it’s so hard to walk in love sometimes? The answer will become clear as we move forward.
If you remember, I was using the illustration of faith as the fuel and love as the generator for the power of God. These are the two things that must be in place for us to see the blessing of God in our lives. I want to go a little further with this concept.
One of the ways we run into problems is using the right fuel in the right device. For instance, a candle produces light and heat. But, I wouldn’t try to cook a steak with a candle.
Love is the key to using the power of God. So we need to understand how it works. This kind of love (Agape in Greek) that the Bible speaks about is not an emotion. You have probably already heard many teachings on the subject. It is taught that love is a decision.
That’s good as far as it goes, but love is much more than that. To truly use the power of God, love must be a decision TO ACT. Remember, love is the spiritual pressure, but what is also needed is a saved mind that acts in faith. Without action there is no love and there is no power. If I have truly decided to love you, then I will pray for you, encourage you, and bless you.
This is probably the biggest hindrance to power production in our lives. We like holding on to the fuel to show everyone, “Look how much I have.” We don’t want to actually use the generator. We only want to impress people by our abundance of fuel. What we really need is to learn the truth that faith by itself is not power.
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Thessalonians 1:3
This verse gets right to the heart of the matter. Work in this verse is the power that produces change. This work is produced by faith operating through love.
But this verse also says that there is a labor associated with love. This word labor in Greek means that which reduces strength. To put it simply, the lamp burns oil to produce light. The engine burns gasoline to move the car. In the same way, love burns faith to produce spiritual power.
Why is it so hard to love others? The reason is that love requires a constant supply of faith to fuel it. Unless we’re willing to work at it, it’s easier to just ignore it.
Question: Do you notice the labor involved in loving someone?
© Nick Zaccardi 2013
Tags: action, agape, faith, faith and love, hard, labor, labor of love, love, love is a decision, love walk, power of God, spiritual power, tough, why the love walk is tough, work
In the natural world, you must always have fuel to use power. No matter if it’s electricity, cooking, heating, or driving. Even something as simple as a candle requires wax as a fuel. The same is true for power in the spiritual realm.
What we commonly mean when we use the term fuel is combustible matter. But there’s also a general definition of fuel. According to this definition, fuel is whatever feeds or sustains any expenditure, outlay, passion, or excitement. What, then, is the fuel for our spiritual power?
It doesn’t take much study of the Bible to realize that faith is the fuel – that which feeds and sustains our spiritual passion – for the Christian life. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. Without faith we would have no access to the grace of God. Faith is the requirement for God to do anything at all in our lives.
Having the fuel is important. But we must also know how to utilize it. Just holding a can of gasoline doesn’t automatically make me travel 60 mph. I need to put it in the gas tank of a working automobile.
Unfortunately, there are many in the body of Christ who haven’t learned this simple concept. We hold on to the fuel of faith and expect the light and heat of God to start working. When nothing happens, we conclude that the Scripture is wrong, or that maybe God doesn’t do miracles anymore. The Bible has the answer to this dilemma.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6
In the above verse the word value literally means force in the Greek. It’s not how you look on the outside that gives spiritual force, or power, to your walk. It’s the fuel, faith, expressing itself through love. What that verse says in the Greek is that faith must energize or activate itself through love.
If I put this in natural terms I could say that faith is the fuel and love is the generator producing the voltage needed to maintain the power of God in us. The Bible clarifies this truth.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have all the faith-fuel in the world, but don’t have the love-generator to use it in, I am nothing. This is where most of the church finds itself in this generation. We seem to be so full of faith, yet accomplishing nothing for God.
According to this verse it sounds like a love problem to me. If we are not using our faith correctly, then there will be no manifestation of power. I must use my faith to power my love-walk.
Question: Have you ever experienced the failure of faith without love?
© Nick Zaccardi 2012
Tags: excitement, faith, faith love connection, force, grace of God, love, love walk, miracles, nature of the faith love connection, passion, power, power of God, spiritual force, spiritual fuel, spiritual passion, spiritual power
In past posts I talked about spiritual power in physical terms. What does it take to walk in the power of God? Scripture gives us the answers.
The following is an event that’s recorded in Luke 7:36-50. I encourage you to take the time and read through this section of Scripture to see the truth of what I’m describing.
A Pharisee had invited Jesus over to his home for dinner. When Jesus arrived at the house, the Pharisee neglected a few simple courtesies that were a way of life in that region of the world.
He didn’t offer Jesus a kiss, water for His feet, or oil for His hair. This was a slight against the Lord.
During Jesus’ visit, a woman came in and did something unique. She knelt before Him and wept, allowing her tears to fall on His feet. Then she wiped them with her hair. Once His feet were cleaned, she opened an alabaster bottle of expensive perfume and began to anoint His feet.
As this was going on, the Pharisee was thinking that if Jesus were really a prophet, He would know how sinful this woman was. According to the Pharisee’s thinking, Jesus shouldn’t let her touch Him.
Jesus, knowing his thoughts, turned to the Pharisee and told him a parable about two men who had their debts forgiven. One had a large debt, and the other a small one.
He asked the Pharisee which had more love for the one who forgave the debts. The Pharisee answered that the one who was forgiven more, loved more. Jesus then applied that truth to the Pharisee and the woman, much to the Pharisee’s shame.
In doing this, Jesus said some things that are very important for us to hear in regards to the flow of the power of God.
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:50
We see from this verse that faith brought the woman salvation and peace. These are two results that can only be accomplished by the power of God. It is through the salvation and peace of God that we can live above the problems found in the world system.
But there is something else that Jesus said that causes us to question if faith was the only thing involved.
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Luke 7:47
According to Jesus, she had something else that released the power of God into her life. She had much love. This is an important concept for us to grasp. In order to truly understand the nature of power, we must come to terms with the relationship between faith and love. In short, we must understand the faith – love connection.
Question: Do you see the connection between faith and love?
© Nick Zaccardi 2012
Tags: Christ, faith, faith love connection, flow of power, Jesus, love, much love, peace, Pharisee, power flow, power of God, salvation, Scripture, spiritual power, what does it take
I believe that signs and miracles are a part of the true Gospel. Without them, it’s difficult to impact the unbeliever.
The Spirit and the Word 