Authorized Believers!

For Saturday, May 3, 2025:

Mark 16:20 NLT: “The disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.”

Following Jesus’ ascension back to the Father, his disciples didn’t just sit around. They got right to work. Where did they go? This scripture says, “Everywhere!” They went all over Jerusalem, all over the countryside, and eventually all over Israel. What did they do? They preached the Good News, the Gospel, the story of Jesus coming to earth to rescue mankind, to personally pay the price for the sins of the world. They were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. They were evangelizing! (See Matthew 28.)

How did Jesus respond to the believer’s efforts? Jesus (and God) fully supported their mission with healings and other miraculous signs. (I will never leave you or forsake you.) These lent credibility to their testimonies. If the believers intended to heal a sick person and that person actually got well, non-believers would be convinced. Also the person healed would most certainly be convinced, and would tell others!

Jesus oftentimes authorized believers to perform the same seemingly impossible miracles he did. He made it look easy. He told his followers, “Just use my name!” Jesus sent out 72 in Luke 10, and the 12 disciples in Matthew 10, authorizing them to: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.”

Right now, the evil Satan has the run of this world. But Satan is a created being who eventually will have to answer to God. God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–can bring Satan down faster than the Timberwolves took down the Lakers! In the meantime, we no longer have to suffer abuse from Satan. Jesus gave all believers (how many? ALL believers!) authority over the devil by using Jesus’ name. Say it with me: “In the name of Jesus!”

The name of Jesus instills fear in the heart of the evil one!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship