Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 256

September 12;   Mark 16:20;   44/260(II);   ‘Working With Them’

Mark 16:20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.       NIV

 The Lord Jesus had risen from the dead and He appears to His disciples and commands them (and us) to continue His ministry.  Our Lord would be unfair if He commanded us to continue His ministry and did not give us the ability to duplicate His ministry.  Here is what the Lord Jesus did for us.  Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem until they are baptized in the Holy Spirit.  That’s the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them.  That happened on the Day of Pentecost      (Acts 2).  The Holy Spirit recreated our spirit, removing our stony heart and replacing it with a heart of flesh.  The Holy Spirit then deposited the love of God into our spirit and the fruit of the Spirit into our spirit as well.  God’s love and the fruit of the Spirit enable us to manifest the character of Jesus.  Not only did the Holy Spirit come upon them (and us) to empower them, but the Holy Spirit came to live in their spirit to lead them and help them.  Now that the disciples (and us) are equipped, just like Jesus, the Lord sends us forth to continue His ministry to the lost.  In Mark 16:15-20, these verses are called the Great Commission, along with Matthew 28:18-20.  The disciples (and us) are commanded to preach the gospel, cast out demons, get people baptized in the Holy Spirit and heal.  Matthew 28:18 teaches that we are to make disciples.  The fact that we have been given the same ministry as the Lord Jesus.  The fact that Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, has given us the ‘tools’ necessary to continue His ministry.  These two facts are incredible in giving us meaning to life.  This verse then says Jesus will work with them (and us).  This is life.